Clark Lea discusses overcoming baseball ‘yips’ during college career

Vanderbilt football head coach Clark Lea, a two-time Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year, faced a significant mental hurdle during his collegiate baseball career. While playing as a catcher at Birmingham-Southern College and later at Belmont University, Lea experienced the ‘yips,’ a psychological condition that caused a mental block during routine tasks such as receiving and throwing pitches.

Lea described the experience as an existential crisis, noting that his identity was heavily tied to athletic success. To overcome the paralyzing fear, his coach at Belmont, Dave Jarvis, encouraged him to use mental distractions to shift his focus away from the conscious mechanics of the game and back toward subconscious reaction.