Managing the Sports News

1. Contribute to good sportsmanship.

2. Encourage feature treatment to give

known facts the readers interest 3. Have a variety of material besides the sports story. Include interviews, features, a column, items about graduates who are involved in athletics in college or larger groups. 4. Play up advance news

 5. Use cartoons, illustrations, photographs.

6. If it is important, pull a sports story from

the sports page and play it up on the front page 7. While playing up the major sports like basketball, football, dont overlook minor sports story, such as tennis, swimming, bowling, ping-pong, badminton etc.

The Nature of Sports News

1. Basically, the same as general news and also requires

accuracy, organization, brevity, good writing. The 5 Ws and the H of a news lead may also be found in a sports lead 2. Primarily describes action. It is usually centered around the conflict. 3. Uses a special vocabulary which the reader ( presumably a sports fan) is expected to know. However, the sports reporter should avoid both slang and too technical language. 4. Use a more colorful and vigorous style.

Kinds of Sports Article

1. The advance story helps to create interest, to develop

unity, and to generate enthusiasm through the inside facts. The advance story furnishes the reader with plenty of data, the line-ups , the strong and weak points of the contenders, the performance records of the teams or of individuals, the competitors, the betting odds, traditions and history, systems of play, other feature angles. The advance story may have several treatments. It may involve more than one game; it may combine future and past games or it may report on a game after deadline but before publication. The last type uses expressions like was to play or it may be in a feature style with a timeless nature.

 2. The report of the event (see writing the news)

3. The analytical story accompanies the straight report and carries a review of the game the

strategies, the key player, the outstanding performer. 4. The off the court story involves conflicts among sportsmen, particularly the officials, as well as other side-lights. 5. The follow-up sports story is a summary of the activities of a team during a week or season. It sometimes gives an opportunity to preview public reaction if the sport is very important.

 6. The sports article does not report a definite news

event. It is general in character and expository in form. It may summarize past records and performances of a team, explain new rules, publicize athletic tradition, sketch the career of a prominent player. 7. The sports feature is more of a personality sketch of an athlete or coach , his superstitions, hobbies, experiences off the athletic field, or it may deal with events in the gymnasium. 8. The sports column consists of miscellaneous facts about prominent athletes written in an informal easyto-read style. It is a pleasing blend for facts and personal opinions Care must be taken not to hurt the feelings of any individual player.

The sports gossip is written and signed by the sports editor or a staff member who is well acquainted with the athletes. 9. The advance-coverage story includes information of the coming event as the first part of the story and information of the past event as the last part. It devotes more space to the future and condenses the highlights of the past. The advance-coverage does not include a running or chronological account.

Structure of a Sports Story

1. The lead may be summarized or analyzed, it may give the significance, the winner, the hero, the score. The score is usually played up in the first sentence or set in bold above the story proper. 2. The body plays up other elements not in the lead and gives details of those already mentioned. a. Key play and outstanding performer b. Quotations from players, trainers, coaches
c. Play-by-play account (seldom found in the school paper for lack of space)

d. Personalities e. Background on players f. Importance of the event g. Summaries of results and statistics (these may be compiled for future reference)

Qualities of a Good Sports Writer

1. Sportsmanship. He should write up the

game without partiality and permit the better team to win in the story as well as in the game. 2. Ability to report accurately a fast contest. 3. A style of writing that includes familiarity with sports terms. Sports terms add liveliness and vividness to the account. 4. A basic knowledge of sports rules and

However, it should not include overly technical terrms. 4. A basic knowledge of sports rules and regulations. He does not have to be an athlete, but mere interested in the game. 5. A specialized use of summary and feature leads.

Gathering Information
1. Before the game

2. During the game 3. After the game

Gathering information before the game. A reporter constantly gathers materials, building contacts with people and picking up background that may help him later. 1. Read the rules. 2. Know key people the athletic director, coaches, the teams business manager, players

student managers, and others who figure in sports. Some student sports reporters also play on athletic teams. This affords them inside information and many contacts. 3. Get the names in full and check the spelling. Dont depend on memory. Get a game program or list of names before the event starts. This information should include players numbers, classes and heights if possible. 4. Attend sports events and practice sessions. Even if you arent covering and writing news about the game, attend if you can.

Learn more about the game from the coachs instructions. Observe what happened and how others reported it. 5. Make notes on things that count. Jot down a fact, a quote, an anecdote, or an idea that may help you someday in writing a story. 6. Read various newspapers and compare how sports writers cover a particular game.

Gathering information during the game

During the game the reporter observes and records accurately 1. Organize your materials 2. Be there well ahead of the event 3. Secure a good working place. Work close to the action 4. Note interesting events before the game 5. Develop a system of note-taking. Learn to use abbreviations and other short cuts.

6. Make notes as complete as possible 7. Observe: a. important plays b. the unexpected or unusual c. personal standouts on things other than point scoring d. touches of humor or the light things 8. Collaborate with the reporter from the rival school. 9. Dont get too involved as a cheering spectator

Gathering information after the game:

Post-game information usually gives an inside story 1. Seek out the coach, outstanding players as well as a less important participant. 2. Get quotes 3. Check facts, especially scores, with the scorebooks. 4. Gather more information from: a. special stories b. newspaper stories

c. game movies d. box scores e. standings Writing the Sports Story The sports writer combines the skills of the general reporter, the features writer, and the headline writer. In addition he should strive to: 1.Be accurate. Not only in the score but in all the other highlights

2. Avoid cliches like, splicing the hoop, walloped the pill (made a hit in baseball), turned the tables on, lowered, sank a twinnie, etc. 3. Include human interest. The personal background of the performer can lend color and depth to a story. 4. Keep your sense of humor 5. Exercise discipline. When you cover a game, a multitude of detail crowds in on you.

Be selective and pick out for your story only the ones that count or which would give point to your story. 6. Follow the inverted pyramid order the big facts first, the lesser next. 7. Write the headlines along with the story. 8. Write the story immediately after the event.

Writing the Sports Lead

Just like any straight news story, the sports story may use the conventional summary lead. However, the presence of striking material may lend itself to a feature lead. Besides who won and whats the score, a number of conditions in athletic contest make good material for feature lead: 1. special significance of the game 2. cause of victory or defeat also called analytical lead

3. names of outstanding players or player 4. names of competing teams 5. name of the coach 6. description of the crowd, such as the size, unusual behavior 7. a moment of intense interest