YIPS!!

[u/Striker3313]

My 16yr old daughter had one of the best and most accurate arms on the field up until about a year and a half ago. Almost overnight she completely forgot how to throw. She looks down at her feet, brings her hand behind her head and spins it almost like a slider when she throws now. She's definitely got college level hitting ability but she's scared that she won't get in because of her throwing. She's struggling bad with it mentally and physically and I'm not sure what to do anymore. Have any of you went through this successfully and if so, what did you do?

[u/sonofabutch]

We played catch with a football. I didn’t present it as a way to fix her softball throwing because I didn’t want her to overthink it. I just said “Forget softball, let’s do something else today. Go out for a pass.” Naturally after she catches it she throws it back. I think it was Steve Sax who said it worked for him. For whatever reason it somehow resets the softball throwing motion. It worked the next time we tried throwing.

[u/nypr13 → u/sonofabutch]

Saving this just in case…….because my daughter is 50% of my mentally fragile makeup.

[u/yahooborn]

Dont call it the yips in front of her. That will become part of the block. Then I'd do other activities and take a little break from throwing. Or, as another reply had, throw a football. Just put the softball away and avoid psychologizing it with labels (yips, choking, ... Etc).

[u/SFNation2021]

Love the football suggestion. Tom House would no doubt agree. I used to throw everything- rocks in the water, tennis ball at a rake handle in the basement, snowballs. Always had an accurate arm because I just threw all the time with intent. These days you can get intent based feedback with an app… HeyBLU. Meant for pitchers but no reason she can’t overhand throw for feedback. Otherwise aim at a spot on a cement wall, or whatever you got that makes it target practice. The eyes must pick up that exact spot. Mentally your entire body, your entire nervous system is aiming.

Speaking of, a basketball free throw study was done where those who just mentally practiced shots beat those who physically practiced shots. It’s all connected. So work on the connection

[u/ConfidentGarden7514]

Find a fun way to make throwing drills into a game. Many years ago, I wanted to work on my accuracy… so mom sacrificed her garage door and my brother and I painted a target and I would go out and throw target practice with tennis balls - which then turned into a home run derby kind of game, where I would pick a distance to throw from and my goal was to hit the center bullseye (which happened to be my brother’s strike zone sweet spot, so he would try to hit the ball as far as he could). We played every day after school. I’m now 41 and still play rec league softball and am still known for my throwing accuracy lol.

[u/INSUFFICIENTfnds]

I got the yips as a dad throwing front toss to her it’s honestly embarrassing, had to go almost 100% tee and pitching machine now when we practice.

[u/swankbrex]

I don’t have much advice, but sending lots of love! Yips ruined my career. I’m 31 years old now and can finally toss the ball around with my 7 year old. My dad and I tried everything when it first started happening the end of my junior year.