- What exactly does PMPM Sports teach?
We teach drills and concepts that set up by design, what an athlete usually experiences by chance, when playing their best. We also teach a deeper understanding of sports; specifically about motion in sports, which for the most part is not completely understood by coaches and athletes. We explain in great detail exactly what is happening when an athlete is locked in and playing their best. Sports is all about motion, motion is all about the muscles and we have uncovered the mechanics of the operating system of the muscles.
- It sounds like you are sports psychologists?
No, we are not sports psychologists. But interestingly, a sports psychologist tries to trigger in an athlete's mind, the same processes that we teach directly through our drills, which enable them to play at their highest level. These processes in the mind are identical for all athletes in all situations. In some situations, we feel it's important to refer a client to a sports psychologist who is familiar with our program.
- What are these processes to which you're referring?
They are the ability to experience time moving normally, the ability to shut down the highly discriminating intellect and the ability to activate the fast-twitch muscles that lead to fluid, powerful, effortless motion.
- So your program consists of just teaching drills and that's it?
No. Our program consists of three parts, all equally important. First are learning the drills. Second is understanding how the drills make your motion more effective. Third, which is very crucial, is follow-up. We teach a program that is very subtle (but very powerful) and follow-up is absolutely crucial. We stay in touch with our players through phone calls, email and propriety made videos, throughout the entire season.
- Aren't there other things to consider which enable an athlete to play his best?
Absolutely. But the ability to play one's best and reach his full potential will ultimately rest on their ability to experience the above three processes in the heat of competition.
- Can someone work with a hitting, pitching, or swing coach and still do this program?
Our program complements the work done with other coaches. It enables a player to repeat the motion that is being refined by other coaches. It also accelerates a player's ability to make changes in his motion.
- How does that happen?
The first fundamental in any sport is mental freedom. If a player has mental freedom, then his body will have the freedom to make any adjustments it wants. Without mental freedom, it is almost impossible to have complete physical freedom. We like to say that we moisten the clay (the mind) and then the clay can be molded in any shape it wants (the body). We have found that the process of making mechanical changes in a player's motion is greatly accelerated with our program.
- Is there any downside to the program?
None whatsoever.
- Where is the program taught?
All of our work takes place on the playing field, court or course.
- Is this a philosophy?
No. The muscles do not operate based on philosophy or certain beliefs. They operate according to specific laws of motion. That is why descriptions from athletes in different sports are similar in terms of how they feel when playing their best. Water will boil at 212 degrees whether someone believes it will, or does not believe it will. Whether someone believes in laws of motion or not, they operate the same way in all athletes. We have uncovered what these laws are, and are able to teach them systematically.
PMPM Sports has its origins in two remarkable experiences that its founders, Steven Yellin and Buddy Biancalana, had on the athletic field.
In 1975, I (Steven) was a senior on the University of Pennsylvania tennis team. But after a successful junior tennis career in Florida (Florida State High School singles champion) and three years of playing varsity tennis on Penn's team, I was burnt out on tennis. As they say, the thrill was gone.
But something remarkable happened one day in a challenge match I played in my senior year. Something happened that launched a lifetime career of teaching sports from another level. On that day, I went into the Zone. Not only did I go into the Zone, but I REALLY went into the Zone. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before, either on the court or off the court. My game became so superfluid and effortless that it felt like I was not even playing tennis. This experience completely changed my understanding of tennis (and eventually of all sports).
For the next year, I thought about that experience every day. I analyzed it from every conceivable angle and eventually came up with a remarkable and sports-transforming realization: what you do when you do nothing on the court is more important than what you do when you do something, because in that moment of doing nothing, the motion is formed.
Here was the secret to the Zone. The secret is in that arena of silence before the motion starts. If the correct arena is formed, then the Zone can knock on your door. If the correct arena is not formed (and it is a very subtle arena to construct), then the Zone most likely will not knock on your door that day.
I spent the next 30 years developing drills and concepts that would allow someone to have that same experience.
The co-founder of PMPM Sports, Buddy Biancalana, had similar experiences in the 1985 World Series as the starting shortstop for the eventual champions, the Kansas City Royals. In those seven games of the most pressure-packed athletic contest imaginable, he also went into the Zone (see “Getting on Top and Staying There” in the Article's section).
Like my experience, it was remarkable in every way. He hit .278 (he was a career .205 hitter), played errorless at shortstop and got some game-winning hits and made some game-saving plays.
When Buddy and I met in 2006, we talked about our experiences and we shared stories. I told him what I was teaching and he started to teach baseball players the drills and understanding of sports I have been teaching tennis players and golfers for 30 years. In those 30 years I had seen remarkable transformations in my students' game.
When Buddy applied these drills to baseball, he saw the same results. Quite honestly, he was astonished. Quite honestly, I wasn't, as I realized long ago that motion is motion, whether it is the motion of a tennis player or the motion of a pitcher or a hitter. Motion has the same origin in any athlete.
Within a few months of starting PMPM Sports we had broken into Major League Baseball and had players using our drills. We plan on doing the same with professional athletes in all sports.
Our understanding of sports identifies the essential conditions of what happens when someone plays “lights out”. We teach athletes how to set up those conditions by design, rather than by chance, as is usually the case. It is a powerful, simple and systematic approach which any athlete in any sport can learn and which will allow them to reach their potential.
We invite you contact us and try it for yourself.
—Steven Yellin
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