Introduction

“I always turn to the

sports section first. The
sports section records

people's accomplishments;

the front page nothing

but man’s failures.”

—Earl Warren, Chief Justice,

Supreme Court

>—

It is Monday morning before the first bell. Students in the halls

talk excitedly, maybe even angrily, about a controversial call moments
before the game-ending buzzer at Friday night's football game. As
students pass the publications classroom, they pick up a copy of
your publication, hot off the presses. Turning to the sports pages,
they see ...

Freeze that moment. What will your readers see when they
open the sports section and start reading? Coverage of Friday's game?
A strong action photo of the key play? A sports column about the
role of officiating and the impact of the new conference rules on
Friday's game?

If you sent the paper to the printer before the Friday game, will
your readers see a teaser that tells the audience to check online for the
game summary? Online, will they find coverage posted Friday night?
Did your staff's real-time updates via social media allow everyone to
be well-informed and interested in the game, and its controversy?

<

Why Does the Sports Section Matter?

A high school publication has a daunting task: to keep tabs on

everything about school for ten months every year. That would not be
so hard if you did not also have homework, sports, community service,
work, family obligations and a hundred other potential pressures and
obligations.

Some may wonder why sports are allowed to occupy so much “real
estate” in your print publications, so much space on your Web page, so
much time in your broadcasts, so much data in your social media and so
much energy from your staff. The seven news values hold the answer.

* Proximity: The sports section covers your school, the people you
see every day. It covers the teams that may represent you and your
community.

* Timeliness: Sports happen. A heat has just finished, the buzzer

has sounded at the half, the season will begin in two days. While
much of the school year may seem to unroll in slow motion, sports
crackles and pops with timely events.

* Impact: Often 40 or 50 percent of a student body participate in

sports. Those who do not participate have friends or relatives who
do. For some, a team’s success or failure represents the school’s
worthiness, power or heroic efforts. A sports team may be a proxy
for the whole community, with alumni and local businesses following
its fortunes.

* Prominence: Athletes can achieve a kind of visibility that is

usually out of reach to all but a few students. The athletes may be
the movie stars and supporting actors of your school, and what
affects them affects their team, your school and perhaps the wider =
community.

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

Chapter Eleven Sports

319

e Oddity: Some of your most-read stories will be about traditions,

people, places, objects and occurrences that never show up in the

e Conflict: Where else can you find intense, even violent, conflict visible
to the public from start to finish that begins and ends on a schedule?

e Human interest: Long-time UCLA basketball coach John Wooden

said, “Sports do not build character. They reveal it.” Your audience

With all these potential news values, sports can provide journalists
with rich storytelling opportunities. Sports coverage can be bright, active,

box scores. Sports is rich with these stories.

is interested in the people involved in and attached to sports.

up-to-date and visually strong. Sports writing also provides a “lens”

with which to look at issues that impact the lives of all students. A strong

sports section might focus its lens on topics such as these:

oh YOUR TURN

stress

time management
technology

nutrition

sleep

head injuries and their impact on academic performance

use of medical marijuana
hazing

racism

drug addiction and recovery

gender inequality
homophobia

physical rehabilitation and recovery from injuries

In a small group, brainstorm at least three specific sports stories from

your school or community based on one of the topics listed above.
What other topics could be included in the list above? Add to the list.
Going Deeper. Describe how two of the topics or stories that you have
discussed could serve as a lens for looking at topics that relate not just
to sports but to your broader community as well.

Is It a Sport?

— What should be covered in a high school sports section? That can be

tricky. Is cheer a sport—or an activity? Is ballet a sport—or an art form?
Is surfing a sport—or a hobby (Figure 11.1)? What about a student who

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

320 Journalism: Publishing Across Media

Figure 11.1 Some

publications cover athletic
activities, such as surfing,
that may not traditionally be
considered “sports.”

Photo by Scotty Bara, The Viking, Palo Alto High School

has joined a local roller derby team—is she an athlete? Should your
publication cover her and her team?

The simplest and most limiting policy, the policy that lists what your
sports section cannot afford to ignore, is this, “If it is a school team, we
cover it.” If it is sanctioned by your school, has school-endorsed coach
and school-based season schedule, it is a sport. Under this definition,
cheer competitions should be included on your sports coverage list.

