2006 is a foreign country; they do things differently there. Tiger Woods' reputation is entirely untarnished and the English Defence League does not exist yet. Storm-clouds of a different kind are gathering above the bar of Luton's less than exclusive Thistle Hotel. Among those caught up in the unfolding drama are a man who's had cancer seven times, a woman priest with an unruly fringe, the troubled family of a notorious local fascist, an interfering barmaid with three E's at A-level but a PhD in bullshit, a free-thinking Muslim sex therapist and his considerably more pious wife. But at the heart of every intrigue and the bottom of every mystery is the repugnantly charismatic Stuart Ransom – a golfer in free-fall. Nicola Barker's The Yips is at once a historical novel of the pre-Twitter moment, the filthiest state-of-the-nation novel since Martin Amis' Money and the most flamboyant piece of comic fiction ever to be set in Luton.
The teacher who works with Tiger Woods helps readers cure the yips--the frustrating problem that cause even the greatest players to miss short putts, jab chip shots over the green, or miss fairways by 80 yards off the tee. Photos throughout. 8-page color insert.
"THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON SPORTS is a must read for anyone involved in or simply interested in sports. It tells the real story of what I went through and how countless athletes of all levels are still going through now.....unnecessarily. When no one else could, they helped me to recognize how my throwing problems came directly from sports traumas that were stuck in my brain. And then Grand and Goldberg had the knowhow to release it with the miracle of Brainspotting." Mackey Sasser Former catcher for NY Mets "THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON SPORTS is a MUST READ for athletes, their parents and coaches, as well as for all psychotherapists and performance experts. In case you didn't know it, THE YIPS has a clearly explainable relationship to past trauma. All one has to do is take a detailed history of the life of an athlete from his/her earliest childhood, relate that to his/her history of physical injuries and throw in a dollop of shame and criticism from parents and coaches and the reason for the yips emerges with crystal clarity. These facts are clearly illustrated in this compelling, fascinating and ground-breaking book by Drs. Grand and Goldberg. Brain-based principles of body-based memory, neurosensitization and cue-related anxiety from the trauma literature clearly prove that the yips come from post-traumatic stress syndrome. And Brainspotting has shown to be dramatically effective in mitigating, and even healing, this vexing syndrome." Robert Scaer, MD Author of THE BODY BEARS THE BURDEN and THE TRAUMA SPECTRUM THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON SPORTS: Beating Blocks, Slumps and Performance Anxiety for Good is the ground-breaking book that will change the face of sports performance forever. This book introduces the breakthrough concept of STSD (Sport Traumatic Stress Disorder). Grand and Goldberg have discovered that STSDs are the cause of most significant performance problems. Performance blocks and anxiety, including the yips, stem from accumulated sports traumas including sports injuries, failures and humiliations. The authors also introduce the Brainspotting Sports Performance System (BSPS) which quickly finds, releases and resolves the sports traumas held in your brain and body. An easy read, THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON SPORTS is filled with engaging, informative, inspiring stories. These case examples illustrate how professional, elite, collegiate and junior athletes have been freed for good from this silent "epidemic" of performance blocks and anxiety including: the yips, "Steve Blass disease," "Mackey Sasser syndrome," protracted slumps, balking, choking and freezing. THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON SPORTS provides the answers and the cure for athletes, their coaches and parents about "Beating Blocks, Slumps and Performance Anxiety for Good " Grand and Goldberg also show how their BSPS can take all athletes to levels they could only heretofore dream of www.thisisyourbrainonsports.com
One day, an athlete goes to play their sport, whether it is baseball, softball, football, tennis, ping pong, golf, bowling, volleyball, soccer, hockey, frisbee, horseshoes, or other sports, and then, another day, out of the blue, for no clear reason, the athlete can no longer perform their basic athletic action even though they have been routinely doing it for years. Their fine motor skills are gone. This is due to an enigmatic condition known as The Yips. It seems to mostly affect athletes who are in their prime. The medical community lacks understanding of it, and there is not much that can be done. As a result, an athlete may be forced to abandon their sport. This book takes an in-depth look into the yips condition and attempts to make some sense out of it. Keith Siragusa shares his story of how the yips caused him to struggle in tennis. He abandoned his college tennis team and had many difficulties on the tennis court, thereafter.
