Sprint drills — by age group

Sprint drilling is layered. Acceleration mechanics first, max-velocity work second, speed endurance third, blocks and relays fourth. Athletes who skip the order — usually because they want to chase fast 100s before they can drive cleanly out of the first ten meters — develop habits that cost them the rest of high school to undo.

How to use this library

Find your event group below. Acceleration drills are the foundation at every level — the sprinter with a clean drive phase is faster at twenty meters than the sprinter with a stronger arm and a sloppier first step. Max-velocity work comes next, and only when the sprinter is fresh. Speed-endurance work and block-start work layer on top of those fundamentals. Relay-handoff drills are their own track and live mostly in the meet week.

Each drill page covers the demo, the developmental notes for the age, the coaching points, and the most common mistakes. Sprint mechanics are best drilled in low volume with full recovery — fatigue actively trains bad form, so a tired drill rep is worse than no rep. Without external feedback, the athlete reinforces whatever they are already doing, which is why a coach’s eye and a phone camera are essential equipment for this work.