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INSTRUCTION by WENDY L. GILPIN
TIPS TO BEAT THE YIPS
Five ways to conquer the serving yips.
Having played pickleball for several years, I considered myself a competitive and consistent player. Although I wasn’ t earning prize money, I managed to take home some medals and finished second in local leagues. One of my proudest moments was nearly clinching gold at a big YMCA charity event, where I missed the top prize by just one point.
Then, out of nowhere, I started experiencing problems with my serve. My once-reliable serve became erratic. The ball would sail off to the left or the right, or not get over the net at all. Suddenly it felt like I had no control of my body, and no matter what I tried, I continued on a streak of this unforced error. I had the yips!
Each failed attempt only compounded my anxiety, leading me to delay my turn to serve as long as possible by positioning myself strategically on the left side of the receiving team. I was secretly hoping that my partner’ s serve would be perfect and that we would not rotate me into the serving position after a side-out.
In a desperate bid to break the cycle, I began entertaining irrational thoughts. Maybe I needed to wear my lucky socks, my old shoes, or perhaps avoid wearing jewelry. Maybe I should be wearing the visor I wore in Florida when I was playing well. Despite my superstitions, my performance continued to decline. My fear of playing pickleball, or the end of playing pickleball, gnawed at me.
My playing friends, eager to help, offered various suggestions to change my technique. While wellintentioned, the constant input only added to my confusion and frustration. I hoped I could return to my original serve with persistence and practice, but the mental fog seemed impenetrable. The situation was especially perplexing because the rest of my game was good. The serve was my nemesis.
Not really understanding what was happening, I began to educate myself about the yips. I learned that the yips are not unique to pickleball, appearing in athletes of other sports like golf, tennis, baseball, softball and gymnastics. Most people remember Simone Biles withdrawing from the Olympics due to her experience with the yips, or“ twisties” as they are referred to in gymnastics.
The term“ yips” was popularized by Tommy Armour— a golf champion who gave up tournament play because of them. Regardless of the sport, the yips are an unexplained sudden inability to perform a routine skill.
Initially, the yips were only associated with performance anxiety, but it’ s now believed they can be due to a condition called focal dystonia, a neurological condition causing involuntary muscle contractions.
Whether it’ s mental or physical, the result is usually in the form of a spasm, twitch, or at times, a freeze. These spasms, twitches or freezes lead to a missed execution of a routine skill. This can begin a vicious cycle of more anxiety, which causes more bad attempts, which causes more anxiety, etc.
The yips are most often described as either taskspecific focal dystonia( neurological) or“ choking”( psychological). Task-specific focal dystonia involves involuntary movements during well-practiced tasks, such as putting, pitching or serving, whereas choking simply refers to performance failure under pressure.
The duration of each type varies, from a best-case short episode to the worst case where the athlete is unable to recover, often causing the individual to abandon the sport.
In my case, the serving trouble began when I was practicing to play in a local competitive tournament. I had spent a few months in Florida and was playing
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