In the 4x100, the BATON stays in MIDDLE of the lane!

What you write makes sense but honestly I would be more worried about receiving and passing with my uncoordinated hand than running into the next runner.

JH coaches know this. College and Olympic coaches shouldnt be coaching this

Look for runners right in front of each other. Keep the baton in the middle of the lane, and distribute the runners around it!

What is the deal with using a baton at all? You should be able to just tag the next runner. In skiing, you just tag the next skier. In swimming you tag the wall and the next swimmer goes.

Further, if you can get the arms of the receiver and the arms of the passer fully extended at handoff, you are cutting down the distance that the entire relay runs. The baton of course still travels 400m.

And, just like the old common sense rule that the baton travels the middle of the lane, make sure the athletes who will likely be on the relay practice often on their passing. Many good relay teams try to identify the relay's members early so they can work together under pressure at the meets preceding the championship meets. It also has the side effect of making them take ownership of the relay and the handoffs.

These things sound simple, and are quite common all the way down to the junior high level, but some don't bother. The USA national team was a good example. Lack of regular practice, let alone practice under pressure, helped put the baton on the ground or outside the zone despite having 4 of the fastest men on Earth on the same team.

Here is a good method of practicing hand-offs: Work for the first few weeks without a baton, just work on the relationship of the runners to each other thru the exchange zone. If you get that relationship right (incoming runner focuses on running all the way thru the zone, outgoing runner focuses on timing his acceleration as the incoming guy is barrelling down on him), then the exchange is the easy part.

Introducing the baton from the start can confuse the issue, get them in the right position first..

Run Fast!![quote]lease wrote:

ccrunner609 wrote:

JH coaches know this. College and Olympic coaches shouldnt be coaching this

JH coaches? What are those?

Steve Martin wrote:

ccrunner609 wrote:

JH coaches know this. College and Olympic coaches [shouldn't] be coaching this

JH coaches? What are those?

The coaches at The Johns Hopkins University. They're pretty much on the ball.

Or maybe the poster meant "junior high"? Just a thought...

[quote]College Coach wrote:

Here is a good method of practicing hand-offs: Work for the first few weeks without a baton, just work on the relationship of the runners to each other thru the exchange zone. If you get that relationship right (incoming runner focuses on running all the way thru the zone, outgoing runner focuses on timing his acceleration as the incoming guy is barrelling down on him), then the exchange is the easy part.

Introducing the baton from the start can confuse the issue, get them in the right position first.[quote]

Great tip--thanks!

Okay, I have absolutely no idea (didn't watch the race) of what the USA women screwed up in Moscow, but the two basic possibilities are a) taking off at the wrong time and b) not following the right path (which is what this thread's about).

Some of you *did* watch the race, I think. I've heard that the USA blew the second pass. Did the third runner start at the wrong time, or was it just a "missed connection"--which is usually a symptom of a wrong path?

I think that USATF needs to find the best relay coach out there, reagardless of what level they coach at, or how many committees they have served on within USATF and let them coach the relays. Get an honest to goodness relay specialist as the coach. There are some amazing relay teams out there at the college and even high school level, let those coaches work with the relay teams. Then maybe we would stop messing up.

And it is so simple. What the first poster said.

the us has often used great relay coaches. The athletes don't give a crap, they practice with their own coaches and compete against each other. I always liked the French who rarely had individual males in championship finals but had beautiful exchanges. I truly don't think most of the American athletes care. Perhaps Gardener choked, she is young. We should have kept Gatlin off the team and went with a role player. Interesting how Jeter wasn't on the women's team.

High time for a bump.

THE book on sprint relays

Everything you say 'in general' is correct; however, relays do need to be adjusted based on the individuals. #1 is a good rule, but as practical matter, it rarely happens because there is a natural tendency to want to carry the baton in your most coordinated hand. Obviously, passing a baton is not complicated, but it's like two people knowing how to tango, no matter how good they are as individuals, it does not mean they will instantly make good dance partners.

Assuming this all about the U.S. relays in global championships, there are a few things that everyone needs to understand that sheds light on why it is not as simple as people think it is.

1. Sub-10 sprinters are moving at 25mph in the exchange zone, obviously, at that speed, there is little time to make adjustments and overall less margin for error.

2. You are usually working with 4 athletes who have little to no experience passing the baton. World class sprinters were almost always the anchor leg, thus only receiving the baton.

3. The really good relays, the athletes know each other's tendencies. Spearmon was adept at passing to Gay and Lewis and Burrell worked well together because they knew each other. In any given year, Japan only has a half dozen world class sprinters, who all generally in and around Tokyo. There is a similar situation with Jamaica and France for example. In some countries, sprinters have worked together on relays since their mid-teens.

4. The U.S. needs a 'national baton exchange standard', that all athletes needs to learn and demonstrate proficiency before being placed on global championship relays and have a minimum amount of demonstrated relay practice. *There is no substitute for practice and actually running on relays together.

5. The USA may in some situations have give up a few 10ths by not having the 4 fastest athletes, but the 4 athletes most likely to get the stick around.

wineturtle wrote:

http://budwinter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/cover_image_of_the_jet_sprint_relay_pass-209x300.jpg

THE book on sprint relays

Time to bump this.

Yeah, about that... wrote:

Time to bump this.

Maybe not on a Sunday?

Bad Wigins wrote:

What is the deal with using a baton at all? You should be able to just tag the next runner. In skiing, you just tag the next skier. In swimming you tag the wall and the next swimmer goes.

If the 4X100m didn't use a baton, it would just be all the more embarrassing when the US inevitably screwed up anyway and got DQed.