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YIPS & CHOKING

WHAT ARE THE YIPS?

Yips can occur in a variety of sports, striking at any time, attacking a player of any age or ability. It suddenly begins with a twitch or jerky movement in a muscle, preventing you from performing a move.

 

A golfer may suddenly find they can’t sink a 3 foot putt…...

 

A netball player unable to release the ball….

 

A cricketer can't bowl the ball smoothly…

 

A tennis player finds it impossible to create a serve due to jerky movements in the arm…

If any of these scenarios sounds familiar, you could be suffering with a bout of the Yips. Rest assured you’re not alone, the yips can affect any player, even top professionals can be prone to a bout

 

Chuck Knoblauch a New York Yankee pitcher suffered

 

Ernie Els the professional golfer suffered a bout in putting

 

Scott Boswell a cricket bowler suffered for 10 years 

 

Eric Bristow the world famous darts player gave up the game as he couldn’t resolve the issue

Yips can occur in a variety of sports, striking at any time, attacking a player of any age or ability.

It suddenly begins with a twitch or jerky movement in a muscle, preventing you from performing a move.

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU HAVE THE YIPS?

Typically you will experience one or more of the following

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  • You find yourself jerking, stabbing or freezing on a skill you’ve performed with ease previously

  • You over analyse how to carry out a skill and find yourself confused with too much information

  • Your body becomes so tight with tension you can’t complete the skill

  • You can't switch off thinking about messing up

  • You blame a bad move, shot or pass on bad mechanics and start looking for quick fixes, which leads to even more problems

It can be so debilitating, as you know what to do, you’ve done it a millions times before, but the mental chatter inside your head prevents you from performing when you most need it. Inevitably most people try to fix the yips by physically making changes their mechanics. This unfortunately will not resolve the issue, at best it will create a short-term fix, at worst, it will make you become frustrated as you chase your tail making more physical changes and not getting the results you desire. To cure the yips you need to work on the mental aspect. Thats not to say your mental, its to recognise that yips occur due to performance anxiety, fear of failure or setting yourself high expectations to perform well.  

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TIPS TO OVERCOME THE YIPS

Start off by taking a reality check - is this really happening or am I perceiving it to be true?​

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  • Am I able to perform this skill?

  • Have I performed this skill successfully in the past?

  • Can I perform this skill in practice with ease?

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  • Have I a physical limitation preventing me from performing the skill?

  • Do I believe I can no longer perform this skill?

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If you would like help in curing the yips please contact me

My name is Jason , I'm from Australia and I was searching for someone to help with my issues of anxiety and more so the yips with the game of golf that I've battled with at different  periods in my life .

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I come across carol when searching online. After sending carol an email she replied straight away. I felt comfortable and confident and after my first meeting via zoom and was surprised when things changed for the best straight away .

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Carol has a wealth of knowledge and she was able to give me a lot of tools and different ways to overcome my issues. She's a great listener & has the answers to assist .

 

I can honestly say carol is caring and goes above and beyond in wanting to help, I will continue to work with carol for the mental strength she can provide to improve my game. - Highly Recommend.

I've since gone to shoot 2 under, best score I've ever posted playing off a handicap of 4

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