Hey LRC'ers,
This is my first post here and I just want to ask for some advice. I have this friend who has never tried running competitively before. He is a shy kid from Sudan who grew up playing soccer and I've played pick up soccer with him for the past few years. I noticed in games that he consistently has incredible stride and very noticeable acceleration. Skinny, light weight, and has good stamina for 40 minute full-field intramural games at my school.--I play with a ton of soccer players, and I am more of a runner than a soccer player and I had a feeling that this guy was different than the other soccer players. So one day I made what I think was a mistake--I got him on a track and asked him to do an all out, one-time 400 meter sprint. All by himself with no pacing. I know it doesn't sound too crazy at first, but I'm still not convinced that him running a solo 66 second 400 is a reflection of his capability. He doesn't run outside of soccer at all and I keep on telling him that in a worst case scenario if he tried running easy starting two or three times a week with and eventually doing intervals that he would be a pretty competitive runner, at least on a local level (he's 20 so a college running gig is not a possibility unless he explodes). He keeps on telling me he's busy but I'm being repetitive and I think I'm finally getting the idea into his head.
If there's a track workout that would best "introduce him" to the sport, and give him more confidence as opposed to going all out in a 400m, what should we do? I told him even if he starts with really really little, easy running that it's better than nothing.