Understanding the Yips in Golf: Thoughts, Feelings, and Focus of Attention in Yips-Affected Golfers

Philippen P, Lobinger BH. Understanding the Yips in Golf: Thoughts, Feelings, and Focus of Attention in Yips-Affected Golfers. Sport Psychologist. 2012;26(3):325-340.The yips in golf is the interruption of a smooth putting movement by an involuntary jerk or freezing of the ann. Psychological factors seem to worsen the phenomenon. However, published data on how the yips in golf is cognitively and emotionally experienced are very limited. Moreover, the focus of attention in yips-affected golfers has not been investigated. Thus, we interviewed 17 yips-affected golfers to record the thoughts and feelings that are experienced in a situation in which the yips occurs. In addition, we asked them about their focus of attention right before putting. Content analysis revealed a negative cognitive and emotional pattern for all golfers. Furthermore, 11 participants reported focusing either internally or on possible mistakes. The results contribute to an understanding of the yips in golf and provide a starting point for further investigations into possible interventions for the yips

Psychological Characteristics in Talented Soccer Players – Recommendations on How to Improve Coaches’ Assessment

Psychological characteristics, including personality traits and psychological skills, have been shown to be relevant predictors of soccer performance. In research, general and sport specific standardized self-report questionnaires have been applied in psychological diagnostics of sports talent. However, with regard to the assessment of psychological characteristics of talented soccer players, a gap between research and practice is apparent. While soccer clubs often ask their coaches to assess their players on self-designed, unevaluated scouting sheets, research widely neglects expert coaches’ and clubs’ perspectives on relevant performance characteristics. As we believe that expert coaches’ assessments could be a valid predictor of a player’s current performance and future success, we provide recommendations on how to improve coaches’ assessment of psychological characteristics. As the quality of the assessment of psychological characteristics is crucial, we provide recommendations on how to ensure the central diagnostic standards: objectivity, reliability, and validity in talent assessment. Further, we argue that assessing psychological characteristics should combine self ratings of players and external ratings of coaches in talent development. Sport psychologists should assist clubs and coaches in improving the diagnostics of psychological characteristics as well as in embedding psychological diagnostics and interventions in the talent development process

Self-report vs. kinematic screening test: prevalence, demographics, and sports biography of yips-affected golfers

Klämpfl MK, Philippen P, Lobinger BH. Self-report vs. kinematic screening test: prevalence, demographics, and sports biography of yips-affected golfers. Journal of Sports Science. 2015;33(7):655-664

Constituent year effect in masters sports: An empirical view on the historical development in US masters swimming

A participation-related constituent year effect, has been found to exist in masters sports in that relatively younger masters athletes (i.e., those in the first or second year of a 5-year age category) participate in competitions significantly more often than relatively older masters athletes (i.e., those in the fourth or fifth year of a 5-year age category). The main purpose of this study was to examine if the participation-related constituent year effect in US masters swimming always existed or if it has developed over time at different historical time periods. Using archived data, participation in the US Masters national short course swimming championships at each of the historical time periods in years 1972, 1982, 1992, 2002, 2012 and 2016 were examined as a function of an individual’s constituent year within any 5-year age category and across gender and age. The results indicated the existence of a participation-related constituent year effect for each of the six time periods. In particular, a participation-related constituent year effect seemed to have existed from the inception of organized masters swimming competitions in the US but has developed more strongly over the years especially for males and older-aged masters swimmers. Generally, the tendency to participate at National swimming competitions during the first year of an age category was significantly more pronounced, whereas the tendency of participating during the fifth year of an age category was lower. Findings suggest that the 5-year age categories may not provide an equal competitive opportunity especially for relatively older athletes as for those who are relatively younger, but may encourage more strategic periodized training and participation

The Psychophysiology of Action: A Multidisciplinary Endeavor for Integrating Action and Cognition

There is a vast amount of literature concerning the integration of action and cognition. Although this broad research area is of great interest for many disciplines like sports, psychology and cognitive neuroscience, only a few attempts tried to bring together different perspectives so far. Our goal is to provide a perspective to spark a debate across theoretical borders and integration of different disciplines via psychophysiology. In order to boost advances in this research field it is not only necessary to become aware of the different areas that are relevant but also to consider methodological aspects and challenges. We briefly describe the most relevant theoretical accounts to the question of how internal and external information processes or factors interact and, based on this, argue that research programs should consider the three dimensions: (a) dynamics of movements; (b) multivariate measures and; (c) dynamic statistical parameters. Only with an extended perspective on theoretical and methodological accounts, one would be able to integrate the dynamics of actions into theoretical advances