Athlete intake form: template

The initial form is the first thing you should ask a new athlete. You decide with him if you can train him, where to start and what to watch for. Here is a template per block that you can copy and adapt. If you're starting as an online coach, also see how to start as an online coach without paying for software.

Rapid response: a good initial form collects basic data, a health questionnaire (such as the PAR-Q+), sports history, injuries, targets with date, weekly availability, material and communication preferences. If it includes health data, you need the explicit consent of the athlete and inform him of how you treat them (GDPR, art. 9).

Template: Questions by Blocks

1. Basic data

Name, age, contact.
Weight and height (optional).
Profession and working hours.

2. Health

Fitness questionnaire for physical activity: PAR-Q+ is an evidence-based screening tool (Warburton et al., 2011).
Relevant diseases, medication and allergies.
Last medical examination or stress test.

If any questionnaire response tells you to do so, ask your doctor for advice before starting.

3. Sports history

Years of practice and sports.
Regular volume of the last few weeks.
Best recent brands and races.
Experience with coach.

4. Injury

Injuries of the last few years and how they were resolved.
Current annoyances.
What happened the last time he stopped training.

5. Objectives

Main target with date.
Secondary objectives.
What a good season means to him.

6. Availability

Days and hours a week, really.
Land available: track, mountain, gym, swimming pool.
Trips or complicated times.

7. Material and data

Clock and platform you use (e.g. Garmin Connect or Strava).
Pulser, potentiometer.
Recent tests: maximum HR, threshold, VAM.

8. Communication

How you prefer to communicate and how often.
What do you expect from the coach?

9. Consent and data protection

Information about who processes the data, for what and how long.
Explicit consent to health data, which are a special category of data (GDPR, art. 9).
The AEPD has practical guides for professionals and small businesses.

How to use the form

Send it before the first call.
Review it with the athlete in that call: many answers need context.
Use the answers for the first training block.
Update it every season or after an injury.

Usual errors

Make a form so long that no one finishes it.
Do not ask about actual availability.
Collect health data without informing or asking for consent.

And then, to plan

With the form done, it's time to plan and follow the athlete. In TrainingForever you plan, follow and adjust the training in one place. With the current version of TrainingForever you have all the features free up to 5 athletes; then, 0.99 € per active athlete per month, with a maximum of 49 €/month. For your athletes it's always free. You have the comparison in free software for coaches.

What a Coach Says

"The question that helps me the most is what happened the last time I stopped training. There is usually what needs to be taken care of." — Marc Bañuls, coach with more than 15 years of experience