'Yips'

[The Statman]

I was playing a friend tonight, and it has to be said that we both played absolutely... well... this is a family-accessible site so I shan't say it!

Anyhow, that's not the point of this thread.

My mate is a pretty good player; we are reasonably evenly matched but he's about 12 years younger than me and takes the game pretty seriously.

Since Christmastime he's been playing well, and when we've played we've inspired each other in our play. But we haven't played for a couple of weeks, and in that time he seems to have developed the 'yips' a bit.

If you've no idea what I'm talking about, when he pulls the cue back on its final backswing, he has the customary pause but from that seems unable to let the cue go forward to strike the ball. I seem to recall a pro – was it Patsy Fagan? – who suffered from this when using the rest.

Tonight, my mate's 'yips' were very noticeable; there was a seemingly everlasting pause, not with the rest but especially with simple little stun shots, like when there's a nearly straight red and you just have to push the cue-ball through a couple of inches to get perfect position on the black.

I wonder if anyone has any tips on how to overcome this. Also, is it likely to be just a temporary issue connected with lack of confidence, or is it something that's going to need an eye keeping on it longterm? (And thank you for taking the time to read this long preamble!)

[dantuck_7]

I had something similar occur to me a few months back - It wasn't so much on the pause - it was just that I would keep cueing at the shot.

The reason it wasn't the traditional 'yips' is probably that I don't have that much of a pause. It seems to have gone now which is good. But, I might be developing the Jimmy White syndrome.

Dan.

[lagermike]

The 'yips' is very unpleasant and can effect snooker players, golfers and dart players, in the darts world it is called 'dartitis' and famously effected Eric Bristow some years ago.

Although the exact cause of the yips has yet to be determined, one possibility is that, the condition may result from biochemical changes in the brain that accompanies aging. Excessive use of the involved muscles and intense demands of coordination and concentration may make the problem worse. This would seem unlikely as I am guessing that your mate is about 19?

Focal dystonia is mentioned as another possibility for the real cause of yips. Focal dystonia is a neurological condition affecting muscles in a part of the body causing an undesirable muscular contraction or twisting. This is caused by misfiring of neurons, causing the contractions. Though the condition expresses itself in a body part, it is thought that it actually originates in the motor cortex, a portion of the brain. instances when the condition does.

It is worth noting that focal dystonia often affects those who rely on fine motor skills - musicians, writers, surgeons, etc, or indeed the rolls royce cueing action needed by a snooker player!!

Hopefully the young fella can play through this condition.

[cueman]

My mate had it very recently, well about 2 months ago. I play him quite regularly and like you our matches are quite serious. I think its caused a little bit by pressure and thinking too much about the shot. It came out of nowhere, he just devloped the problem overnight and like you couldn't understand why or how it happens.

He had an almost identical problem, everytime he got down for his shot on his final backswing he seemed incapable of pushing the cue through, also on shots like stun or stun run through shots or screwing the white back say an inch or two.

He got over the worst of it but it still comes back occasionally, especially when I start playing well. That's what leads me to think it is down to pressure as he knows he can't afford to miss or give me an easy chance.

I think the only way to overcome it is too shorten the pause and length of the back swing so that there isn't any tension in the arm. Or maybe just focus on playing the shots that he has this problem and keep playing them over and over until he forgets about it?

[Snookerlovejoy]

I am happy to know we have a neurologist on the board. Seems The Lager has not yet damaged too many braincells!

The 'yips' is very unpleasant and can effect snooker players, golfers and dart players, in the darts world it is called 'dartitis' and famously effected Eric Bristow some years ago.

Although the exact cause of the yips has yet to be determined, one possibility is that, the condition may result from biochemical changes in the brain that accompanies aging. Excessive use of the involved muscles and intense demands of coordination and concentration may make the problem worse. This would seem unlikely as I am guessing that your mate is about 19?

Focal dystonia is mentioned as another possibility for the real cause of yips. Focal dystonia is a neurological condition affecting muscles in a part of the body causing an undesirable muscular contraction or twisting. This is caused by misfiring of neurons, causing the contractions. Though the condition expresses itself in a body part, it is thought that it actually originates in the motor cortex, a portion of the brain. instances when the condition does.

It is worth noting that focal dystonia often affects those who rely on fine motor skills - musicians, writers, surgeons, etc, or indeed the rolls royce cueing action needed by a snooker player!!

Hopefully the young fella can play through this condition.

[Robert602]

I am happy to know we have a neurologist on the board. Seems The Lager has not yet damaged too many braincells!

