Fist Pumping: Pleasure or Ploy?
By Vic Braden

Players who pump their fists or vigorously vent their emotions during competition both please and annoy their competitors and fans. Jimmy Connors aroused the fans with his aggressive fist-pumping movements, particularly while playing in the US Open on his fortieth birthday. As the crowd was going wild urging him to victory, Connors looked into the courtside camera and shouted over the din, “This is what the people want—this is what they came for.” Connors knew how to get the fans on his side by pumping his fists and pumping up the crowd.

However, there are current situations that have the public and players divided. Leyton Hewitt was seen pumping his fists after his opponent double faulted. Hewitt says he gestures to keep his confidence high. But some players are angry that he would cheer for an opponent’s errors. “Poor and ugly sportsmanship” is one of the cries against Hewitt. Maria Sharapova punctuates the majority of her shots with an audible exhale, much like Monica Seles’s signature two grunts, which often annoys her opponent and irritates the crowd. Just what is acceptable motivational behavior for players, and when does it cross the line into poor sportsmanship?

Over the years, I have seen so many behavior patterns that it’s not easy to discover the motives. In general, there are three reasons why some players use aggressive physical gestures during competition:

1) to keep a key area of one’s brain alert
2) to irritate an opponent and cause him or her to commit an error
3) all of the above

Dr. Daniel Amen, my mentor, has conducted more that 28,000 brain scans. He can readily see which parts of the brain are not performing properly. The frontal area of the brain needs to be very active to make intelligent decisions and to keep motivation levels high. Some players attempt to “get up” and keep alert by fist pumping. But there are players who use gestures and sounds to irritate and intimidate their opponents. And, there are players who use such action for all the reasons listed above.

The unwritten rule is that one doesn’t applaud an opponent’s errors—that goes for players and fans. But spectators have become participants in today’s sports world. At a NBA basketball game, fans waving white plastic strips can be seen in front of an opposing team player attempting to sink a free throw. Fans now paint their bodies to be seen on television. Spectators throw bottles onto the baseball field and they attempt to make an opposing team member angry until a fight follows, as with the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers this season. Some fans even interfere with the game by catching baseballs still in play.

I love to watch players pump themselves after hitting a great point, especially when they are motivating themselves to lift their game to the next level. On the other hand, if I suspect a player is using such physical gestures to intimidate an opponent, he or she loses my respect.

Motor learning research has proved many times that winners are “process oriented” as opposed to “outcome oriented.” That is, they focus on the execution of each shot rather than on the result of the match. By concentrating more on their shots than on the score, players will more likely keep their gestures and sounds within the realm of good sportsmanship.

Matches should be won because one player outplayed the other, not because a player used gestures and gamesmanship to intentionally intimidate an opponent. The rules of sportsmanship haven’t changed for over a century, but some fans and players have.

Vic Braden is a well-known sports science researcher and licensed psychologist. He has authored six books, produced his own instructional and motivational videos, hosted his own television shows and provided televised tennis commentary for numerous professional events.