(NSPC Winning Piece in Sports Writing) RNHS (59)—Menor 22, Balagan 18, Malaca 12, Soriano 7,

Allavigan 0, gonzaga 0, Advincula 0,Limbauan 0, Galapon 0.

ILAGAN, Isabela—Isabela National High School, behind the
remarkable performances of Florante Carreon and Paul
Gonzales, took all the Roxas National High School could offer
DCT High School towers over DCT Collge
before hacking out a close 60-59 win in an exhibition game

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High School boost to supremacy,
held at St. Ferdinand College Court here, Tuesday.

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spikes College down
Carreon scored 21 points to lead Isabela and Gonzales 13

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DCT High School Varsitarians squandered an early 6-point lead
points but delivered this on the crucial part of the game

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but regrouped and beat out the DCT College Volleyball Team in
including the winning free throw.

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a pulsating finish, 25-22, 25-22, in their Volleyball Exhibition
The game started in a roller-coaster encounter and the first Game at the Dominican College of Tarlac, October 28.

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half ended 28-27 with Isabela on the lead.
Veteran Captain Alexis Martinez of the Varsitarians, a former
The second half was still close and Roxas took the lead with player of the University of Illinois fired 8 spikes including 6 in

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two minutes to go, but Gonzales displayed a big heart as he the second set with 5 kills and 4 blocks to lead his team to an

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connected a three-pointer to give Isabela the lead, 54-53. overwhelming triumph.

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Rolly Menor carried Roxas on that decisive moment and tied Varsitarians blew away a strong start but caught in the second
the game at 59-all with 15 seconds to go.
co rc wind enabling them to trail by 4 points in the middle going of
the first set, but they brought back their rhythm and made an
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Gonzales fished a foul with 10 seconds left and split his charity
elusive run to snatch the set, 25-22.
for the lead, 60-59.
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DCT College tried to clinch the win in the second set to bring
Herman Menor refused to give up but his last desperate jump
the match to the decisive set and fold the upset the
shot went in-and-out of the ring.
Varsitarians gave them in the first set, but the Varsitarians are
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“Faith carried us through this game, it’s a good game,” said too tough and give DCT College a hard time.
Gonzales after the game.
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Thrilling change of spikes occurred in the middle going of the

INHS (60)—Carreon 21, Gonzales, 13, Magusib, 12, Mercado 6, second set which made the match unpredictable, but the
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Aguinaldo 4, Martinez 2,Cabanlong 2, Ong 0, Lim 0, Gumaru 0.

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 Varsitarians boost up with desperation to finish the match. The
ended it up with an astonishing spike by Martinez, 25-22.
“Spike! Spike! Spike! I think our team won because of our
spikes, and of course, teamwork,” said Alexis Martinez in
Tagalog.
There are lots of different kinds of stories you can write on the
sports beat, but probably the most basic is the short game
story. A short game story, usually 500 words or less, follows a
straightforward format that can be applied to any game you
cover. Here’s the format:

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“A little more practice. The performance my team showed The Lede
didn’t satisfy me even though we won. We will start to focus The lede of your story should include the final score and some

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ourselves in trainings after this,” said Varsitarian coach Renel details about what made the game interesting. Generally this

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Samson in Tagalog. means focusing on the efforts of an individual player.

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Let’s say a team’s star athlete is injured and a previously
After winning the match, the DCT High School Varsitarians will unheralded player comes into the game as a substitute. Not

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train for the forthcoming Provincial Athletic Meet this much is expected of this rookie but he defies expectations and
November. plays a great game, leading the team to victory.

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[2nd Place in Sports Writing English (Secondary) Category-
Example:

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Division Schools Press Conference 2009 (Tarlac Province) ]
Second-string quarterback Jay Lindman, who had never played

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a down for Jefferson High School, came off the bench after star

Sports Writing
co rc QB Fred Torville was injured Friday night and threw three
touchdown passes to lead the Gladiators to a 21-14 victory
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over the McKinley High School Centurions.
Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports
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on sporting topics and games. While the sports department
Or maybe the game is a close, seesaw battle between two
within some newspapers has been mockingly called the toy
evenly matched opponents, and is won in the final seconds by
department, because sports journalists do not concern
an especially dramatic play.
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themselves with the 'serious' topics covered by the news desk,

sports coverage has grown in importance as sport has grown
Example:
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in wealth, power and influence.

