What are the yips?

The yips.

A funny-sounding name for something that takes a serious toll on athletes.  You've probably heard about a few of the more famous stories.  Players at the top of their game suddenly can't complete a basic task.  The jump shot no longer falls (some say Markelle Fultz is suffering from the yips).  A catcher can't make a routine throw back to the pitcher's mound.  A golfer can't make a put.  

To the average person, with an average job, this is likely a routine occurrence.  We trip, stumble, and even fall throughout our career.  It often happens unexpectedly, and often.  Something basic can seem difficult and at times, impossible.  It could be talking to a certain person or a certain group of people, but the yips kick in, you freeze, and fall flat on your face.  Luckily, our careers are longer and we don't have a few million people watching us (nor will our failures be memorialized on YouTube for eternity).  For a professional athlete, a case of the yips is a more intense experience.  Your job is literally on the line with every throw you make.  The pressure is intense and there is always someone younger ready to take over your spot.  

My 5-year-old often suffers from these issues.  Some of it can be boiled down to a lack of experience (i.e., reps) and a lack of confidence (i.e., the bravado to power through a rough or embarrassing moment).  

The typical response that we see over and over is pretty poor advice.  It's the kind of advice that's pretty straight-forward, but never really gets you anything: "relax and breathe."

I've been led to believe that if I relax and breathe, I can make it through anything.  Unfortunately, that's just not true.  One of the more infamous examples of this is Rick Ankiel.

One of the better pitchers in the game all of a sudden couldn't complete the basic tasks.  Wild pitch after wild pitch.  He'd never really return from this moment, but what Ankiel did was likely even more meaningful: he never gave up.

What happens to most of us, and probably Ankiel for several months, if not years, is that we get stuck in a feedback loop:  (1) we make one mistake; (2) our head begins to worry if that mistake continues; (3) we make another mistake; (4) we can't think of anything else but all of these mistakes.  Occasionally, we'll hit and feel a little better, but the doubt is lurking and creeps back in before you know it.  So how do you break the feedback loop?  

The answer to this question is not likely to be universal.  Rick Ankiel tried many things as he navigated his way back to the major leagues, few of which were able to hold particularly well.  But what he did was maybe even more impressive: he re-invented himself.  He moved to the outfield and became a position player.  What did he accomplish?  By the end of it, he gained the distinction of being only the second player in history to hit 75 career home runs and strike out 200 hitters.  The other guy to do that?  Just some old player named Babe Ruth.

Having had that separation, Ankiel is now in the midst of yet another comeback.  He hasn't given up the idea of overcoming the past and forging a new future.  And with any luck, maybe that gives us all the confidence to overcome the yips whenever it strikes next.