Our school purchased these for both our middle school and our high school programs. I won’t coach the exchange zone without them. We can hear and see where the exchange is happening and can adjust steps accordingly. The concept of placement becomes easy for our kids because it doesn’t separate if you put the middle of the baton in the runners hand. The kids do ask about the baton coming loose in a run up but it’s made to come apart and they have to put it together with a little more strength (built in safety air gap). Last year we broke all 3 sprint relay records, and in a meet we got warned about an exchange happening right at the end of the zone (this is what we practiced thanks to the ripper). It’s not a miracle worker but it has been an asset to our program.
