Drilling for gold in the sprint relays.

Athletes with better than average speed do not necessarily make the best relay runners. Speed is an advantage, of course, but it must be accompanied by the ability to receive and hand off the baton smoothly and efficiently. And that requires a lot of hard work, concentration, and discipline.

A sound assortment of relay drills are required to teach (1) the fundamentals, (2) the baton exchange, and (3) a sense of teamwork while avoiding the monotony of the training sessions.

As a coach, I began my drills at a very basic level and then gradually worked up to the full-speed exchanges on the track, using the actual exchange zone.

Some of the drills were used primarily in the pre-season, some in the pre-race warm-up, and others periodically as "technique refreshers."

However, the best way to develop consistency in the hand-offs is by working out on the track, using the actual exchange zone, and running at top speed each and every time.

Drill #1: Teach the mechanics of the baton exchange with both runners in a stationary position.

Execution: Have the runners begin working in pairs: Runners 1-2, 3-4, and eventually, 2-3. Runner 1 (incoming runner) lines up behind the outgoing Runner 2's left shoulder. Runner 3 (incoming runner) lines up behind the left shoulder of Runner 4 (outgoing runner).

When Runners 2 and 3 work together, Runner 2 (incoming) will line up behind the right shoulder of Runner 3 (outgoing).

Points of emphasis:

* Outgoing runner extends his arm fully, high, and with the palm of the hand facing up.

* Don't look back for the baton.

* Establish a rhythm for the hand-off.

* Outgoing runner doesn't look back for the baton. He must be confident that incoming runner will place the baton in his hand.

* Incoming runner grips lower portion of baton and concentrates on the proper placement of the baton.

* Outgoing runner grasps the upper portion of the baton.

Drill #2: Teach the mechanics of the baton exchange with both runners stationary and the incoming runner using a predetermined command.

Execution: An extension of Drill #1 with the runners' positioning the same. Outgoing runner begins moving his arms in a normal running action. When incoming runner gives the command of "Stick!" (or any other one-syllable command), the outgoing runner must thrust his arm backwards, while the incoming runner snaps the baton into the extended hand. The baton is returned to the incoming runner and the drill is performed again.