1st Year Coach Here: Questions

Sounds like typical high school coaching. Been there. Faced that.

With your basketball player. Just ask him what he is interested in doing. Let him go do that. Don't worry about base building. Too late. If he ends up being a distance runner, have him do some running. 2-3 miles a day is enough. But ask him what he wants to do.

On your girl runner. Have her run the 800-1600 in one meet and maybe the 800 and 3200 in another meet. She sounds like a 800-1600 runner but let her run different events in the next 2-3 meets and then begin to focus her.

If the basketball kid had been running during basketball season, he should already have a good enough base to not worry about it. If he wasn't running during basketball season, a couple weeks of mostly base work would be best for him.

I'm a big fan of having kids race both above and below their focus event at some point during the year (in dual meets), so for the girl I'd suggest having her run 16/32 some meets and 16/8 others. However, it's also good to help her focus and run in the events that will best prepare her for her goals (whether it is qualifying for the league meet or whatever the case may be). Having her run the 1600 before any other event will help her confidence the most (she'll be fresher and more able to compete with other girls), but if the best way for her to drop time in the 16 is to work on her speed, maybe focus more on the 16/8 double; if the best way for her to drop time in the 16 is to work on her endurance, maybe focus more on the 16/32 double.

Its high school. These kids will get better each year without your interference. But you have a chance to help. So don't blow it.

Just get him into running rhythm. Build up his speed endurance, smooth out his technique. 2 months is a lot of time at that age. I could go from couch to olympic qualifying in 6 weeks.

When I coached high school, for a brief time, we had kids coming from both football and basketball. The key is just to get them in track mode, thinking about racing and technique. And not getting injured.

Focus on bringing them into the team, no fuss and help them do the things that help them compete.

"Base building" is developing the aerobic system. Hopefully you already do this 4-5 times a week with 30+ minutes of steady running. Have him hop in some of the hard workouts with the team, but take good notice. If he is struggling, take him out. Let him adapt to the workouts. Soon he will be ready to run the full thing.

For the JV female. I think it can be a mistake to think of potential from PR's. There are a lot of factors in those. See how she looks in fast workouts and in longer stuff. Also, if this is h.s they have some developing to do. Make sure to work the extremes, meaning develop the aerobic system with good solid mileage and also have some faster stuff sometimes to work the fast twitch muscles. It may take some time to get a good idea of where she belongs.