The System for Curing The Yips
The Athlete in Question
Jurickson Profar - Oakland Athletics - Major League Baseball
The Performance
April 29th, 2019 - Oakland Athletics vs. Boston Red Sox
The Story
After three losses in a row at this point, pressure may have been mounting to get a win. The A’s came out strong this day though and put up 4 runs in the second inning. All was smooth sailing… and then, it happened. A double-play ball was hit to shortstop Marcus Semien, he flipped it to Jurickson Profar, and then on a textbook catch-and-throw double-play, Profar throws the ball right into the ground. At that point in the season, it was his 7th error in 27 games - making it the most of any second baseman. Did he have the yips though? Is this the right diagnoses?
What Are The Yips?
A player is said to “have the yips” when they are unable to complete a routine play consistently. This might be throwing the ball to first baseball in baseball or kicking a field goal in football. Regardless of the sport you watch or partake in, the yips affects them all:
Baseball: Chuck Knoblauch, Rick Ankiel, Jurickson Profar
Flipping Burgers: Bob from Bob’s Burgers
Basketball: Nick Anderson - 1994-1995 Orlando Magic
Golf: Ernie Els
Cricket: Keith Medlycott
Football: Joel Stave (Wisconsin) & Mike Vanderjagt
Tennis: Elena Dementieva
Running: Deena Kastor - Phantom pain in her calf
Weightlifting: “Bogeyman Weights”
This can be a scary condition for athletes because when you can’t make a routine play, it causes anxiety, frustration, and/or embarrassment. Some athletes are never the same after they experience the yips.
The Secret to Curing The Yips
At the beginning of May, 2019, I had the opportunity to study under a man known as “The Yips Slayer.” He is called this because of his uncanny ability to help athletes with their yips. If you want to skip right to working with him, contact him here.
Greg Warburton taught me a lot about working with athletes and business professionals, but this was one topic I just couldn’t resist. The whole reason we linked up in the first place was because I referred one of my athletes to him.
So here’s what I learned from Greg about:
How to Cure The Yips
Admit to yourself what you currently are thinking about your yips.
“When I’m being honest with myself, I think that I’m walking the house.”
“When I’m being honest with myself, I believe I suck at serving.”
“When I’m being honest with myself, I’m scared I will fail before anything even happens.”
Tap energy points with the focus of being honest with yourself.
Shift from don’t thinking, to DO THINKING. AKA - Live in the DO ZONE.
“Pound down”
“Drive through the ball”
“Follow through”
“Bring it on”
Tap energy points with the focus of your chosen DO ZONE words.
Quitting Smoking or Chewing Tobacco and The Yips
The beauty of Greg’s system is that it works for any life challenge. For smoking and chewing tobacco, you first begin to explore what the thought-feelings are around wanting to smoke or dip and wanting to stop. You start with any upsetting aspects:
“I want to quit, but I don’t know if I can.”
“I like the way it feels in the moment, but I know the consequences of it long term.”
“I like the way it makes me focus and I don’t know how else to achieve that state.”
“I’m embarrassed of my bad habit.”
“I’m tired of upsetting myself and my family.”
You focus on the cravings and use tapping when you start to crave a cigarette or dip. By paying attention to the thought-feelings when you’re wanting to smoke or dip, you can come at the craving from a place of curiosity and see stopping as a life performance.
Progressing forward, you can ask yourself, “What do I want to do instead of smoke or dip?” When we ask ourselves a solid question, we come up with a solid answer.
Another exercise could be to imagine yourself sitting in a rocking chair after a life of smoking. How do you mentally, emotionally, and physically feel?
Then, do the same exercise except this time, imagine yourself having quit when you wanted to. What does that mentally, emotionally, and physically feel like?
In Closing
Whether it’s the yips or wanting to quit a bad habit, Greg has gotten consistent results over the last 25+ years of helping people overcome life’s challenges using this system:
Self-honest self-observation
Tap the energy points focusing on these thoughts
Ask yourself how you DO want to perform
Tap focusing on your high performance phrase
What about Profar? What happened to him?
Jurickson Profar still leads all second basemen in the MLB with errors at this point in the 2019 season, but he seems to have gotten better. It might have been because after night game on April 29th, he admitted, “It’s very frustrating…” 39 games later (on the day of writing this), he has only made 2 more errors. A lot better than 7 in the first 31 games.
Regardless of if you tap or not, there is magic in admitting the thought-feelings you’re currently experiencing and reframing those thought-feelings into powerful performance phrases.
If you’re interested in learning more, I’d love to connect with you. Give me a call at 847-922-1371, email me at tyler@pazikperformancegroup.com or sign up below.
