That's generally not the Yips, unless your arm fired and you stare at it (your arm) in disbelief as if it did it on its own.
Anyone ever get the YIPS?
- Thread starter NineballTom
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Willowbrook Wolfy
Going pro
That happens to me when I practice 9 ball too much. My 8 ball game tanks. When I only practice 8 my 9 ball game doesnt take a hit though.
Remember when Chuck Knoblauch couldn't make the throw to first base from a routine ground ball hit to him at straightaway second base???
Worst case of the "yips" I've ever seen.
It was so bad, I think they considered seeing if could pitch, to get it out of his head. He was a hell of a baseball player for the Twins. I don’t remember it but just read he threw a ball so bad to first he hit Keith Olbermans mom in the head. Wtf, lol
Flakeandrun
Well-known member
Playing cricket, I have definitely had the 'yips' - I once hit someone in the head after they clipped a top-edge from a back of a length delivery into their own face, off of a delivery in one of my first adult Premier League games (about an ounce heavier than a baseball, and I'd have been around 75/80mph at the time). 18+ could still choose whether or not to wear a helmet at this point... Bloodbath, Shattered his eye socket and cheekbone. Couldn't feel comfortable for a long time after. Even some years after, I'd be running in to bowl and get flashbacks, or the 'off-feeling', resulting in very poor control of the delivery. When they implemented a mandatory helmet law I started to regain some comfort when playing, but actually was acting mostly as a batsman prior to calling it quits on the game and moving abroad. I won't play here, the expat scene is a monumental thumbs down.
Interestingly, the yips would be a bowlers misfortune. something that gets right into your psyche and affects you for days, weeks, months... Whereas, as a batter, you just say 'bad luck' 'good ball' 'not my day' - I think pool falls into the batter category, of always having something to blame more specifically. For me at least, anyway.
Playing pool, I have certainly had days where nothing works. But I don't think it is the same feeling as the 'yips' - unless you are the type to blame everything when things go wrong, you usually have some idea of what it is more specifically that is affecting you; unlucky, tired, technical flaw, you're outclassed.
Interestingly, the yips would be a bowlers misfortune. something that gets right into your psyche and affects you for days, weeks, months... Whereas, as a batter, you just say 'bad luck' 'good ball' 'not my day' - I think pool falls into the batter category, of always having something to blame more specifically. For me at least, anyway.
Playing pool, I have certainly had days where nothing works. But I don't think it is the same feeling as the 'yips' - unless you are the type to blame everything when things go wrong, you usually have some idea of what it is more specifically that is affecting you; unlucky, tired, technical flaw, you're outclassed.
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One of our top female gymnasts stepped down and the best I remember cost us a team gold when she got the yips. A bit more serious for gymnasts than pool players, career ending injuries and even death are possible. Probably took more guts to step down for seemingly no reason than to go through a routine lost.
Hu
Hu
i think that was Simone Byles who benched herself during the 2020 Olympic games.
right thing to do, she looked lost
looks like she's found her mo-jo, we'll know more based on her performance during the trials which are coming up later this month
I think you are right. I wasn't confident enough in my memory to hang a name on the gymnast. I have been watching the gymnasts since Olga Korbut. Happened to watch an old video of Nadia not too long ago. She really was perfection. It was funny, mass confusion when a one came up on the scoreboard. Back then there was no way to post a ten. Once she broke the barrier tens started getting thrown out for performances even I could see flaws in. Of course world politics came heavily into play in those days.
Hu
The real answer is that you have tension in your stroke. If you have developed a stroke that involves a lot of “feel” you will always have a version of the yips.
If you have a stroke developed based on alignment and tip placement, and just “letting it fly” you won’t get the yips. They simply go away and never return.
Keep in mind: It’s not about working on your stroke. It’s about developing a stroke that your stupid brain can’t fuck with with.
If you have a stroke developed based on alignment and tip placement, and just “letting it fly” you won’t get the yips. They simply go away and never return.
Keep in mind: It’s not about working on your stroke. It’s about developing a stroke that your stupid brain can’t fuck with with.
She called it “the twisties”
I can remember a real bad night with the yips. I was having a great league season. We have taken first place four of the last five years with a non-trivial amount of turnover on the team. I’m not the best in the league but I’m extremely dependable throughout the season, oftentimes clutch. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to perform. We do it with a lot of levity and humor but we have high expectations of ourselves. I remember on night and specifically one rack that was particularly bad. I was struggling. My nerves spiked on me. Usually I can’t calm them down but I can coach myself into relying on my fundamentals no matter how my emotions are shaken. When that happens I can’t freewheel at all. Take nothing for granted. Fall back on my aiming systems. Don’t rush. Just focus on preshot routine and fundamentals. It that night wasn’t having it. Balls missing by a whole diamond. I had a straight in shot along the rail. Object ball 3” from the pocket, cueball 5” back from that and bobbled it out. Looked at my arm in disbelief. I could hear a teammate say to the table “He’s really struggling tonight.” I had honestly believed I reached a level of skill (and confidence/arrogance) where that level of play was impossible from me. But all wheels fell off. Everything was on tilt. Even if it looked right and I was meticulous, the stroke came out crooked. I had no control and my face was nothing but flushed. After each shot I laughed it off trying to reset my ledger. But it happens 6 shots in a row it adds up. Wild feeling. I hope to never experience it again.
