Yips

‘The yips’ is the colloquial term for a sudden and unexplained loss of skills in experienced athletes. Symptoms of the yips are losing fine motor skills and psychological issues that impact on the muscle memory and decision making of the player which creates a failure to perform basic skills of the sport.

Common treatments undertaken by athletes include clinical Sport psychology therapy as well as refocusing attention on the underlying biomechanics of their physical actions. The impact varies widely. A yips event may last a short time before the athlete regains their composure or it can require longer term adjustments to technique before recovery occurs. The worst cases are those where the athlete does not recover at all, forcing the player to abandon the sport at the highest level.

Originally coined by golfer Tommy Armour to describe a sudden and inexplicable loss of the ability to putt correctly, the term has later been broadened to apply to any unexplained loss of skill, and has been applied to athletes in a wide variety of sports.

Causes of the yips

Medical researchers call the yips “Focal Dystonia” and they believe it is a neurological disorder due to overuse or extreme repetitive stress. Twitches can occur anywhere in the body. A milder form of the yips is referred to as “choking”.

The precursors to the yips occur long before their arrival. It’s like a train that finally arrives at the station; it does not suddenly appear out of thin air. The train has been traveling a long way before its arrival.

When serious athletes face year after year of increased competitive pressure, this invariably produces tension in the body which can easily manifest itself as the yips. All high level sport performance requires smooth, graceful execution, with poise and relaxed muscles, and when you begin to introduce repetitive muscle tension due to stress, pressure or social negativity, sooner or later you will be faced with performance problems.

Forms of treatment

On the professional level, when athletes are experiencing chronic anxiety, they turn to either alcohol or marijuana to alleviate their stress. This is typically ineffective and can even cause more harm than good.

Their next step is to enlist a sports medicine doctor to prescribe either beta blockers, tranquilizers or anti-depressants. Dr. Gary I. Wadler’s classic text, Drugs and the Athlete, shows that these are demonstrably ineffective in helping performance in any way.

The next step is to see a sport psychologist who has experience in this area. Uniformly, the first step in the psychological treatment of the yips is to help the athlete to understand the underlying causes of their career-threatening affliction. Over time, this helps them to rebuild their psyche, relax and gain more ego strength. During this phase of exploration, support and insight occurs, as the athlete also gains familiarity with their natural way of performing and are then given drills which instill that memory into their consciousness once again.

Two-phased approach

This delicate combination of both Phase One, insight into causes, and Phase Two, interventions containing mental drills, is the only real cure for the yips and choking. Insight alone is not enough. Mental drills alone are not enough. What is needed is a slow, unhurried approach which gives the athlete a chance to ventilate, get solace, gain understanding of how this developed, and by doing so, they develop confidence, more pride and ego strength along the way. When that happens, they are better able to use mental drills that help them grow familiar with the most effective mental cues during performance.

Often, inexperienced practitioners forego the first phase of treatment and rush into Phase Two, which only leads to failure because the athlete must understand what has happened and build up ego strength first.

The yips are always embarrassing and depressing for the serious athlete, but despite common belief to the contrary, there really is a cure. The athlete back on track, and return to their winning ways, smiling and having some fun once again.