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Sports-writing-powerpoint

Bachelor in Secondary Education (ICCT Colleges Foundation)

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Sports Writing

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Sports Writing vs News Writing

•Both use similar types
of leads: feature angle
or news peg
•Both look for the most
interest-compelling
facts.
•Both writers write the
body of the story, add
an acceptable lead, and
then present the
predominant facts in
order of their
importance.
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Sports Writing vs New Writing

•Writing about
sports is more
colorful, less
formal than news
writing
•Sports writing is
faster paced and
more lively

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Tips for doing it well

•Know the sport well
–Rules
–Strategy
–Team Records
–Player Records
•Spend time talking to
coaches and players
before game days
–What parts of the game
is the team working on?
•Attend games:
–It’s not enough to get
info second hand from
coaches, players,
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Tips for doing it well

•Sports stories are
about people
•The relationships off
the field lead to
results on the field
•Work on detecting
the strengths and
weaknesses of the
team or players

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Tips for doing it well

•Understand that playing and winning are not
the only stories: look for stories of
perseverance

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Tips for doing it well

•Sports stories
should ask WHY
•Read professional
stories to get an idea
of what works

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Tips for doing it well

•Accuracy is crucial
•Observe the game
and take notes
•Be fair and unbiased
even though you
have a favorite team
or player
•Avoid the use of
“WE”
•Support all opinions
with facts or with
quotes from sources

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Tips for doing it well

•The writer has the
responsibility of
interpreting difficult
plays and decisions
for fans who are too
excited to notice
exactly what happens.
•It is not enough to
report only the results
of the game. The
game off the field, i.e.
the strategy and
atmosphere, is as
important as the one
on it.
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Writing Tips
•Use the specialized language of the sport if
the average reader would understand it
•Don’t be too technical
•Avoid clichés like the plague
•Just because the coach says, “We have to
play as a team,” or “We’re going all the way to
states,” doesn’t mean you have to use it.
•Tell the story in plain terms, with specific
details, and let the facts tell the story
•Avoid long lists of statistics or score:
highlight the most important and put others in
a sidebar
•Double check accuracy
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Types of Stories: Advance

•Gives insight into the
upcoming game,
providing as many
specifics as possible
•May focus on a
specific aspect of the
upcoming game: how
will the team replace an
injured star?
•Built on strong
quotes, description
and anecdotes
•Requires coaches and
reporter to think ahead
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Types of Stories: Trend

•Does not rehash
plays from each game
•Highlights trends in
the course of a
team’s play since the
last issue
•Answers the
question: What’s
gone on over the last
month and WHY?
•More analysis and
focus on individual
players
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Types of Stories: Advance Trend

• Adds information on the upcoming
game to the trend story, including how
last month’s games influence it

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Types of Stories: Advance Trend

•Include information
on the upcoming
event as the first part
of the story
•Devote more space
to the upcoming
event
•Condense into the
available space as
many of the
highlights of the past
events as possible
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Sports News Stories

•Sports have also
become big business,
especially at the
college/professional
level
•Look for stories
about college
recruiting, sports
funding, fan behavior,
use of performance
enhancing drugs

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Game Stories
• Seldom used in monthly student
newspapers unless a late deadline on
a significant game
• Excellent option for posting on line
• Not a rehash of play-by-play action
• Focus on interesting and game-
changing moments first
• Weave in postgame quotes from
players and coaches

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Game Story Reporting

•Look for an angle or
focus
•How significant is
the event?
•What are the
probable lineups?
•What are the records
of the teams or
individual
competitors?

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Game Story Reporting

•Analyze comparative
scoring records
•Tradition and rivalry:
how do the teams
stand in won/lost
figures?
•Weather conditions:
did weather affect the
outcome?
•What systems of
play or strategies are
used by teams or
individuals?
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Game Story Reporting

•Condition of players,
both physical and
mental
•Individual angles,
such as star players
•Other specifics, such
as crowd antics (the
Zoo) new uniforms,
appearance or
condition of the
playing field

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Sports Features
•These are the stories behind or beyond the
game
•Based on human interest and/or oddity
•The Post ran a lengthy feature on the fate of
Barbero and how the efforts to save him
advanced veterinary medicine

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Sports Features
•Athlete profiles
•Seasonal activities
•Girls playing on
boys teams
•Athletes paying for
personal trainers
•Students who coach
teams with younger
kids
•Informative features
on unusual sports
and the students who
play them
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Things to avoid
•Quotes that sound like they could be about
any sport
•Quotes that allow coaches to belittle athletes
in your paper
•Boring leads. Which story would you rather
read?
•LEAD ONE:
•There are high expectations for this year’s
competition cheerleading squad after a great
season last year, finishing second in districts.

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Or LEAD TWO?
• It’s a sea of school-spirited blue and white,
broken occasionally by pink: blue shorts,
white shoes, blue mats and white-wrapped
wrists. Vera Bradley purses lie scattered
around the perimeter of the room, between
sports bags and plastic bags of ice.
• It’s two weeks before the Valley District
cheerleading competition and 26 girls are
casually bending their bodies in half before
yet another practice. They’ve been
preparing since mid-August, working to get
the stunts, and the timing, and the
synchronization exactly right, and
competition keeps creeping closer.
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