Peak Performance and the Yips

The Olympics just concluded and throughout it people commented that some athletes had the “yips.” Yips are well known to some golfers. Just as they are about to putt the ball, something they have done a thousand times, they have an involuntary jerking movement and can’t control their swing and hit the ball too hard and miss the shot.

Golfers are not alone. It happens in all sports. A baseball catcher who suddenly can’t reach second base with the ball. A quarterback whose passes fall short of his receivers. In the Olympics this year gymnasts, kayakers and archers – who also call it target panic – are among those who have had the yips, according to press reports.

No matter what the sport yips are caused by the same thing – narrow focus, objective attention. Paying attention in too narrow a focus – selecting out only the golf ball in your field of attention for example and not including anything else in the focus – causes muscles in the eyes, face and throughout the body to tense. This tension is the enemy of fluid movement required for successful execution of fundamentals in sports.

The way to keep muscle fluidity and enhance any sport is flexible attention. In the short term that means narrow focus when its needed, but less rigid ways of attending when its not. Over the long term it means practicing Open Focus often to keep the body relaxed and ready – not tense and over ready.