Performance Blocks in Sport

Richard Fryer, Lead Psychologist Archery Australia

"Target Panic" (archery, shooting), "The Yips" (golf, tennis, cricket, baseball), "Lost Move Syndrome", "Flikikammo", "The Twisties" (gymnastics), "Dartitis" (darts). These are just some of the many creative names given by athletes to the phenomena that is now being collectively called a performance block – a potentially debilitating and in certain circumstances physically dangerous situation that can result in a range of undesirable outcomes including under-performance at peak events like the Olympic and Paralympic Games or premature retirement from sport.

Despite performance blocks in many sports being seen as the athletic equivalent of Harry Potter’s Lord Voldemort (he who must not be named), in recent times - likely due to the openness and profile of gymnasts Simone Biles and Bryony Page - there has been an explosion of interest in the subject and a wide range of advice being shared about how to recover from them. Whilst all this advice is no doubt well-intended, it typically comes from athlete and coach personal experience and despite a growing body of research literature on the subject, much of the available advice is poor quality.

What is a performance block?

Performance blocks are locked, stuck, or frozen movements, with a temporary loss of fine and/or gross motor control that affect a highly-skilled athlete’s ability to execute previously automatic movements. Performance blocks can show up as some combination of physical disruption (e.g. loss of movement control, such as flinching) and/or psychological distress (e.g. anxiety).

In Olympic Recurve archery for example, where performance blocks are referred to as target panic, this can show up as an inability to expand past the clicker resulting in shooting early, frequent bow let-downs due to extended holds at full draw, shaking, and involuntary flinches. Despite being frequently present, it doesn’t appear that anxiety or fear cause the performance block, rather they are a response to the block and its unpredictability. Performance blocks can be triggered by seemingly innocuous situations which can lead to high levels of frustration, confusion, shame and embarrassment.

Why do performance blocks happen?

There are a range of theories about why performance blocks occur, including rare neurological conditions (such as focal dystonia), reinvestment of conscious cognitive effort into skills that can usually be performed automatically, and emotional attachment to previous significant life events or trauma, such as past major injuries. Furthermore, it has been suggested that performance blocks may persist for a range of reasons, including athletes attempting multiple fixes to the problem contributing to a spiral of confusion, anxiety and ultimately avoidance, as well as pressure from well-meaning coaches who whilst grappling with their own confusion can lack the empathy required to help the athlete. This coach frustration can often lead to a search for rapid fixes which again can cause more harm.

What can be done?

Unfortunately, a lot of advice in sports like archery are founded on shaky ground. A common belief is that performance blocks occur because critical steps have been missed in the way the sport is taught which then only show up as a problem when the athlete reaches the highest levels of precision. Whilst this feels logical, the existence of performance blocks across every precision sport yet without them affecting every athlete in those sports would tend to indicate that performance blocks are more deep-rooted and individual than just a failure of our teaching approaches.

The bottom line in the treatment of performance blocks is that it’s complicated and will almost certainly take time to resolve. Any athlete that finds themselves watching a video that leads with the line “This trick fixed my target panic and works 100 per cent of the time”, or “this one simple change can make all the difference in the world” should proceed with more than a little caution. While the research literature remains inconclusive about what works, there are some promising directions to consider. What does seem clear however, is that single approaches taken in isolation are unlikely to prove effective.

