Sports Writing

Mrs. Cumberland

Objectives
The learner will recognize the different types of sports stories, advance, coverage, advance-coverage, and feature stories. Using standard journalistic style, the learner will write sports stories.

Vocabualry
Each sport has its own unique vocabulary.
You will be compiling a list of these words and their definitions during one of the assignments in this unit

Sports Section
The sports section of a newspaper contains some of the liveliest writing in the publication. This stands to reason since the stories are about lively subjects.
Sports writing is a combination of news writing and feature writing, and there are actually several different types of sports writing

The Ultimate Goal

To give the reader a fresh approach to the struggles and the pain of the people who slip on a mesh uniform and strive to be better than the other team

IFA reporter does an interview

Where the only question is Hw did you feel about the game? then he or she can plan on coaches and players turning on the tape recorder in their brain to spit out all the cliches theyve heard since they played Little League.
I think I we just play our game, well be okay. We had better come to play today. If the reporter stops there, he or she doesnt have much of a story,

In developing a Story
Go beyond the trite angles of the last 10 years to capture the real spirit of the game

A Sports reporter can:

Read magazines and newspaper stories about the sport and the team to understand what is trite or overdone Spend time talking to coaches and players before the season starts and before game days. In a more relaxed setting, the reporter will find out what kind of a game the coach expects and what parts of the game his or her team is working on during four-hour practices.

 Know that sports are not only play-bypay recaps and statistics; sports stories are about people. Understand that sports stories should ask why. Why was the team more motivated in the second half? Why has the softball team started hitting home runs in the last three games?

 Look beyond the action on the field for stories. See stories of relationships off the field that lead to results on the field. Understand that playing and winning are not the only stories. A lacrosse team that hope to win its first game in two years can be a fascinating story of perseverance.

 See that sports has become more than the game. In professional newspapers, as players unions wage contract battles, business writing finds it way into the sports section. In high school newspapers, as football players face pressure of using performance-enhancing drugs and dealing with college recruiters, hard newswriting finds its way among the game stories

A good sports reporter must be a student of the game.

Know sports well: rules, strategy, team and player records and the like. Becomes as well-informed as possible by reading up on the sport, including rulebooks, and talking to coaches, players and mangers, Dont rely on your prior knowledge. Follow team ad participatory sports during practice. It is not enough to secure information secondhand from coaches, spectators or players.

Work at detecting the strengths and weaknesses of a team or an individual. Know coaches and players as well ass possible and interview them. Refrain from attending games or meets as a cheering spectator. The writer has the responsibility of interpreting difficult plays and decisions to fans too excited to notice exactly what happens.

 Observe accurately Be able to take notes quickly without losing the sequence of play Be fair and unbiased, even though you have a favorite team or individual

Support all opinions with facts. Although a sportswriter has more freedom than any other news writer, he or she must not make comments without supporting them, even in byline stories. Be informal and original as possible

Writing the Sports Story

Developing a clear focus is important in writing a good sports story. Sometimes the focus is assigned by the editor and sometimes the writer develops the idea in his or her own. Either way, the focus must be specific.

The difference between sports slang and sports language The drama of sports should speak for itself. Slang terms, hyperbole and forced language only distracts from the event being reported.
Instead of writing the 145-pound blazer rumbled through the giant gridders of the goal line for sweet six, simply focus on a good factual description: Senior running back Robert Belsher leapt over from the oneyard line for the game-tying touchdown.

 So how does a sports reporter know the difference between sports jargon and standard specialized language of the sport? The sports stylebook of the University of Missouris teaching newspaper, the Columbia Missourian, offers this advice:

Advice
If a word or phrase is so obviously silly that nobody would say it, dont write it. Nobody says grid mentor when he or she actually means football coach or cage tiff when he or she means basketball game.

Advice
Try for interesting or colorful angles in your leads. But do not cram too many images into one lead or story. It can make things confusing for your readers. Adjectives and adverbs crowd stories and leads. Stick to good verbs and genuine description where possible. Use slang sparingly.

Advice
A sportswriter should use the specialized writing fo the sport that the average reader understands without getting too technical. Youre not expected to explain what a jumper is in basketball but you might want a simpler explanation for swing backside on a low post pick.

Sports Cliches to Avoid

We have to play as a team We have a lot of potential : I think were going all the way to state weve got our backs against the wall The best defense is a good offense Its a rebuilding year for us These guys played with a lot of heart We need to get back on track The ball just didnt bounce our way tonight

Developing a Sorts story with Statistics

Sports are about people; statistics and records are just measures of people. Still, statistics are an important way to develop a sports story- just dont get carried away.

