Sports Beat

Tactics, fitness, stroke ability, YOU HAVE experience, TO STRATEGIZE! adaptability, and sportsmanship are all necessary for winning. -Fred Perry (1909-1995) 3-time Wimbledon Champion

In order to write the game

KNOW THE GAME.

SPORTS WRITING allows you to go to town in

describing plays, the atmosphere, fans and other colorful aspects of a sporting event.

THE NEED TO KNOWS:

You are given LEEWAY.

ADJECTIVES ADVERBS NOUNS VERBS

THE NEED TO KNOWS:

Series 1 Series 2 Series 3 5 4.3 4.4 4.5

USE OF STATISTICS
Past

3.5 3 2.4 2 2.5 2 1.8 2.8

Present Future

Category 1

Category 2

Category 3

Category 4

THE NEED TO KNOWS:

Quote the WINNERS

& quote the LOSERS

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR SPORT?

Game?

WHO AM I?

WHO AM I?

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR SPORT?

A Sports Writing Warm-up

The Headline
Should be striking

Use appropriate verb

Should immediately tell who won

Examples: Beermen dump Gins, 106-93 Fil-Am sprints for gold in 100m, sets new record in SEA Games.

The Lead A Vital Element

1. The key play

2. The outstanding player

3. Analytical approach

Pentalk Ajuy '13\Sports Writing Handouts.docx

The Body
After the lead, the other elements follow in descending order. These will include: 1. Team and/or individual standing 2. Decisive plays

3. Best scores for the day

4. Play-by-play 5. Quotations

10

tips for improving scholastic newspaper

sports writing:
Steve Row, Journalism Education Coordinator, Richmond Newspapers Inc.

1. Write about players and teams, not about games.

2. When writing about players,

always identify them by class in school and position on team.

3. Keep up with team statistics

and use them frequently in stories.

4. Keep up with individual statistics and use them frequently in stories.

5. Know sports writing style

6.Make sure your sports stories are the last stories turned in before deadline.

7. If you are writing about a team, watch the team practice and watch the team play.

8. If you are doing a profile on an athlete, watch that person at practice and watch that person in competition.

9. Look for opportunities to do sports feature stories that are not tied directly to games.

10. Sports writing can be more flexible than news or feature writing, but remember that even in sports writing a clear distinction exists between reporting and commenting.

SPORTSWRITING NO-NOs:
NEVER BE A CHEERLEADER.

SPORTSWRITING NO-NOs:
NEVER CONGRATULATE A team or an athlete in your sports stories.

SPORTSWRITING NO-NOs:
NEVER END A STORY THIS WAY:
"The Fighting Gnus will undoubtedly be the class of conference and will achieve anything they set out to do.

BREATHER WHATS NEXT?

OK. Its time to get serious.

Grab your pen and paper

ITS WORKSHOP TIME.

Two Content Layout with Table

First bullet point here
Group 1 Group 2

Second bullet point here

Third bullet point here

Class 1
Class 2 Class 3

82
76 84

95
88 90