When you say you cover school teams, it means all teams and all
the sports, not just the teams the staff likes or wants to cover, but all of the
teams and sports.

Talk to athletes at your school about your coverage. Do not be

surprised to hear students say some sports get all of the ink while other
sports do not seem fo exist. A strong sports section covers all sports

For the Record

Beyond Title IX: Girls Sports

Prior to the 1970s, many American high programs. Collectively, this legislation
became
schools had strong boys sports programs that known as Title IX.
often featured the “big three™ football, basketball, Since then, American high
schools have

and baseball, along with the other traditional boys seen tremendous expansions in
the athletic
sports of wrestling, track, tennis, swimming, water opportunities available for
female athletes and the

polo and hockey. Girls sports programs, however, recruiting of female athletes at
the collegiate level.

offered fewer sports, included fewer athletes and Not only are more girls playing
sports, more sports

were not supported at the same financial level as are available to them. In the
2000s, for example,

their male counterparts. lacrosse became one of the fastest-growing U.S.

In 1972 federal legislation was passed to girls sports.

correct this gender disparity in scholastic sports

Ww
Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Chapter Eleven Sports

321

during their seasons. Baseball belongs on the sports page, but so does
badminton. Volleyball’s win should be featured, but also girls cross-
country competition.

But if you only cover sanctioned team sports at your school, you will
miss students who participate at a high level in sports off campus. Surely
they are athletes and deserve to be covered. Consider the California high
school student who participated in the 2012 Summer Olympics in table
tennis, though her school had no table tennis team. (Figure 11.2).

If your publication is to cover sports in your community, you need

to broaden your coverage beyond just school teams. Having made that
decision, you then need to decide what stories should be in sports and
what stories should be covered in another part of your publication. For
example, if a student participates in circus training, such as silks and
trapeze, should that story be in the sports section or in the features section?

Consider these criteria: If it is an Olympic event, you are safe calling

it a “sport.” If it has appeared in the pages of Sports Illustrated or ESPN
or on a broadcast sports segment, it is probably a sport. If it involves
competition, physical ability, physical training, strategy and winners and
losers, it is probably a sport.

Broadening coverage to include all your local athletes, not just those on
school teams, can lead to vibrant story ideas. For example, one high school
journalist spent an afternoon photographing fellow students who liked to
participate in parkour (urban chase and obstacle competition). He came back

with strong photos and a solid sports story that interested his audience. stoty
abut an Olympic

Figure 11.2 Interesting

sports stories, such as this

table tennis player, can be

found outside of the school-

sponsored teams.

LLY

started from
the bottom

by AMIDREZ AND CHRIS SMITH

photo by Grant Shorin

i Narlon Junior Championship, Palo Allo High Is far fram that, Bete

ponent was preparing to serve for match point. She res think.

ena filled with hundreds of peaple ot the US. ships, geining college serereion and
mech more, but in realty, i
the ines, se hay encountered many ob-
30 | THE VIKING | waesisiiimgzoortsmag.com

glining to clam up, Holding 3 one-point end, knew thar

| ceri hse rvs oi oreo thi

Te
UT jo re dil came don 1 hi”
Her upponcat blast the ball over the net. Widhout hesitation, she ree

turned f back. feeling the rush of adrenaline spreading to hes heads She had
Starting trom ground sero to now
returned longtime rival Ariel Hilngis serve one last toe to clinéh the US. )
anents National Tunkor Champlonip. This fourmsment marked pivotal tall begat far
Lily 8 age seven whan ewe ta he ind Com

point in her carer, but Howe di hec Journey begin?

Ae 3 wine man once said, “dont judge a book by ts cover”

Lily may spent to live the perteet Ife, participating In the 2
Olympics in London at ngs 16, traveling. my fsing schol, receiving ind

| school student Lily Zhang, (4) felt the pressure as her stacles, making het road
9 ghory more diffieult than people might
1 all the est dripping down her foce and hee pales be-

J was i the ine Lily sal = | iad warlced vo of table tennis on 3 dally ba

When she seas 12, while most children her age were attending
ar Mitrvahs and birthday parties in the summer, she traveled to
China for intense table tenis raining. Atage 14. when other lads
seen: spending time with thel

hegh school classmates psc he

sumer and competed al the 01

age 16 and undes, Lily trey has

munky Genter (ICC) To

friend ind curcent
“started out aus
For the next two.

