The Dreaded Yips

[Shockerz]

Been discussing this recently and what people have done to try and get over it.

Have any of you guys suffered and what have you done to get over it, did any of it work?

[Slasher]

These things are habits, don't let it become part of your routine and ingrained, break the cycle by changing up your pre-shot, chalk with the other hand or play a bit quicker anything to change the habitual cycle.
I do have a friend that was on the verge of pro and beating top 16 players that succumbed to this, if you can't fix it quickly on your own seek professional help.

[Catch 22]

Been discussing this recently and what people have done to try and get over it.

Have any of you guys suffered and what have you done to get over it, did any of it work?

Have a trigger word you say in your had as you deliver cue

Press your toe into the floor during the shot and focus on it during backswing and delivery (or focus on your bridge hand at rear pause etc )

Concentrate on light grip

Concentrate on the sensation of the cue brushing along the chest or chin etc as cue is delivered

Basically any method that takes your brain away from the negative thoughts on delivering the cue

Just my thoughts

[Shockerz]

Have a trigger word you say in your had as you deliver cue

Press your toe into the floor during the shot and focus on it during backswing and delivery (or focus on your bridge hand at rear pause etc )

Concentrate on light grip

Concentrate on the sensation of the cue brushing along the chest or chin etc as cue is delivered

Basically any method that takes your brain away from the negative thoughts on delivering the cue

Just my thoughts

I used to take the cue back and at the end of the stroke a slight involuntary movement started and you could see the cue tip go half an inch to the left which just killed any concentration.

I don't get it any more as I now have a very light grip, concentrate on keeping a trance like clear head (when possible) and the hitting from the elbow has stopped even the very occasional one that popped up.

I'm trying to build a list of all the things tried and tested as there are still players out there that feel they've tried it all and still cannot find a cure.

[Shockerz]

No one else suffered from the yips?

[Big Splash!]

Been discussing this recently and what people have done to try and get over it.

Have any of you guys suffered and what have you done to get over it, did any of it work?

Just whack it. Nah don't do that.

A long pause is a good thing. Then say deliver to yourself as you drive the cue fwd. Have a word of your own if you like.

I have taken the cue back and it has moved a bit over to the right off the shot line, I discovered I was actually taking the cue back too far. Now I concentrate on the feel of the ring grip staying where it is, throughout the shot. That way, I can't rotate the cue a bit and take the cue out to the right with a bent wrist/ring. Yips are caused by doubt and lack of confidence. The key is accept you can miss but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter, it's only a game. It's also important to recognise that cueing straight and delivering the cue straight is a victory in itself, regardless of whether the pot is made.

How many times do you feather? Are you down for long before taking the shot? Sometimes speeding up can help, so you don't have chance for the gremlins to steal the shot. Not for everyone though.

[Shockerz]

Just whack it. A long pause is a good thing. Then say deliver to yourself as you drive the cue fwd. Have a word of your own if you like.

I have taken the cue back and it has moved a bit over to the right off the shot line, I discovered I was actually taking the cue back too far. Now I concentrate on the feel of the ring grip staying where it is, throughout the shot. That way, I can't rotate the cue a bit and take the cue out to the right with a bent wrist/ring. Yips are caused by doubt and lack of confidence. The key is accept you can miss but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter, it's only a game. It's also important to recognise that cueing straight and delivering the cue straight is a victory in itself, regardless of whether the pot is made.

I wonder if the Yips thing is the same problem for all of us and the lack of confidence causes it or there are different reasons for each of us with some similarities?

I've played a few times and been having fun with no pressure and it still used to have that little twitch at the end, couldn't even understand why it did it with no pressure around!

Maybe there are other influences, hence the post for peoples experiences.

[Big Splash!]

I wonder if the Yips thing is the same problem for all of us and the lack of confidence causes it or there are different reasons for each of us with some similarities?

I've played a few times and been having fun with no pressure and it still used to have that little twitch at the end, couldn't even understand why it did it with no pressure around!

Maybe there are other influences, hence the post for peoples experiences.

It usually comes down to stress on the shot, lack of confidence, or lack of confidence in the shot. I have fleetingly thought, just as I've taken my cue back, this ain't gonna work (getting to the next ball or the pot is ridiculously hard). Two solutions are to get up or (and coaches will murder me for saying this) change the part of the CB you're going to hit at the pause. This shouldn't work but then as some say, do you need feathers anyway? Yesterday, with a cold and in frustration I did it a few times and it worked. I remember one shot thinking, forget rolling it at an exact pace to land behind the correct side of your next OB, stun it round the angles instead and take your chance on position. I dropped the tip below centre at pause, then hit it. Wish I'd rolled it now! lol Had to then take on a long pot which I made. So I swapped one hard shot for a hard shot next go. But it worked and it shouldn't.

[ace man]

Shockerz, I'm not exactly sure what you mean by yips. Just hesitation before striking or a bit of twitching and shaking of cue arm? Happens more during competitions? If the latter, perhaps I can offer some insight.
I used to think that I had some kind of confidence/psychological problem, felt deeply ashamed when arm shaking occurred in front of people watching the tournament.
To cut the long story short, rather than self pity, eventually I realized that my micro muscle coordination will never be great and it never really was. What I did was to stop looking for that ultimate technical setup which would make me completely twitch free. So I compensate for that during feathering and striking. There is no other way for me to play the game.

[Dan-cat]

Yup, it's a construct you've built for yourself. Do you think if you had some distraction techniques, a mantra, or a song to sing in your head when down on the shot it would help? Worth a try Do you have anything to lose?

I'd also consider building in just ten minutes a day of meditation into your routine. Meditation is very simple, it's just clearing your mind of thoughts. Stopping thinking for a bit. Singing a song, or repeating a sentence over and over in your head (a mantra) is a simple way of doing this.

