Relay change-over
Ready when: Sprint technique and start (i1) started.
What you are learning
Passing a baton at speed. The receiver starts running before the baton arrives, reaches back with an open hand, and the pass happens inside a marked change zone. Good passing wins relays more often than raw speed.
Words on this card Start line, Relay, Baton, Change zone
- Start line
- Where a race starts and ends. Runners run through the finish line, not up to it.
- Relay
- A team race where each runner runs a part and passes on a baton.
- Baton
- The short tube passed from runner to runner.
- Change zone
- The marked part of the track where the baton must be passed.
Set up
A 20 m strip, a baton or a rolled paper, two cones 10 m apart as the change zone.
Weather: dry ground
Show it first for the one teaching
- The receiver stands at the start of the change zone, looking back at the runner.
- When the runner is a few steps away, the receiver turns and runs.
- The receiver's hand goes back, palm up, eyes forward.
- The runner places the baton into the hand inside the zone.
Your part while they practise
Stand at the zone and call "out" if the change happens outside it.
Step by step
- The receiver starts to run before the baton arrives.
- Hand back, palm up, eyes forward.
- The change happens inside the zone.
- Pass at a walk, then at a jog, then at a run.
How much: teams of 4, passes at a walk, a jog and a run 12 min a session 1 day a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Relay race
A team relay where each team chooses its own running order.
Who plays: 2 teams of 2 or more.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- Each team chooses its running order
- The first runners start together, each with a baton
- Every pass happens inside the change zone
- The last runner crosses the finish line. 3 races
- Fair play
- A team with a grown-up gives the grown-up the longest leg.
- Points
- 2 points to the team that finishes first; 1 point for each clean pass inside the zone.
- Fouls
- The team loses that race's 2 points
- A pass outside the zone
- A dropped baton (pick it up and run on, no pass point)
- Running into the other team's path
- Winning
- The team with more points after 3 races.
- 4 points for 1 star
- 7 points for 2 stars
- 10 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
A bigger zone.
A smaller zone and a faster run.
What you will see, and what to say
- the receiver looks back
Eyes forward, hand back
Trust the runner; look ahead and hold the hand still. - the baton drops
Palm up, wait for it
The hand stays open and steady until the baton is in it.
Self-check
8 of 10 passes inside the zone without a drop.
Stop and get a coach when
Two runners collide often.
Fitness for this
Warm up first: how to warm up, at workonfitness.com. For strength and stretching, its exercise library shows each exercise step by step, with an easier version.
This card trains timing, teamwork.
awiseathlete.com/sports/athletics/athletics-i2