Tenis Program with childhand bes

practiced occastonally. playing very

MARCH 2013

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

Story by Ami Drez and Chris Smith, Photo by Grant Shorin, The Viking, Palo Alto
High School
322 Journalism: Publishing Across Media

If students at your school surf, race road bikes or dirt bikes, row crew,
compete in ice skating, martial arts, curling, rock climbing, geocaching,
gymnastics, ultimate Frisbee, skateboarding or skiing or snowboarding, they
belong in your sports section (Figure 11.3). Talk to them and tell their stories.

Getting Started with Strong Sports Reporting

Strong, balanced sports coverage requires journalists to plan ahead

and follow through on their commitments. Calendaring and scheduling
help editors, reporters and photographers communicate with each other,

/ —

NN - we An “evergreen” story is one

Yo written ahead of time, to be
published as time, space and interest
allow. It is not time sensitive but may be
edited to become a timely story or a sidebar to
a timely story. Evergreen stories allow your staff
to invest significant time and resources in a story
without the pressure of an immediate deadline.
Strong publications and broadcasts keep a file of
evergreen stories, to be published or adapted to
changing circumstances.
Consider these topics for your evergreen file:
e Concussions. Young athletes sustain head
injuries at least as often as do their older
counterparts. Second impact syndrome,
which can lead to death, also concerns
athletes and your community. Watch for
policies, laws, gear or practices that reflect
an awareness of these issues.

Fitness routines. How do different teams at

your school work out for optimal strength,
health and flexibility? This story has potential
for visual storytelling.

The trainers. A feature or profile on the trainers

and others who keep the athletes in top
playing condition can provide an interesting
look behind the scenes.

Fields, pools, tracks. The physical spaces

where athletes train and perform vary
considerably from school to school, or
even within the same school. Athletes have
strong opinions about the fastest pool in
the conference or the best baseball field in

‘ ~ = “Evergreen” Sports Story Ideas

the league. Try a feature on the turf, or the

surfaces on the school track, or the divots in
the soccer fields. Contrast the facilities two
different teams use.
Research the best team at your school from
10 or 20 or 25 years ago. Find the key players
on a successful team from the past. Ask them
to retell the story of their best season. Use
school yearbook photos and pictures from
those years to illustrate the piece.

Gear. Choose any of the sports at your

school, then do a piece on the gear required
to do the sport, how the gear is put on and
used, what it allows them to do, how the gear
has changed over time, or how players feel
about types and brands of gear. For soccer or
cross-country, for example, the topic of cleats
may provide good story material and great
quotes. Research a sport for which rules and
protection guidelines have changed over the
past years and examine the impact of those
changes on the game. Do improvements

in safety make for a better game or a less

interesting one?

“Where are they now?” Look through

yearbooks from the past decade. Which players
had breakout seasons, or unusual seasons?
Do you have athletes from your school who
went on to play in university or semi-pro or
professional teams? Do not ignore people
who did not play after high school. Did
athletics form—or damage—these people?

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

Chapter Eleven. Sports 323

balance their schedules and still be present to

cover their sports. Ideally editors help with this
scheduling, but reporters also take responsibility
to keep commitments and to enlist others to help
when they cannot be where they promised to be.
Strong sports coverage requires that
journalists attend many practices and games
or matches during the season, not just a single
game or event. It also can mean attending post-
season activities if athletes and teams are highly
successful.

Scheduling Sports Coverage

Most high school sports are held during

three distinct seasons: fall, winter and spring, though the sports and their
seasons will vary across regions of the country. At the beginning of the
school year, journalists should create a master list of all school teams by
season (Figure 11.4). This will help ensure that all are covered and allow
you to begin planning your coverage.

As soon as possible, sports journalists create a master calendar that

shows when and where each sport practices and competes and when
post-season play may begin. Include the junior varsity and frosh-soph
teams. They may become the strongest stories.

Your calendar allows sports writers and photographers to plan their

coverage as well as their own busy schedules. With this type of advanced
planning journalists may be able to arrange for someone else to help
them when they cannot be at an important event. Planning ahead also
allows editors to make sure everything is being covered and photographed
as appropriate.