My thread here goes into the negative thought patterns and gives some methods to combat it http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/boa...real-good-is-a

Fascinating subject this.

[cueman]

Suffered with it for 18 months and in May this year finally gave up the game.

Started off stupidly enough when I was breaking off, I was hitting the reds slightly too thin and the white was coming in and out of baulk and leaving a pot on.
I tinkered around and it was possibly the table I was playing on too where the back cushion was a bit springy and it developed from there.

That being the first shot I play in a frame puts me in a negative mindset and that fear of playing a shot bad manifests itself into other shots. Over time my confidence drained, I was just unable to hit the cueball at all at times and the only way I could strike the ball was to hit with maximum power. The sheer frustration and tension from not being able to play the simplest of shots literally just rolling a straight red into a pocket got the better of me and I found I dreaded playing the game.

Last week, after nearly 5 months since I last picked up a cue, I had sold one of my cues to a friend who had broken his so I said I'd meet him down the club to see if he liked the cue I was selling. I took my cue just to see whether I could still play alright and if the yips were still there.
Suffice to say they are and almost immediately it was back, so even a long break, the longest I've ever taken away from the game in nearly 20 years, hasn't done anything to get rid of the problem.

I've tried so many different things, saying something in my head to hit the cueball, changed my pre shot routine, tried shorter, longer and different types of backswing, even put in a long front pause which Del Hill advised though I didn't actually visit a coach because many of them don't have much experience or knowledge of the yips.

So now I've just resigned the fact that I've had my days in snooker, at 40 I just feel too old to bother trying to go back to basics or work on something when I know my game is only going to go into a natural decline anyway. I hope there is some proven advice or something that works for people who suffer from the game but from what I've read, there are very few players who get it and overcome to those who never overcome it and give up completely.

[Big Splash!]

JT calls it twitching (moving the cue off-line). Hendry called it yips, not being able to deliver the cue after a pause. I suppose terminology is important HMBS! All of these things are in the head as the Cat says, so all are solvable. Hypnosis? I guess that's a bit like meditation in a different way.

[Big Splash!]

Suffered with it for 18 months and in May this year finally gave up the game.

Started off stupidly enough when I was breaking off, I was hitting the reds slightly too thin and the white was coming in and out of baulk and leaving a pot on.
I tinkered around and it was possibly the table I was playing on too where the back cushion was a bit springy and it developed from there.

That being the first shot I play in a frame puts me in a negative mindset and that fear of playing a shot bad manifests itself into other shots. Over time my confidence drained, I was just unable to hit the cueball at all at times and the only way I could strike the ball was to hit with maximum power. The sheer frustration and tension from not being able to play the simplest of shots literally just rolling a straight red into a pocket got the better of me and I found I dreaded playing the game.

Last week, after nearly 5 months since I last picked up a cue, I had sold one of my cues to a friend who had broken his so I said I'd meet him down the club to see if he liked the cue I was selling. I took my cue just to see whether I could still play alright and if the yips were still there.
Suffice to say they are and almost immediately it was back, so even a long break, the longest I've ever taken away from the game in nearly 20 years, hasn't done anything to get rid of the problem.

I've tried so many different things, saying something in my head to hit the cueball, changed my pre shot routine, tried shorter, longer and different types of backswing, even put in a long front pause which Del Hill advised though I didn't actually visit a coach because many of them don't have much experience or knowledge of the yips.

So now I've just resigned the fact that I've had my days in snooker, at 40 I just feel too old to bother trying to go back to basics or work on something when I know my game is only going to go into a natural decline anyway. I hope there is some proven advice or something that works for people who suffer from the game but from what I've read, there are very few players who get it and overcome to those who never overcome it and give up completely.

Have you tried reading a book about this? It's not about the yips but situations where these kind of reactions arise (due to stress/confidence/etc), is covered in the Chimp Paradox by Ronnie's psychologist, Steve Peters. SP helped Ronnie with a lot of the mental issues of the game. I'm sad to read your predicament. Really I am. I hope you can find a solution.

[Dan-cat]

Hey cueman,

Man I really feel for you. The game needs you.

Think of it like this. What you've developed is a pre-learned behavioral pattern. You've carved out a synaptic pathway for yourself, a familiar well-worn route. A gigantic super highway to the yips. There's a dirt track off to the side, called 'I'm a great snooker player' but you are ignoring it.

You've installed a software program (Steve Peters would call it a gremlin) called 'I suffer from the yips' which you run everytime you are down on the shot. What you need to do is wipe that program, and install a new one, let's call it the 'I'm a ****ing great snooker player' program.

The Chimp Paradox is a great read - i can't recommend it highly enough. It contains methods for uninstalling these gremlins. Meditation, and hypnosis will definitely help. I know a brilliant hypnotherapist in London called Tim Smale, who cured me of jealousy in my relationships about 8 years ago. It was completely life-changing. Seriously. He removed the 'I'm scared of losing my girlfriend insecurity' program that I would run.

As for the age and decline thing, I think that is a limiting belief also. There are videos of Fred Davis making centuries at the Crucible in his 70s FFS! And look at Eddie Charlton. I'm 43 now, I didn't play for twenty years (I started again a couple of years ago) and I'm way better now than I was then. I play with a mate in his 50s and he pots long balls off the lamp shades.

[Hello, Mr Big Shot]

Have you tried reading a book about this? It's not about the yips but situations where these kind of reactions arise (due to stress/confidence/etc), is covered in the Chimp Paradox by Ronnie's psychologist, Steve Peters. SP helped Ronnie with a lot of the mental issues of the game. I'm sad to read your predicament. Really I am. I hope you can find a solution.

The Inner Game of Tennis always gets rave reviews. I have a copy but gave up after about 3 pages. Must finish it one day...