The yips refers to “extreme nervousness causing a golfer to miss easy putts.” More broadly applied, such sports-based performance anxiety can also lead to a pitcher making wild throws, a quarterback sailing the the ball, and the like. Pirates pitcher Steve Blass can certainly speak to the problem. He suffered such a severe case of the yips in the 1970s …
Adele’s Fear of the Stage
No popular artist is bigger these days than the British singer-songwriter Adele, and few have been as open about their stage fright. Rolling Stone In a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone, Adele disclosed about her performance anxiety: I’m scared of audiences. I get shitty scared. One show in Amsterdam, I was so nervous I escaped out the fire exit. I’ve …
Stage Fright & ‘American Idol’ Sonika Vaid
One of the standout performers in the final season of “American Idol,” Sonika Vaid, is no stranger to stage fright. Now that she’s made it into the final stages of the competition, the Martha’s Vineyard native is starting to receive quite a bit of media attention. It includes a profile interview found on the NBC news website. In the piece, …
Michael Bay & the Terrible, Horrible Very Bad Speech Fright Day
Speech fright can be painful to watch, and this video certainly proves it. However, it seems to be painful in an entertaining sort of way except perhaps for its subject, the Hollywood director Michael Bay. How else do you explain the more than one million views the YouTube video of the incident has attracted? It was apparently meant to be a …
Anxiety Robs Australian Swimmers at Olympics
The Olympic Games in Rio should have provided Australian swimmers with lots of opportunities for glory. Going into the Games, there was even talk of them winning up to ten gold medals. The actual take turned out to be just a fraction of that. Backstroke king Mitch Larkin took home one silver medal rather than two gold, freestyle star Cate …
Michael Bay & the Terrible, Horrible Very Bad Speech Fright Day
We examine director Michael Bay’s onstage mishap to show how speech anxiety can challenge even the most accomplished professionals. Discover the factors that led to his sudden panic—and learn techniques to manage unexpected hurdles in your own presentations.
Stage Fright & 'American Idol' Sonika Vaid
One of the standout performers in the final season of “American Idol,” Sonika Vaid, is no stranger to stage fright. Now that she’s made it into the final stages of the competition, the Martha’s Vineyard native is starting to receive quite a bit of media attention. It includes a profile interview found on the NBC news website. In the piece, …