 Rather than say the running back had a good day, show the reader that he ran for a seasonhigh 220 yards and two touchdowns. The reader now understands how good the players performance was. The sportswriter needs to know that numbers are relative, meaning the writer often needs to put statistics in perspective. If the goalie had 28 saves, an average reader may not know how good that is. The writer may then have to tell the reader that her save total is the secondhighest total in the district.

 Perspective is also important in discussing the teams record. If a teams 10-2 for the season, the reader needs to know that the two losses came to the third- ad fourth-ranked teams in the state.

When using sports stars, also

Avoid long lists of scores. More than three numbers in a sentence or a paragraph is typically too many. Choose only those stats that warrant highlighting or that develop the focus of your story. Use other relevant statistics in an accompanying sidebar, agate or sports brief section. Double-check accuracy. See that scores add up. Question numbers that dont sound logical or reasonable Gather statistics from old newspaper archives and yearbooks. Some coaches keep files on school records or old scoreboards.

Advance Story
How do you think the team is going to do tonight?
The girls soccer team could be 0-11 or playing for the schools first state championship ever, and people would ask the same question. This kind of public curiosity helps explain why there are 10 hours or pregame coverage for the Super Bowl.

Advance Story
Satisfies public curiosity and gives insight into the upcoming game, providing as many specifics as possible. It should always answer the five Ws and H

Advance Story
Told through strong quotes, description and anecdotes. For example, the advance story may be about the possibility of a coach getting his 300th win. Another advance story may focus on how the team will replace three injured star players

Challenge for school paper

When story ideas are being passed out, the sports editor or writer must think ahead to the date of publication and have a sense of how critical the game will be and how to cover it.

Advance Story
Appears before a game is played, which gives the essentials o an upcoming game or athletic event, such as starting lineups, entries, lists of competitors Other advance stories might give some background information about the teams involved, their history of rivalry, their record against each other.

Advance story
They might compare strategy and the strengths and weaknesses of each team and the players. Some sports writers use advance stories to predict the outcome of the game. The advance story is sometimes written in typical news story form (inverted pyramid) although it may take the form of a feature story. Predictions in advance stories should not be motivated by school loyalty, but by a careful examination of the records of the teams or players involved, wellresearched facts, comments from coaches and players. All rules of quoting and attributing quoted statements apply

Coverage ( Trend) Story

These stories tell of games already played, focusing on highlights, outstanding plays, exceptional performances. The body of the story may be written in chronological order, although the score and striking information is always given in the lead.

 To relive every single scoring play of each of those games in the next issue would be repetitive, if not downright torturous. In a trend story the big question high school reporters may ask is whats gone on over the last month and why?

Good for Yearbook

The trend story, along with the sports feature is preferred format for a yearbook story.

Trend Story
The trend story covers a highlighted trend of a team since the time of the last publication. Even professional newspapers which face competing television coverage including several allsports networks, are moving away fro straight game summary stories in their next day coverage and more analysis and players stories.

 Covering a high school game two weeks after it has happened is like getting Tickle Me Elmo the Christmas after it was hot.

Trend Story
Include the information on the coming event as the first part of the story and the information on the past event as the last part of the story Devote more space to the coming event than to the past event, for future news is usually more interesting to readers than news of the past

Condense into the space available as many of the highlights of the past events as you can Follow the advance story tips when writing about the upcoming games then use the trend notes to cover the earlier games. Do not include a running or chronological account. That structure is suitable for newspapers that can be more timely than school newspapers can be for the very special even in which there would be interest despite the late follow-up.

Advance-coverage stories
These stories carry elements of both past and future stories, and are very common in scholastic newspapers.

Sports News Story

Sports are a business at the professional level and have become so at the collegiate level. While some may see the high school as unspoiled territory, issues have crept into the secondary sports scene.

 Student athletes face questions surrounding recruiter tactics, NCAA eligibility, performanceenhancing drug use and sports funding. These issue have taken newspaper sports coverage outside the realm of sports as just a game. The sports news story follows the inverted pyramid style. Make sure to consider balance, objectivity and libel and ethics in writing sports news as you would for other newswriting.

Game Story
Only when the high school publication gets a very late deadline on a significant game or event is the game story used. The game story offers the significant details, game summary and highlights, and player and coach analysis on a timely basis. But the game story is not a play-by-play recap. Anyone covering a high school game will most likely have to keep game statistics.

 Coaches may provide stats but not quickly enough for deadline purposes. Anyone having to write a game story needs to understand the sport well enough to keep statistics. For example, if a quarterback is sacked for a 10-yard loss, the yards are deducted from rushing yards even though he was trying to pass

 A good sports reporter writing a game story will look for key statistics, trends, or moments to weave the story around. A key statistci is often a poignant fact in the lead. A seniors three-run homer that changed the momentum and started a 10-run inning may be a worthy moment to be the primary story focus.

