A stutter step is a footwork technique in tennis and other sports.
It allows the player to be in a stable ready position while moving forward and creating a higher percentage volley.
In basketball, the stutter step is a common warm-up drill where you shuffle and scuff your feet in a quick moving motion across a length of flooring.
This warm-up is supposed to keep the players alert and help them prepare to defend players in a real game, since the stutter step is a littler version of shuffling.
In track and field, a stutter step is usually related to an event where foot placement needs to be precise: shortened adjustment steps leading up to a hurdle, or on a runway event where the final step initiates the jump, vault or throw.