In watching the speed skaters in the Olympic Games it was rewarding to see the start used by the skaters. They do exactly what I have been preaching for many years.
In essence, you push off with the rear leg and step out with a front leg. But yet, many coaches maintain that this is incorrect.
You’ll hear some of these coaches state that you should first take a step backward with the rear leg and then push forward and step out. Others maintain that you should push off the front leg and step with the rear leg.
Each of these techniques is very inefficient. Just because you may find some players, even high-level players, exhibiting one of these techniques it does not mean that they are the most effective.
In each case, or in any other variant that deviates from pushing off with the rear leg and stepping forward with the right leg simultaneously, the athlete will be slower in moving out and in how much ground he covers in the first few seconds.
Note that this technique is used regardless of which direction you’re going to move in. It is the same whether you are stepping forward, stepping to the side as stealing a base in baseball or running backward.
For more information on this topic see Build a Better Athlete and Explosive Plyometrics for specific exercises.