Second-string quarterback Jay Lindman threw the game-
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_journalism
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winning touchdown with just 12 seconds left to lead the

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Jefferson High School Gladiators to a 21-14 victory over the

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 McKinley High School Centurions Friday night.
Notice that in both examples we focus on the efforts of an
individual athlete. Sports is all about the human drama of
competition, and focusing on a single person gives the game
story a human interest angle that readers will enjoy.
The Body of the Story
The body of your story should basically elaborate on the lede.
If your lede was about the benchwarmer becoming the game’s
star, then the body should go into more detail about that.
Often a simple chronological account works best.
Example:
Torville’s ankle was sprained when he was sacked in the first
quarter. Lindman came into the game with low expectations
but threw his first touchdown pass in the second quarter with
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a high, floating ball that receiver Mike Ganson snagged in the
end zone.
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In the third quarter, Lindman was forced to scramble out of
the pocket to avoid the rush but managed to fire a bullet to
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receiver Desean Washington, who made a diving catch at the
goal line.
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The Wrap Up
The wrap up or ending of your story usually centers on quotes
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from the coach and players gleaned from post-game
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interviews or press conferences. Getting great quotes for
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sports stories can sometimes be tough – coaches and
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athletes often speak in clichés – but a snappy quote can really
be the icing on the cake of your game story.
Example:
“I knew Lindman could play but I didn’t know he could play like
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that,” said Gladiators coach Jeff Michaelson. “That was one
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heck of a game by a young guy who showed a lot of heart.”
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Washington said Lindman exuded confidence even in the
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huddle before his very first snap.
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“He just said, ‘Let’s do this to win,’” Washington said. “And he
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went out there and did it. That boy can throw the ball.”
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Different Kinds of Sports Stories
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The Straight-Lede Game Story - The straight-lede game story is
the most basic story in all of sportswriting. It's just what it
sounds like: an article about a game that uses a straight-news
type of lede. The lede summarizes the main points - who won,
who lost, the score, and what the star player did.
Here's an example of this kind of lede:
Quarterback Pete Faust threw thre touchdown passes to lead
the Jefferson High School Eagles to a 21-7 victory over
crosstown rival McKinley High.
The rest of the story follows from there, with an account of
the big plays and playmakers, and after-game quotes from
 coaches and players. Because they often focus on high school
and small-college teams, straight-lede game stories tend to be Delayed-lede game stories tend to be a bit more in-depth that
fairly tightly written. straight-lede stories, and as a result are often longer.

Straight-lede game stories are still used for coverage of high Profiles - The sports world is full of colorful characters, so it's

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school and some college sports. But they're used less no surprise that personality profiles are a staple of

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nowadays for pro sports. Why? Because pro sports are seen on sportswriting. Whether it's a charismatic coach or a young
TV and most fans of a particular team know the score of a athlete on the rise, some of the best profiles anywhere are

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game long before they read about it. found in sports sections.

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The Feature-Lede Game Story - Feature-lede game stories are Here's an example of a profile lede:
common for pro sports. Readers usually already know the Norman Dale surveys the court as his players practice layups.

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score of pro games as soon as they're done, so when they pick A pained look crosses the face of the coach of the McKinley
up a sports section they want stories they offer a different High School basketball team as one player after another

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angle on what happened and why. misses the basket.

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Here's an example of a game story feature lede: "Again!" he shouts. "Again! You don't stop! You don't quit!

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It had rained all that day in the city of brotherly love, so when York work 'till you get it right!" And so they continue, until they

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the Philadelphia Eagles took the field the ground was already
a soggy mess - much like the game that would follow.
start to get it right. Coach Dale wouldn't have it any other
way.
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So it was somehow fitting that the Eagles would lose 31-7 to Season Preview and Wrap-up Stories - Season previews and
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the Dallas Cowboys in a contest that was one of the worst of wrap-ups are fixtures of the sportswriter's repertoire. These
quarterback Donovan McNabb's career. McNabb threw two are done any time a team and a coach are preparing for the
interceptions and fumbled the ball three times. coming season, or when the season has just ended, either in
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glory or infamy.
The story starts out with some description, and doesn't get to
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the final score until the second paragraph. Again, that's fine: Obviously the focus here isn't a specific game or even
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readers will already know the score. It's the writer's job to give individual, but a broad look at the season - how the coach and
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them something more. players expect things to go, or how they feel once that season
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 is done. Source:http://journalism.about.com/od/writing/a/sportsstorie
s.htm
Here's an example of a lede for this kind of story:
Coach Jenna Johnson has high hopes for the Pennwood High
School women's basketball team this year. After all, the Lions

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were city champions last year, led by the play of Juanita

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Ramirez, who returns to the team this year as a senior. "We
expect great things from her," Coach Johnson says.

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Columns - A column is where the sportswriter gets to vent his

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or her opinions, and the best sports columnists do just that,
fearlessly. Often that means being very tough on coaches,

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players or teams who don't meet expectations, particularly at
the pro level, where all concerned are being paid huge salaries

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to do just one thing - win.

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But sports columnists also focus on those they admire,

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whether it's an inspirational coach who leads a team of

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underdogs to a great season, or a mostly unheralded player
who may be short on natural talent but makes up for it with
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hard work and unselfish play.
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Here's an example of how a sports column might begin:

Lamont Wilson certainly isn't the tallest player on the
McKinley High School basketball team. At 5-foot-9, he's hard
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to spot in the sea of mid 6-footers on the court. But Wilson is

the model of an unselfish team player, the kind of athlete who
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makes those around him shine. "I just do whatever I can to

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help the team," the ever-modest Wilson says.

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