A number of years ago my athletes had a season full of scratches and disappointing conclusions.  I took it upon myself to do an extensive amount of research in hopes of finding an answer as to how I could better train/support them moving forward.

In my honest opinion, there is nothing more frustrating than an athlete jumping a meet-winning jump, or a new PR, and it not counting due to being a scratch.  It's deflating, and it's a complete waste of energy.
 
While researching, I stumbled upon an article that changed my thinking completely.  The article stated that "90 percent of scratches are due to poor starts."  How could this be?  I was completely confused...

How could the first handful of steps at the beginning affect an athlete's overall consistency in the lane?  I read the article 2-3 times and each time got a little more understanding of what it was saying and decided to attempt a new starting technique during the upcoming season.  To say it completely revitalized my team and led to a successful season would be an understatement!  Our new start was the beginning of something special for our team and I couldn't be happier that we switched!!!