He is not a pro golfer. Nor a successful amateur, or a respected writer on the game. He is not a golf commentator, or a caddie, or a gold guru, or a Dutch sports psychologist, or ageing, golf-playing light entertainer. No: Richard Russell is just an ordinary golfer. An under-achieving member of Sunningdale, whose only claim to fame is that he never, ever wears a sweater – not even in January. He plays of 6, which is the worst handicap anyone can have in golf: too low to win the handicap competition, too high to win the scratch ones. Consequently, his life is one of joint fifteenths and dusty mantelpieces. Part autobiography, part theory, part book of golfing fun, My Baby Got the Yips is unlike any golf book you've ever read. It doesn’t lift the lid on the Ryder Cup. It won’t reveal the man behind the myth, and it doesn’t go behind the scenes at the Majors. This playful memoir of a golfing nobody is concerned with much more interesting and rarely-ponders matters. For example: the best way to throw a golf club; the greatest golfer you've never heard of; the ten most marvellous golfing moments; the champion who became a hacker; the impossibleness of putting; the civilised splendour of the halfway hut, and the secret of golf. As you reach the end, you will conclude that this is a man who feels about golf the way that millions around the world do. Charming, funny and wise, My Baby got the Yips captures the essence of the game and touches everybody who plays it.
Have you ever wondered exactly how high to hang your artwork? How about the light fixture over your dining table? Do you know how to ideally size a rug for any room, or the best way to arrange your furniture? Trusted designer Vern Yip answers these questions, and more, by revealing the right formulas and measurements that can make any room feel just "right." And once you know these key design principles, you're free to confidently create a home that uniquely celebrates your needs and style. Vern shares his favorite insider tips, and opens his doors to show how he's made them work in his own beloved homes. Vern Yip's Design Wise provides both the inspiration and the clear, essential guidelines you need to create a home that perfectly reflects you.
A disastrous error on the field sends five lives into a tailspin in this widely acclaimed tale about love, life, and baseball, praised by the New York Times as "wonderful...a novel that is every bit as entertaining as it is affecting." Named one of the year's best books by the New York Times, NPR, The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Bloomberg, Kansas City Star, Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Time Out New York. At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended. Henry's fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. College president Guert Affenlight, a longtime bachelor, has fallen unexpectedly and helplessly in love. Owen Dunne, Henry's gay roommate and teammate, becomes caught up in a dangerous affair. Mike Schwartz, the Harpooners' team captain and Henry's best friend, realizes he has guided Henry's career at the expense of his own. And Pella Affenlight, Guert's daughter, returns to Westish after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new life. As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets. In the process they forge new bonds, and help one another find their true paths. Written with boundless intelligence and filled with the tenderness of youth, The Art of Fielding is an expansive, warmhearted novel about ambition and its limits, about family and friendship and love, and about commitment -- to oneself and to others. "First novels this complete and consuming come along very, very seldom." --Jonathan Franzen
A madcap new story from Sue Cheung, winner of the Diverse Book Award, filled with belly-laughs and packed with drawings! Perfect for fans of Tom Gates and Sam Wu. Maddy Yip is perfectly happy in life, until she realises that everyone she knows has a talent – except for her! Maddy is determined to change that, with the help of her brothers, bewildered grandad and her best friend Dev. There are disastrous attempts at breakdancing and playing the recorder, revolting cakes, and a magic disappearing trick that ends up with an escaped guinea pig. Will Maddy ever find her true calling?
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today • “Everything a romantic comedy should be: witty, relatable, and a little complicated.”—People A heartfelt debut about the unlikely relationship between a young woman who’s lost her husband and a major league pitcher who’s lost his game. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR In a sleepy seaside town in Maine, recently widowed Eveleth “Evvie” Drake rarely leaves her large, painfully empty house nearly a year after her husband’s death in a car crash. Everyone in town, even her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside, and Evvie doesn’t correct them. Meanwhile, in New York City, Dean Tenney, former Major League pitcher and Andy’s childhood best friend, is wrestling with what miserable athletes living out their worst nightmares call the “yips”: he can’t throw straight anymore, and, even worse, he can’t figure out why. As the media storm heats up, an invitation from Andy to stay in Maine seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button on Dean’s future. When he moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie’s house, the two make a deal: Dean won’t ask about Evvie’s late husband, and Evvie won’t ask about Dean’s baseball career. Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken—and what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more. To move forward, Evvie and Dean will have to reckon with their pasts—the friendships they’ve damaged, the secrets they’ve kept—but in life, as in baseball, there’s always a chance—up until the last out. A joyful, hilarious, and hope-filled debut, Evvie Drake Starts Over will have you cheering for the two most unlikely comebacks of the year—and will leave you wanting more from Linda Holmes. Praise for Evvie Drake Starts Over “A quirky, sweet, and splendid story of a woman coming into her own.”—Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six “Effortlessly enjoyable . . . [a] pitch-perfect . . . adult love story that is as romantic as it is real.”–USA Today “Charming, hopeful, and gently romantic . . . Evvie Drake is great company.”—Rainbow Rowell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eleanor & Park
