In this regard, the sport psychologist needs to collaborate with the player, coaches
and, others relative to answering the following assessment questions so that
a profile of the player is developed about the situation:
· When the player’s throwing is accurate and when he appears confident
with his throwing, what is he thinking, feeling, and doing?
· How does he think and feel when his throwing is not accurate, tentative,
and hesitant?
· How does he describe the throwing problem/situation? What has he been
thinking and doing during these problem times?
· When did the problem start?
· How does he feel about it?
· How has he handled it, to date?
· Has he been physically fatigued/stressed recently?
· Does he consider himself to be a mechanically sound player in terms of
throwing/delivering the baseball?
· Other questions of this type can be asked, questions, based on the
player’s age and competitive level of play, such as how long he has been
playing the game
· The medical history can be addressed with the team physician and
athletic trainer.
Q: The first I ever saw the Yips personally was in a 17yr old High School
pitcher. That seemed young to have the Yips or is it?
A: From my own personal research and professional
work over 30 years of work, primarily with
professional and collegiate players, it seems that most
substantial throwing problems occur with players at
these levels, particularly pitchers as opposed to high
school players. An evidence-based reason for this
observation is not clear. However, my professional
hypothesis is that high school players simply have not
yet has sufficient repetitions in demanding game
situations and their mechanics may not be that sound
so that what may seem like a yips situation may really
be mechanical or limited competitive experiences .
Q: I've seen it firsthand where the player was
frustrated and anxious going through this. Does
anxiety play a role in perpetuating or escalating
the problem?
A: A player’s anxiety—that is, his level of worry and
self-doubt--- has a major influence on how he deals with substantial throwing
problems (yips), much more often than not.
Q: Everyone is different but in general, what types of treatment options are
there because one size doesn’t fit all.
A: Performance resolution interventions for dealing with players who have
substantial throwing problems cannot be relegated to cookie cutter approaches or
placed into a medical model. What I can offer to the readers is a set of mental