 The story is typically written in inverted pyramid structure. If the sportswriter chooses a nonsummary style lead, then the team names, score ad primary significance fo the game should come in the wrap graph. In whatever form, game story leads should begin with something significant about the game or match

Example
Despite slogging through mud and puddles of water, which added precious second to times and made the course slick, the cross country teams overall performance Oct. 16 produced the best City League finish in 15 years.

Example
The 1999 state wrestling tournament was coming to a close, but Kapaun Mt. Carmel fans and wrestlers were not ready to leave. Junior Ryan Frazier swung coach Tim Dryden around on the mat, freshman Dough Hoover held up three fingers for the fans to see and the KMC audience was still on its feet chanting Frazier, Frazier. The Crusaders had just gained its third state champion of the night.

Game Story
Since the game story is not a play-byplay rehash, the story does not have to be organized chronologically. Give the reader interesting and game-changing moments first. Weave in postgame quotes from players and coaches. The quotes can give the reader insight into a second-half strategy or a record-breaking day. Then move to less important moments or points

Possible information for a game story:

Significance of the outcome. Was a championship at stake? Do the standings of the teams change? Spectacular plays. Tell about the last-minute fumble, the triple that won the game or the jumper from mid-court. Comparison of the teams. How did their weights and heights compare? In what part pf the gaem did the winners excel? What were the losers weaknesses? Make sure to support analysis with facts or coach and player quotes

 Individual performances. Who were the games top performers and how good were their performances? Did the pitcher throw 92-mile-per-hour fastballs and give up only one hit, or did the right halfback run for 230 yards and score on four runs or more than 30 yards? Weather conditions. Did mud, sunshine, heat, cold or wind make a difference?

Sports Columns
These are usually observations by the sports writing staff and consist of commentary about te various sports team players. The writers may write about any aspect of the athletic program, adding their own perspective to the facts they have collected through interviews and background research.

Sports Features
Personality sketches, stories about athletic injuries and treatments, profiles of sports officials, stories about the athletic facilities, historical stories about rule changes, changes in equipment, etc., all fall into this category Sports features follow the same rues as other features

 The head basketball coach who coaches his nephews and the volleyball player who plays despite the challenge of a prosthetic leg are both good sports feature subjects The sports feature is a story beyond the game. Based primarily on human interest and oddity, the sports feature idea comes from being aware of the stories on and off the field.

Examples as have appeared in high school publications

A player profile on a 6-foot-8-inch basketball forward who, despite having played the game for only four year, has been named the All-State team and is being recruited by Division I colleges A human interest feature story on the increase of female weightlifters who are trying to stay in shape and prepare for their track events.

 A news-feature story on the increasing number of students who are paying to have personal trainers for advice, motivation and health information A human interest feature story on a schools and areas top golfer who, after seeing his game break down in the last two tournaments, walked away from the game

Feature Leads for Sports stories

If you are not writing the straight-news game story lead, a variety of feature lead types can be used.

Example Lead
Pointing to the slender substitute teacher standing awkwardly among a group of teenagers, physical education instructor Linda Wolf asks one of her students Do you think you could beat him at hoops?

Example
The student cautiously eyes his 64 opponent. Upon seeing the patches of white hair fringing his face, he states in a clear, confident voice, Yeah, like this old man could beat me.

Example
The mens swim team came home from Raleigh with their second state championship trophy, no hair and something unexpected- a nasty virus.

Example
As the varsity football locker room clears after practice, senior Eric Parks see his helmet next to the three index cards taped to the back of his locker, The first card reads, first team All-State kicker and punter, and All-American selection. The second card reads,Straight as and be a respected member by classmates.

Example Continued
The last card, filled with scriptures from the Bible, seems to stand out from the rest in his mind. It reads: I can do all things through Jesus Christ who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13. It is these scriptures and goals that guide Parks and allow his faith to carry over into all aspects of his life.

Example Continued
Ranked as the second best kicker in the state in a coaches poll, Parks has received over 100 recruiting letters before his senior year. He now receives two to three letters a day from top programs at universities such as Nebraska, Illinois, and Iowa State. Through all his achievements, Parks has always looked back to the Lord for spiritual guidance.

Sports Feature
The organization of the sports feature story is as varied as that of other feature stories; however, the inverted pyramid form is rarely used. Just like other strong feature stories, the sports feature is told through strong use of quotes, observations and deatils

More Informal Atmosphere

Very often there is a more informal atmosphere on the sports pages. Writers should use colorful, descriptive words that let readers feel that they are a part of the action on the field or in the gymnasium. Depending on the newspaper, sometimes the restriction on inserting the writers opinion into the story are not as strict. However, most high school sports writers are encouraged to follow the same basic journalistic principles that they would use for other news.

 It is important that sports writers understand the sport they are writing about and that they are aware of the specialized vocabulary that goes with that sport.