Footwork, Part IV: The Halting Step
 

In this part, we examine the fourth movement: the halting step. You use this movement when the ball has been hit crosscourt to your backhand and then to your forehand so that you must increase your speed to reach the ball in time for a stable stroke. Your excess speed presents a significant problem for halting your motion, recovering, and efficiently reversing direction back toward the center of the court.

Note that the player in the video, after her reverse and recovery from the ad court, transitions to the sidestep to facilitate observation and orientation. She then uses the forward step to reach the striking position, but her speed prevents her from planting her outside foot. After the strike, which is combined with a direction reverse and a weight shift, she plants her right (outside) foot to halt her momentum. This is the key time-saving step. As usual for this player, she uses minimal effort to execute each action.

 
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The halting step requires greater strength and timing than any of the previously discussed steps.

As with previous videos, this video shows that efficient footwork is, in part, the art of combining multiple movements into one effort (including strike-related movements), rather than executing them sequentially.