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Choking and Yips
The word “Choking” refers to the act of losing most of your skill proficiency during a particular situation in a match. You become tense, nervous, uncoordinated and fearful.
“I couldn’t think of anything else. It just kept going round in my head and I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it.”
Yips is a word used to describe a very similar concept to choking but the term “yips” seems to be more predominantly utilised in golf.
Yips are slightly different to choking being typically used to describe a moment when the physical movement becomes tight or jerky - especially in putting which requires a smooth slow movement.
Many people regard yips as a physical condition that is uncontrollable or even a mental affliction that happens to people like a disease. People tend to believe that one can be “afflicted” with the yips for no apparent reason and that once afflicted there is no cure apart from time.
Choking and the Yips are not physical diseases.
Choking and Yips are technically the same: When faced with a specific situation, the mental alarm response occurs and muscle tension and heart rate increase while Type A concentration changes to Type B - bad!
There are six Choke and Yips syndromes:
1. The Sac 1 Revert syndrome
2. Situational Stress Points
3. Self Consciousness
4. Personal Phobic reactions
5. Sub skill conflict
6. Instruction Translation Failure (ITF)
