Repeated failure to execute a simple pickleball shot, like the serve, can snowball into a crippling case of performance anxiety. Here's how to conquer the yips and hit the court stress-free.

Even writing the word is dangerous. Please don’t say it aloud. In golf, the dreaded Y word is like saying Beetlejuice. It’s never to be uttered, not even once.

That said, if you have ever had them—like I have—it’s worth understanding how they got there and what you can do to play through the pain and enjoy pickleball stress-free again.

What are the Yips? The yips are the inability to execute a relatively easy shot in a sport, especially when you have time to think about it. This time dimension is why coaches attempt to ice kickers in football with a strategic timeout, which often works.

If you want to play a sport at the highest level, you need to keep your thinking mind out of it. Flow state is only achieved when internal mechanics are automatic and the athlete focuses solely on what is happening externally.

Golf is the most common sport in which the yips take hold. While every golf shot is susceptible to the yips, they tend to infect the slower-speed shots the most, such as putts and chips.

Famously, the greatest golfer of all time, Tiger Woods, allegedly had the yips around the green during a span in 2015, and his rival Phil Mickelson helped him overcome them.

In pickleball, the yips most commonly affect the serve, as it's the only relatively easy shot that one has a lot of t... FULL ARTICLE FOUND ON: https://www.thedinkpickleball.com/how-to-play-your-way-through-the-yips/