It's almost like he's got wikipedia in his head

[Stunrunthru]

I was playing a friend tonight, and it has to be said that we both played absolutely... well... this is a family-accessible site so I shan't say it!

Anyhow, that's not the point of this thread.

My mate is a pretty good player; we are reasonably evenly matched but he's about 12 years younger than me and takes the game pretty seriously.

Since Christmastime he's been playing well, and when we've played we've inspired each other in our play. But we haven't played for a couple of weeks, and in that time he seems to have developed the 'yips' a bit.

If you've no idea what I'm talking about, when he pulls the cue back on its final backswing, he has the customary pause but from that seems unable to let the cue go forward to strike the ball. I seem to recall a pro – was it Patsy Fagan? – who suffered from this when using the rest.

Tonight, my mate's 'yips' were very noticeable; there was a seemingly everlasting pause, not with the rest but especially with simple little stun shots, like when there's a nearly straight red and you just have to push the cue-ball through a couple of inches to get perfect position on the black.

I wonder if anyone has any tips on how to overcome this. Also, is it likely to be just a temporary issue connected with lack of confidence, or is it something that's going to need an eye keeping on it longterm? (And thank you for taking the time to read this long preamble!)

Chris,

You may remember an ex professional who used to log onto the BBC forum. I think his name was Mutalieb.

I had this problem for around 2 years and then this chap emailed me a copy of 'The drill'. Basically I tried to adjust my game and bring the drill into my game. The key I feel is just to concentrate on what you should be doing and not what is happening - ie the yips.

I suffered from this so badly that at one point I couldn't release the cue. I normally punch balls in rather than roll them in and I fould myself rolling balls in which required a punchy stun shot.

Anyway tell your mate to concentrate on what he should be doing. If you like I can send you a copy of the drill. I recovered from the yips and I'm somewhere near to my best form again now.

May see you and Kellie in Newport next weekend.

Best wishes.

[PaulTheSoave]

i have always wondered where LARGERmike got all his knowlegde from!

It's almost like he's got wikipedia in his head

[andyschurok]

One of the guys at my club got the yips, and someone told him he was concentrating on that too much, so he decided to put an elastic band around the two middle fingers of his bridge hand, this took his attention away from his cueing and solved the problem!

[The Statman]

One of the guys at my club got the yips, and someone told him he was concentrating on that too much, so he decided to put an elastic band around the two middle fingers of his bridge hand, this took his attention away from his cueing and solved the problem!

I suggested this to my mate yesterday and his immediate reaction was that he would be so busy looking at / thinking about the elastic band that he wouldn't be able to concentrate on the shot. Needless to say I suggested an alternative location for it!

Anyhow, the events of yesterday led to the ceremonious snapping of the cue – not something that I would ordinarily condone, but it did cheer me up a little (see 'Frustration' thread) and it turns out that his cue is considerably off straight and he has another in the pipeline.

Maybe the unstraightness of his cue has something to do with the yips – a psychological barrier breeding another?

[jimbo]

Another case of the snooker yips

Hi everyone. First post this.

I used to play to a fairly high standard (regular centuries - highest 145), but then had a break from the game for 10 years or so due to work and other commitments. I've been getting back into snooker recently, for about a year now playing twice a week and have developed a weird case of the snooker yips. I'm a left-handed player, and it only seems to happen on shots angled to the left (i.e. the white will go off to the right after contact with the object ball) and when I screw back. Usually I can actually feel the yip coming on before I play the shot, which is probably down to my self-doubt of being able to cue smoothly and the fear/expectation of yipping again. What happens is this: I feather the ball, and at the very end of the final backswing, just as I go to push the cue through, the "yip" pushes my arm out and to the side instead of "through" - like one great big "snatch". Sometimes it's worse than others, but its frustrating when you can actually "feel" it coming on as you get down to a shot...

Recently I tried a new practice method to try to stop it, which has helped a bit, but its still in its early stage: On the final backswing, I get that yip feeling, but I conciously pause the cue *until* the yip feeling has gone and I get a feeling of pushing the cue through straight. Seems to work although sometimes the pause is quite a long one as I wait until its completely gone and I can "see" the cue going through straight. Its like I'm waiting for the feeling of the yip/snatch to pass by. Hopefully if I keep doing this the feeling of yipping will diminish and I'll get the "follow through" feeling back fully.

Anyway... if any of you guys can offer any advice in solving a case like this, I'll be more than willing to be the guinea pig!

Thanks

Jimbo