Sports Writing in Journalism By Catherine Watson – DHS Student

Sports Writing  The basic idea of sports writing in journalism is to report about the local (or national) sporting events occurring.  Whether big or small, all events should be covered.

Covering Events  The point of a sports article is to focus on the important events that occurred during the game and the outcome of the game.  Record the most important or exciting parts. Readers find those the most interesting.

Deciding What to Cover?  Try covering all teams at least once in good detail.  Cover as much as you can about each sport or team in each issue.  Consider all successes  In a feature, cover outstanding players and/or achievements

Deciding What to Cover?  Leave some space for off campus sports. Students want to know about the non sponsored school sports and the local professional teams too!  Make sure it’s newsworthy and Timely  Remember: Readers would rather know the why and how rather than the who and what.

Writing Sports Leads  Most stories have events that occur in order. It should be that the most interesting or exciting thing that happened during the event is mentioned first.

What to Avoid in Your Lead  Date of the game- On Wednesday, the wrestling team will…  The name of the school or team- The Davis High Darts basketball team will…  Obvious facts- Once again it is volleyball season…  Any opinion- The baseball team played their best game of the whole season…  Non-newsworthy facts- The swim team competed in the state finals last week…

Sports Writing Pointers  Make sure all of the events are covered- especially the important ones!  You need to have “new information” especially if your paper doesn’t print for a while. The more facts you have, the better.  Take notes of key players, injuries, strengths and weaknesses of both teams.

More Pointers  Provide information about both schools. Everything you know about your school should be known about the other school as well.  Know names. The players and coaches have names- use them!  Use the inverted pyramid when putting your story together.

Reporter Guidelines  Understand the game. Stay updated on the rules and terms used.  Get to know everyone involved. Whether they are players, coaches or managers, they all give you the best information for your story.  Watch, take notes and observe everything about the game.  Catch up on the history of the team. Know what they’ve done in past years.

More Guidelines  good-sports-journalism.html good-sports-journalism.html  This video gives a basic idea of what is expected when writing good sports journalism.

Interviews  Understand what you are interviewing about. Asking “what do you do?” may offend someone you’re talking to.  Know who your interviewee is and their name before you talk to them.  Have an idea of who you want to interview during the game, then take notes specifically about them to ask them questions about it later.

Questions to Ask  What challenges has the team faced?  What made the season exciting?  Who were the most challenging opponents?  What were the strengths and weaknesses of the team?  What are the future goals of this team?  What were the accomplishments/disappointments of the year?

Works Cited  Hall, Homer, and Logan Aimone. High School Journalism. New York: Rosen, Print  Danesco, B.. "Writing Sports Articles: Tips for Article Writing." howtodothings.com. N.p., Web. 3 Jan  Spencer, Jamal, perf. How to Write Good Sports Journalism. ehow, Web. 10 Jan