Foot stomping

I understand the principal behind it, and why professionals think the marginal advantage it brings is worth the effort, but isn't it a tad annoying at the club level?

Am I right or wrong? Are those top players in the club good enough to justify all that noise they make, or are the just being annoying?

I suppose I shouldn't complain, since nobody does it down on my end of the place, but when I eventually improve enough to face opponents like that, would I be a complete ass to start loudly grunting every time I serve to mock them, or worse yet grunt every single time the ball toches my paddle, even on short balls?

If we're not careful, these foot stompers are going to do to our sport what that loud mouth shrieking Maria Sheripova, Serina Williams, and other self-involved women did to tennis. It became laughing stock fodder for comedians and talk show hosts all around the world!

I say let's nip this in the butt (or bud) and banish it with a simple rule change! Are you with me? Then contact your local ITTA affiliate and encourage him to put some pressure on them rule makers to fix this sh*t!

Personally, I blame the Irish for starting all this foot stomping stuff.

Originally Posted by dajdosta

If I have impaired hearing is it ok for me to politely suggest my opponent to stop stomping because I can't hear contact anyway and it's bad for his foot.

No.
Edit to say yes you may. But in the same manner he's then entitled to tell you "F-off". Assuming there's no umpire of course.

Originally Posted by NDH

Yeah, what @tinykin said......

It would be like someone with short arms asking me not to do drop shots or put the ball wide......

Or like me asking an opponent if he wouldn't mind occasionally returning the ball in the direction his stroke suggests, rather than mis-hitting every shot....... and I am the man who was once called out of order for putting a bright flourescent yellow edge tape on my bat ! But seriously, I've always thought stamping to be an affectation rather than achieving anything positive for the server so I'm quite relieved to hear it's not just done to piss off the opponent !

I am fine with people having a discussion on foot stomping on the serve. So, this is just information on biomechanics.

One thing foot stomping on the serve does besides mask the sound of contact, it also ensures weight transfer from the back leg to the front leg which helps with the use of the body as part of the stroke action of the serve and so, adds power and precision to the serve which, depending on how you contact, could add spin or speed.

You don't need to stomp your foot to have that weight transfer occur. But if you do the foot stomp, it is pretty much impossible not to have the weight transfer since the stomp is the audible evidence of the weight transferring to that front foot.

BTW: with the sound of the stomp being timed to the contact, you are also enduring that the weight transfer and the pop from your hips are well timed to the contact of the ball. So, if you are wondering why your serves don't have much spin, or you have trouble making fast serves, the foot stomp could actually help you improve on either of those things.

It is fine to learn how to time the weight transfer without making the sound. But if the sound is well timed to the contact on the serve, it would ensure that that his helping add to the inertia behind your serve stroke.

Also, since OP has mentioned "grunting" or really, what he is talking about is audible, forced exhales, it is worth noting that, timed to the contact of a stroke, particularly a FH power stroke, a forced exhale will add more power to your contact just like the sounds made on a "Karate Chop" add force to the impact of the karate chop.

Here too, you do not have to phonate (make sound) with a forced exhale on contact to have the forced exhale add power to the stroke, but the sound will make the forced exhale a more powerful exhale and add more power to your stroke then if you don't make the sound. And I suspect that most players who are doing that, are not paying attention or realizing that they are making the sound while they are doing it.

So, like with the foot stomp, the sound on exhale timed to the stroke adds power to the stroke. And like with the foot stomp, you don't need the sound, but the sound adds more power and a more pronounced engagement of muscles related to the stroke than the forced exhale without the sound. The weight transfer can happen without the stomp. But with the stomp the weight transfer will be more forceful and therefore add more power.

If you want to test the exhale thing, make strong forced exhale, with or without sound and feel how many muscles contract for you to do that. If you want to test the weight transfer, stand ready to serve and transfer weight from left foot to right foot several times. Then do it while picking the front foot up and stomping. I am sure with the exhale you will feel the muscles that contract and how that might add power to your stroke if timed to contact. With the foot stomp, I am sure you will feel how, the transfer happens faster and with more pop when you stomp your foot.

No, to the previous two before the last post (or previous however many)! You two have fallen off topic, but as the big shot OP running this sh*t show, I am allowed to deviate, so I'll respond before doing my job to keep the show on track.

No, my complaining about something that doesn't really affect me is nothing at all like someone with short arms asking you to stop hitting it out of their reach. That's a complete apple to my orange, but on that topic, it is absolutely something that needs some rules around it like the rules for handicaps that forbids all short serves and shots off the side of the table. It is a rule that should apply to children for instance. I'd post the video of the girl who repeatedly served cheap shot ghost serves out of the reach of the short kid, but that's too much work. Go find it yourself!

To the next guy throwing apples in my orange basket, I don't know how the sh*t getting annoyed at someone for constsntly mis-hitting the ball has any business under this topic, but he deserves recognition for his funny florescent tape story.

It reminds me of my idea of making a funny viral video that, now that I think of it, is still a valid idea, so I'd rather not share the idea (it is trying to enter a tournament with an illegal shirt covered in hundreds of balls hanging all over it. Someone make that video plz, since I'll never get around to it).

I'll share my tape idea instead. It is glitter tape from Walmart that I glue on top of the othet tape. I'll post a better pic later, along with my ball picker-upper invention I made out of a telescopic fly swatter.

To the last guy with all the technical jibber jabber about biomechanical this and that. I'm not buying any of it!-- not one bit! Go sell that nonsense to some dimwit who would buy the Brooklyn bridge from a telemarketer, because it makes less than half a lick of sense!

I learned the foot stomping serve from Waldner,besides the pros you pointed out did i miss that when i annoy you you might get frustrated and thus play not as good? I personally would like my Blade to play the Riff of Slayers" South of Heaven" when i make a stomp serve All kidding aside,It´s mostly guys who started playing and imitating Players from the late 1980-2000 Era,blame them. We just imitated them like you guys do with the new Players...

Yea, after reading the rest of the snake oil salesman's sh*t, and the next guy agreeing with him, I would agree there is a tiny extra punch to a karate chop with the vocals, but am pretty sure it is one hundred percent mental, as you can achieve the same exact result with the elevated blood pressure and what not without making the noise. Go ahead and see for yourself. Take a deep breath and push hard to force it out while tightening the muscles that restrict it in. I bet you can pop an eyeball vein or two without making a sound (maybe stop before your eyes pop out of your head).

I wonder how many of the top players do the foot stomp? Regardless, my point about club players doing it stands, not only for the marginal difference reason, but for the annoyance reason.

I may not grunt with ground strokes, but definitely can see myself making some loud nonsensical noise on my serves like a fart sound when I face off against one of them foot stompers!