The interview: same questions, one season apart

Ask these five, in week one and at the end

The same words, in the same order, both times. In week one they’ll shrug. At the end they’ll have a story, and that gap is the whole point.

1. What do you love about running and jumping?
2. Who are your friends on the team?
3. What are you working on right now?
4. What does a good race feel like?
5. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Sit at their height, in the quietest corner you can find

The car after practice, a back step, a bench away from the noise. Hold the phone sideways, at their eye level, with a little space above the head. You ask, they answer. Thirty to sixty seconds is plenty.