How to Not Think about Yipping a Throw
Worry about the yips, making errors, slumps and bad games are mind clutter that can affect some baseball players for an entire season.
Yips, errors, slumps and bad games can create profound, intense negative images that, once these negative images take hold, seem to lurk in your mind and be the only thing you can focus on for an extended period of time.
Most baseball players have no difficulty at all recalling some of their worst games because the images are indelibly marked on their minds.
Even if a coach tells a player, “Don’t think about that error,” it still replays in that player’s mind.
“Don’t think about it” is not an good strategy to forget making mistakes, having the yips or playing bad in a series of games.
It is no different than the age-old conundrum…”Don’t think of an elephant. Your mind immediately drifts to images of elephants. This is often referred to as “ironic rebound”.
This phenomenon is a process where deliberate efforts to suppress thoughts or images only make the images or thoughts more likely to pop up in your mind.
When you try to suppress negative images or thoughts, not only do those images come closer in your mind, you reinforce those images. When you get to that point, the negative images create more anxiety, stress and fear, making the images more even intense.
Atlanta Braves pitcher Touki Toussaint tried the “Don’t think about it” strategy to no avail.
Toussaint had the yips a couple of years ago in spring training. Toussaint tried to tell himself not to throw a bad pitch, but focusing on not throwing a bad pitch only resulted in throwing a bad pitch.
Eventually, Toussaint decided to focus on what he wanted to do rather the negative/avoidance script that lead to poor results.
TOUSSAINT: “I legit had the yips in spring training of 2017. I couldn’t even throw it near the catcher. I told myself it couldn’t get any worse, and I started figuring it out. It was like, ‘Don’t throw it away. Don’t make a bad pitch.’ But you’d make the bad pitch. I stopped telling myself that and said, ‘Just throw the ball,’ and it started clicking.”
Toussaint’s turnaround was the direct result of changing what he thought about when throwing. Instead of fearing a bad outcome, he switched his focus on just throwing the ball or immersing himself in the process.
Focusing on the failures of the past has never helped a baseball player advance their game or overcome mistakes, slumps or the yips.
Thinking of the past keeps your head in the past and takes your focus off what is important to perform your best in the moment.
Getting over the past is a matter of focusing on the present.
Overcoming Yips, Slumps and Mistakes:
Instead of thinking about what NOT to do (don’t spike the ball), give yourself a verbal cue of what you want to do as you make the play.
You don’t want to think about striking out during your at-bat. Instead, you will do better thinking about making solid contact.
For throwing, you might use; “just throw,” “hit the target,” or “see the throw and let it go.”
Remember, the fear of making a bad throw will only lead to over control, tension, and worry. Keep it simple and think about the ball hitting the glove only.
And if you want more help with overcoming the lob throw, contact me about one-on-one mental coaching for the yips.
Related Baseball Articles:
- How Confidence Affects Your Ability to Accurately Throw
- Why Ball Players Go to a Safe Throw
- Why Short Toss is the Hardest
Breaking The Yips Cycle Audio
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The Yips Cycle is a vicious cycle that causes ball players to stay trapped in overthinking and over control…
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