Covering Sports News Writing

What do you need to know about writing SPORTS?

Key Terms Pregame Story: An advance story on a sport event. It may include background and information on both teams. Game Story: A sports story recounting the play-by-play activities of a game Remember: it does not need to be chronological - sometimes 4th quarter events are more exciting than 1st quarter event. Postgame Story: A sports feature written after the event. It may be a sideline story, background story, sports interview, or locker-room story. Feature: Make a game story into a feature by injecting anecdotes, background information, and the like Rembemer: feature is the most important fact Remember: feature story is meant to entertain and inform “Slanguage”: In sports writing, trite expressions stemming from the jargon of sports (pigskin for football, mermaid for female swimmer)

Sports writers must know … the rules and basics of playing and scoring the sport they are covering who are the key players on the team(star seniors, up-and-coming underclassmen, returning individual winners from last year, etc.) how the team did last year what statistics are typically kept for this sport and what they mean

Sports writers must know … the schedules for the teams they cover (update with results throughout the season) when is the perfect time to reach players and coaches for features the coaches what other resources are available: stats, videos, other info online? Lesson 7 in the News Gathering strand provides excellent background and information for planning sports coverage. These lessons may be given together for your sports writing team.

In school sports winning isn’t everything players = stories non-players = stories and sometimes coaches = stories, too losing = tasteful stories

Types of sports news stories advance or preview game coverage briefs news features Most of the stories you write will NOT be game stories … why?

Why game stories aren’t so great Timeliness: The outcome of the game is known, so it’s not news because it’s not that interesting anymore. Another game might have already happened, changing stats reported in a previous game story. Remind students that even in sports news, news has to be interesting, informative and factual.

Why game stories are helpful On the other hand, there is nothing like reporting on a significant game to sharpen your sports writing skills. Beginners, particularly, can learn a lot from covering a game. It’s GREAT practice — and awesome for keeping websites up to date.

Covering games Plan and prepare before the game. Talk to the coach and let him/her know you’ll be covering a game. Ask what to expect, who to watch, any trends developing. Get a team roster with player names and jersey numbers. Know the stats and find out who will be the statistician for the game. Make arrangements ahead to get the end-of-game stats when the game ends. Use email or social media to contact the coach of the opposing team to get a roster. See Lesson 7 in the News Gathering strand for more details on game coverage.

Covering games During the game ... Watch carefully. Note the big plays and scores. Tweet results or big plays as they happen, using players’ names (you have the roster with you!). Observe the opposing team, too. You should know who their key players are, and have the roster of that team as well. Do not express your opinion in tweets or coverage. You are acting as an outside observer, not a fan. See Lesson 7 in the News Gathering strand for more details on game coverage.

Covering games After the game ... Get the end-of-game stats from the statistician and get to the locker room to gather quotes from the players while the emotion is still running high. Use your notes and your tweets to help you organize a chronology of the game. Take a deep breath. What was the most important thing that happened? After you have your notes and quotes, stop and think about what the lead is. Write quickly. Your goal should be to have the game story online within 12 to 24 hours of the game ending. See Lesson 7 in the News Gathering strand for more details on game coverage.

What’s (often) better than sports game stories If something extraordinary happened in a game that everyone is talking about, such as an injury or an unexpected rout of a favored team, write the most up-to-date information — looking forward, not back. Write about an individual player or group (offense, defense, offensive line, etc).

Better than game stories Look for trends across several games. A strong offense, challenges on the defense, injuries, stars or outstanding players, recurrent problems or issues? Find out who keeps the team’s stats and get to know that person. The statistician is your new best friend. Always know where the team ranks in the district, region and state.

Know the stats Keep up with team statistics and use them in your stories. This is especially important in game stories, but you need it for all sports stories. If a player or team breaks or ties a school or local record, you need to make that a big part of your story. It’s probably your lead. If a player or team makes it to regional or state competition, that’s a news story too.