Methods used to treat performance blocks

1. Avoidance. This ranges from trying to ignore it, taking some time off from sport to ultimately giving up. This approach is clearly effective at alleviating a performance block, but the consequence is the athlete giving up on something that is likely important to them, which may cause issues to be worked through later.
2. Physical intervention. These include work done to change technique, adapt equipment, or go back to learning the skill again as if from scratch. It can also involve changing the difficulty of the task. In archery this could include moving the target closer or removing the target face. The idea here is that performance blocks are an ‘error’ in the motor program that requires ‘re-booting’ for it to work again. Most of the available online advice (particularly via podcasts) falls into this category. The most famous story is GB trampoline athlete Bryony Page who suffered a performance block and re-learnt her skills from beginner level and eventually won an Olympic silver medal at the Rio Olympic Games.
3. Psychological intervention. These can include a reduction of pressure on the athlete, provision of emotional support, therapy support, and mental skills training. This covers a wide range of potential support areas. For example, therapy work could focus on increasing acceptance of the loss of motor skill control, or explore of how perfectionistic tendencies could contribute to the performance block. Additionally, mental skills such as functional imagery training is sometimes advocated to help athletes see their way through the difficulties. Unfortunately, many of these approaches have been shown to have either short-lived benefits (traditional cognitive therapy), or only indirect benefits for grit and motivation (functional imagery). Emotional support is of course critical, with coaches and the broader support network playing an important role in helping an athlete navigate an extended period of emotional and physical challenge.
4. Medical and emerging interventions. It is worth highlighting three additional approaches emerging in the treatment of performance blocks. The first is surgery. This is relevant for only the small percentage of performance blocks that are neurological in nature. This so-called focal dystonia, also referred to as Type I Yips, has been shown to be responsive to surgery, specifically a ventro-oral thalamotomy – a procedure often used to help Parkinson’s disease sufferers. A second, promising approach is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). This therapy approach has existed for some time as a treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress, and is now being applied successfully to the treatment of performance blocks. This is based on the emerging view that performance blocks may be in part due to trauma. Whilst there is insufficient evidence to conclude that EMDR is always appropriate, the early research is encouraging. In a similar vein, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) are an approach that blends eastern-philosophy meridian tapping with cognitive behaviour therapy. Again, whilst the evidence is limited, this approach appears to have some effect.

Is there a “most effective” way of treating performance blocks?

One of the challenges with understanding performance blocks is that not everyone experiences them despite being exposed to many of the same challenges and situations as other athletes in training and competition. It is likely therefore that some people may be more vulnerable to performance blocks than others. For example, perfectionism, rumination, injury history, and tendency to try and consciously control movements (so-called "reinvestment") may all be contributing factors.

Some have gone on to suggest that external pressures, such as from coaches (particularly for youth athletes) can exacerbate the issue. Athletes often look to coaches for help, but coaches often don’t understand performance blocks and can respond negatively (e.g. demonstrating frustration or forcing the behaviour). This is entirely understandable but almost always unhelpful.

There are likely to be a range of individual, historical, and social factors that may be at play that can be impacting on the presentation of a performance block. Being aware of this can help resist the temptation to jump to quick-fix solutions. In fact, trying multiple things to ‘fix the problem’ can make things worse.

What can we conclude from this about how athletes and coaches can approach dealing with performance blocks? Whilst there is no "most effective" treatment, there are three takeaways.

1. Performance blocks are complex. They can’t be understood or treated with one simple approach. It is likely that a range of things used in combination and matched to the specific context and needs of the athlete. This should be guided by an appropriately qualified professional.
2. Stop looking for quick fixes. Treatment of performance blocks is likely to take some time and when an athlete is open to this and resists the temptation to delve into what YouTube and Instagram says they should do, they are likely to recover quicker.
3. Remember this is not intentional. When we see an athlete who was previously a high performer suddenly struggle to do the most basic things, we can easily get frustrated and fail to empathise with their struggle. It is important that coaches and other support staff meet the athlete where they are and provide the help they need to recover.

References

• Bennett, J. & Maynard, I. (2017). Performance blocks in sport: Recommendations for treatment and implications for sport psychology practitioners. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 8:1, 60-68, DOI: 10.1080/21520704.2016.1227414
• Clarke, P., Sheffield, D., & Akehurst, S. (2015) The yips in sport: A systematic review, International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 8:1, 156-184, DOI:10.1080/1750984X.2015.1052088
• Horisawa S, Kushi K, Kawamata T, & Taira T. (2022) Successful Treatment of Baseball-Related Dystonia (Yips) with Ventro-Oral Thalamotomy. Mov Disord Clin Pract. 10(3):507-509. doi: 10.1002/mdc3.13637
• Maaranen, A., Van Raalte, J. L., & Brewer, B. W. (2020). Mental blocks in artistic gymnastics and cheerleading: Longitudinal analysis of flikikammo. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 14, 251-269. DOI: 10.1123/jcsp.2018-0101
• Prior, E. E., & Coates, J. K. (2020). Archers’ experiences of target panic: An interpretative phenomenological analysis. Qualitative research in sport, exercise and health. 2:2, 224-241, DOI: 10.1080/2159676X.2019.1599061
• Rhodes, J. (2024). Treating target panic in precision sports. Psychology Today. Downloaded 5/3/24 from https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/imagery-coaching/202402/treating-target-panic-in-precision-sports
• Williams, A., Butt, J., & Kavanagh, E. (2023). An exploration of coaches’ and sport psychologists’ experiences of managing performance blocks. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, DOI: 10.1080/10413200.2023.2214745