North Texas Sports Psychologist Discusses Brett Maher’s Repeated Miskicks and ‘Yips’

Dallas (CBSDFW.COM) — Maybe it was just a bad game. You’ll forget everything in a week. But everyone from golfers to baseball players will be making the Cowboys playoffs on Monday. Brett in his game. I can’t.

“Yips” can occur suddenly. He throws a selfish throw back to the pitcher once, and the catcher realizes he might throw it back the next time, and gets bogged down. A golfer who misses a 2 foot putt taps the next putt outside the green.

Dr. Matt Johnson, a sports psychologist consultant in Fort Worth, explained that lack of control is debilitating.

“If our mind is thinking, ‘Oh, we have to win this, don’t miss this,’ it’s because we’re focusing on what we’ve done a million times before. ,” said Dr. Johnson.

He can’t say if that’s what millions of people saw the professional athlete experience on Monday. Instead, we chose to help athletes refocus and solve problems.

Thinking more about your mistakes only causes an increase in high-frequency brainwaves, disrupting the once-reliable signals to your muscles about when to fire, how much force to use, and in which order to focus on a target.

Getting back into the routine and limiting distractions is often the most important thing in regaining control.

There is no timeline for fixes.

Dr. Patrick Cohn often tells athletes he knows it’s not like taking a cold and curing it.

At practices in Central Florida, he developed a program for young baseball players to beat the Yips. He said they often compare it to the feeling of an alien taking control of one’s arm.

Making athletes trust their abilities, routines, and freedom of movement again can often get them back on the right track over time.

“If it’s just one game where the athlete had a lot of worry, anxiety, or too much control, I think it’s quicker to get the athlete back on track,” Dr. Cohn said.

He also didn’t want to conclude that repeated kick failures indicated a diagnosis of a deeper problem. said.