Watch the team practice, play You cannot write a good sports story from someone else’s memory. You must be present to know what happened. Take notes and make photos while you are watching. Spend time after games to speak to the players and coaches. It’s best to get them while they are still thinking about the game.

You cannot write a good sports story from someone else’s memory. Worth saying again You cannot write a good sports story from someone else’s memory. You have to be there.

Identify players in the story Don’t just say “Joe Smith” Say “tackle Joe Smith” Identify the player’s position. In captions, use the jersey number, too. Don’t use numbers for grade or year of graduation — sports have plenty of other numbers already. Make every attempt to identify the other team’s players, too.

Use AP Style for scores Scores are numerals separated by hyphens (12-6, not 12 to 6). Records are numerals separated by hyphens (8-2, not 8 and 2). The winning score always comes first, even if your school didn’t win.

Do not editorialize Even in sports writing, a clear distinction must exist between reporting the news and expressing an opinion. If you are writing an article about how the team is doing or a profile of an athlete, you must remain objective. If you are writing what you think about the team, the players, the sport or the game, that’s a commentary, not news.

Do not be a cheerleader editorializing Don’t write “our” team, write about “the” team. Never congratulate a team on its win in your story, or say it was a good try if the team lost. What’s the word for this? editorializing

Story ideas athletes and health (conditioning during the season or off season; prevention and care of injuries) what it’s like to: warm the bench, lose eligibility, be injured the whole season, lose in the finals, be scouted recreational and “extreme” sports non-school sports students play, such as equestrian, water skiing, bicycle racing,figure skating how and why coaches become coaches

Story ideas how much it costs to play a sport how much it costs the school to run the athletic programs what happens in the weight room generations of athletes in the same family athletic booster club multiple-sport athletes; students who play school sports in all three seasons students who play club sports during their sport’s off-season

Story ideas maintaining the athletic fields, courts, playing surfaces, scoreboards how athletes prepare for the final game of their high school career coping with sports injuries the college recruiting process alumni who are playing sports in college on scholarship

Remember: The biggest danger in sports writing is the use of clichés. Avoid: day-before-yesterday’s “right end”, Yesterday’s ”split end” and today’s “wide-out” Clichés are not necessary – sports writing has entertaining terms and language of its own. Watch for heavy emphasis on odds and point spreads Don’t let the sports page read like a bookie’s tipsheet There is a difference between sports writing and news writing Sports writers do not have to write summary leads. The most important job of a sports writer is be at the game and take notes! A postgame story is different from a pregame or game story because the lead and tone may be similar to those of a feature story. Featurize: make a game story into a feature by injecting anecdotes, background information, and the like. Any sports story may become a feature story.

Assignment 1: story ideas Working with a partner, brainstorm five sports story ideas for your newspaper or yearbook. Use specific examples: • sport • athlete • angle Turn in your ideas by the end of class. This is Option 1, if you mainly need students to think of fresh story ideas. Use the READER WHEEL or the STORY PATHS from Unit 4 to help expand the brainstorming if the students have already been introduced to these processes.

Assignment 1 extension Write your story Using the list of ideas you brainstormed with a partner, choose one idea that you can write. Use the Story Prep Worksheet to plan your story.

Assignment 2: sports coverage Using other student media, previous issues of your publication, or prep sports coverage from local professionals, find a well-written school sports news story.  Summarize the story. Be sure to include: -   headline -   byline -   date published -   name of publication - the 5W’s and H If students seem stuck on how to write sports, this assignment makes them read prep sports coverage by other students and by the pros who cover high school sports.

Assignment, continued ... Next, write a half-page reaction to the story. Discuss the following: • the way the story was written and reported; what the reporter had to do to get this story •   why this story is news (news values) • why you are sure this is news, not opinion •   what was not included and could or should have been in the story •   how a similar story might be written for your publication •   other thoughts, opinions, insights or reactions Rule of 8 is discussed in Lesson 1 (timeliness, proximity, impact, conflict, prominence, oddity, currency, human interest)