I evaluate each athlete after 2-3 weeks of very general preparation and teaching of some basic skill sets. In considering workload and training groups, I consider the athletes chronological age, training age, body type, past injuries, and the desires of the individual athlete.
When a new athlete enters my program I try to get some as much background on them as possible; I.E., age, how long they have been involved in sports, past injuries or current health issues.
With athletes that I have a chance to have a longer prep phase with I base volume, density and intensity on an individual basis more so than in the pre-competitive and comp phases. I typically will have a target in mind but will make constant changes during each cycle and often during the actual training sessions based on the adaptation. In the pre-season I test new athletes to see what events best suit them while also taking into consideration what events they want to do with returning athletes I do some testing to evaluate fitness and to gain training reference point. In order to get more meaningful results from the testing, I have found it best to refrain from testing until each athlete as completed at least 20-30 training sessions at that point I will test athletes for events ranging from a flying 30m all the way to a 12-minute run. I also like to test all athletes in multi-throws and to standing vertical and horizontal jumps/ response.
-Sean Burris, Record Breaking AAU, USATF Coach, and my mentor