Sorry, this has nothing to do with the yips. I don’t want you to ever feel the yips. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
I’ve chronicle my woes with the Yips here and on Facebook. If someone were to rack the balls, and I’m not physically at the table, I literally cannot put my hand on the table to make a bridge. The Yips won’t let me. Do a search for me and Yips, and I show a simple shot that I literally can’t put my bridge hand down because of the Yips. The moment I touch my bridge hand down, my back arm fires as if it has Tourette’s. If I’m lucky, I’ll catch it. I would say 19 out of 20, I’m not lucky.
I am literally a stroke instructor from Jerry Briesath. This is not about having a repeatable stroke and pre-shot routine. This isn’t about nerves or contenderosis. I get the Yips playing at home by myself.
If people “think they have they Yips,” they don’t. They’d know it.
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This is what I wrote on Facebook on Simone that week.
"Warning: Long post to follow about Simone Biles:
I hesitated on sharing this, but I'm going to. This is about Simone Biles and what I have in common with her. For my non-pool playing friends... I play competitive pool (Pocket Billiards). I've been a decent amateur since I was a teenager, and I've won an amateur state title (NH State 8-ball Championship) as well as amateur league-sanctioned state-level championships (New England BCA League Singles Championship) as well as end-of-year Top Gun/Best of the Best championships in New England. I'm not a professional nor am I anyone near in skill level to the worst of professionals. I'm an amateur, similar to maybe the local club PGA pro in your local country club vs a touring pro.
I suffer from the Yips. I've probably suffered from them all my life, but soon after I won the NH State 8-ball Championship, the Yips (and I capitalize it for a reason) came at me hard. Really hard. So much so that the simplest of strokes started to elude me. I started having difficulty just putting my bridge hand down on the table, and I would often literally hit the cueball before my hand even touched the table. I capitalize the word "Yips," because the vast majority of people who think they suffer from them have no idea how bad it can get. It's not "nerves."
To be an amateur champion and then suddenly not be in control of your body doing something that came as naturally as breathing... it's debilitating. And even that is an understatement. It affects every part of my life because pool *is* and has been part of my life. So today, I still am part of pool by doing professional commentary on matches as well as being an instructor. But, I haven't played a serious pool tournament in several years (one in the last 6 years?) although I do play the occasional weekly bar tournament as well as some league end-of-year handicapped tournaments. But we're talking a total of like 10 tournaments in 6 years as opposed to 10 tournaments in a couple of months. The Yips have obliterated my competitive abilities, and they did it at a time when I was playing my best, winning every other local amateur tournament I was entering (including local amateur tournaments across the US).
There is no question that what Simone Biles is going through, what she calls "The Twisties," is the Yips. If she has any of the feelings I get, *and* she's in the air doing a twisting somersault... I can't even imagine. It's frickin' dangerous for her! So I questioned why she would even do the Balance Beam Individuals after quitting the Teams and All-Around. I got my answer after watching her performance: she removed the twisting dismount. Because she did, she really had no legitimate shot at winning gold. Her safer dismount had a 0.4 less points available, which would still had left her short of the gold medal. Her entire routine was safe.
So why did she even do it? Because she had to. If she doesn't continue on trying to compete, the Yips.. The Twisties will eat her up to a point that she can't ever compete. That's where I am. So I try to at least do some kind of competition, but more in a less competitive environment. I realize she is taking a spot that someone else could compete, so giving up those spots for the other events in my opinion was a beautiful and courageous thing for her. But, based on my personal experience, she absolutely had to perform at least one event, and she chose the balance beam as her safest route. Getting a medal probably meant less than just finishing her routine without her body betraying her.
For those that have never faced this kind of trauma, I would suggest to hold your tongue and be a little more compassionate. If you think you know what it feels like, but you still find fault, then I would argue that you have no idea what it really feels like. I've done all kinds of sports and competition that I've face adversity and pressure. This isn't that. I would never want you to feel what I feel when the Yips smash you right in the mouth. Neither would Simone.
Thank you.
#SimoneStrong
#YipsSuck"
Great write up. I don't remember if I saw it at the time or not. I didn't really understand what happened at first. Once I read a bit more I fully understood her decision to step back.
Hu
Mr Machine
Well-known member
I can totally relate.
Got stuck on a roof.
I could NOT turn my back on the edge to put that first foot on the ladder.
And that was after scampering up and down from the flying bridge on various moving boats for years.
Got stuck on a roof.
I could NOT turn my back on the edge to put that first foot on the ladder.
And that was after scampering up and down from the flying bridge on various moving boats for years.
Nothing... just play through it and hope it goes away... and it always does. But for a short time I drop from a ~650 to a ~450
I was in a funk from about January until the week after SBE. I decided that I had pressured myself so much wanting to perform well at the Expo that my head was all messed up and I could not execute a decent stroke. Without a stroke I was unable to think about the game because all I could think about was the last horrible miss!!