Texas A&M Track & Field Series - Drills and Progressions for Championship Sprints, Starts and Relays

Teach your athletes specific drills that will improve their sprint mechanics, acceleration and maximum velocity -- and lower their sprint times!

Though practice footage with athletes at Texas A&M, Head Coach Pat Henry takes a coach step by step through many of the drills that produced his successful sprinters and relay teams.

With sprinting, Henry goes through three distinct areas of successful sprinting: the proper block start, the keys to acceleration, and maintaining top end speed throughout the race. Henry takes the viewer through each step in the process he uses to teach the correct way for an athlete to best use the blocks. Henry uses various drills to teach proper foot placement, the correct shin angles at the set position, and foot contacts out of the blocks.

In teaching acceleration, Henry shows the viewer the various drills and cues used to achieve the best drive phase for a sprinter. With top end speed work, Henry goes through his wicket drill that he uses with all his male and female athletes at Texas A&M. The wicket drill provides a process for a sprinter to learn the proper stride rate and frequency through the top end speed phase of the race.

In the relays, Henry explains the process he uses to set up a successful 4x100m relay. Henry provides the viewer the proper place to start for each exchange, how to best accelerate through the exchange zone, and how to handle the baton between each runner.

This video will help you get the very best times out of your sprinters and relays.

64 minutes. 2012.