Yasuo Susaki

Relations between the Experience of the Yips and Athletes’ Psychological Growth

Traditionally, the ‘yips’ has been known as a movement disorder observed when a golfer is putting (e.g., [1]) and according to a survey that McDaniel, et al. [1] conducted on 1050 golfers, there was a 42% response rate and 28% reported that they had experienced the yips. Furthermore, according to a survey that Smith, et al. [2] conducted on 1031 golfers, 541 (52%) responded that they had experienced the yips in the past. On the other hand, baseball players also suffer from the yips in the same way[3, 4]. Commonly noted characteristics of the yips include a sudden inability to perform a previously natural action or motion [2], an inability to control one’s own body as intended [5], and chronic or perpetual symptoms [6, 7]. As reported in baseball, the yips primarily manifests in actions like pitching and throwing the ball [8]. Therefore, previous studies on the yips in baseball players have used special terminology such as “psychogenetic Abstract