Good calendaring helps avoid bad coverage. Journalists know it may

be hard to get a strong game story or a great photo on deadline in the

YT YT
EEE EEE EEEEEEER!
West High School's Master List of Sports

_® Badminton ® Soccer (girls and boys)

Photo by Grant Shorin, The Viking, Palo Alto High School

e Baseball Co ° Softball
_® Basketball (girls and boys) ® Swimming

e Cheer ° Table tennis

° Cross-country B ® Tennis (girls and boys)

* Diving. e Track and field (girls and

_® Football boys)

° Hockey * Volleyball (girls and boys)

e Golf (girls 2nd boys)

* Water polo (girls and boys)
_® Lacrosse (girls and boys) _

* Wrestling

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

Figure 11.3 Crew can be a

school-sanctioned sport, but
is more likely to be a club
sport. Stories of students who
participate in club sports
can enrich a publication’s
sports section. What athletic
activities not sanctioned by
the school are covered in
your publications?

Figure 11.4 A master list

of your school’s sports can
help your staff create a
sports calendar for every
practice, game or other
important sporting event
for each team.
324 Journalism: Publishing Across Media

final week of the season. Rain happens, snow happens, injuries happen
and life happens.

Good scheduling means that you have weeks, not days, to cover
interesting games and take action photos that feature individual players.
When the season ends, you can recap (summarize) the season based
on solid reporting and a file of photos. It also means you will avoid
competing with six other reporters covering six other sports for the good
camera or the services of your best photographer.

Sports Events Are News Events

Scores and game recaps are breaking news. They need to be reported
as swiftly as humanly, and electronically, possible. They also need to be
reliable. If you rely on a buddy at the game to give you the score, you
are reporting hearsay, not news. Reporters and photographers need to
be physically present at a sports event. Phoning players and coaches for
quotes about a game from the journalism room days after the event took
place is not the way to report breaking news.

Journalists gather the five W's of the game, and possibly of the
season, by having their cameras and their notebooks at the ready
when the teams are playing. The reporters note scoreboard times
when important plays take place and listen for key stats throughout
the game. They may take a hundred photographs each game, but like or

use only a dozen.

Journalists who are physically at the game can accurately report

scores and recap the game afterward, but in addition, they are there
to report newsworthy events. At the very least, their reporting can

I p x0 1. Provide balanced coverage

05% of male and female teams and sports,
including visual representation in photos
and videos.

2. Cover all sports, not just the “big” sports.

Badminton, cross-country, and gymnastics
take incredible amounts of time and
commitment, and deserve to be covered.

3. Tell the story of the whole team, not just

the stars.

4. Focus on the story, not just the score box, of

a game or competition.

Seven Guidelines to Keep in Mind

RE About Sports Coverage

5. Keep it fair. The same ethics apply to sports

coverage as to any other coverage. Do not let
your publication be used to promote private
agendas. Consult with your editor before
publishing anonymous reports, such as
player complaints about the coach or other
players. Cover tough stories when the public
has the right to know, but always with solid
research, strong sources, and balance.

. A season is not just one game. Provide scores

and summaries throughout the season.

. Make it easy for your audience to get accurate,

updated sports stats from your publication.

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

Chapter Eleven Sports 325

contribute to a meaningful season recap. But if you publish online, you

can publish a game story for each competition, including JV and frosh-
soph games. If you report accurately and write well, your stories will be
read and appreciated more often than you suspect, and you will develop
a following as a sports writer.

Before You Begin Your Coverage

Once you know which sport you are going to cover, do some
research. If you are not familiar with the goal of the game or how
the game is scored, learn about it. Ask someone who plays the sport
to explain the basics and the key strategies to you as if you were an
interested 10-year-old. Never be afraid to ask about what you do not
understand. Find out what abilities make a standout player.

Learn the technical terms and lingo specific to that sport. Each sport
is like a little country with its own language. A good reporter will make
sure she speaks the language and uses the lingo accurately in any sports
articles. Use a term incorrectly, and you lose credibility.

The lingo itself can be fascinating. In hockey, for example, a “hat

trick” has nothing at all to do with head gear. In basketball, “double
doubles” sound like an ice cream sundae, but actually refer to a specific
threshold a player reaches in scoring, rebounding and assist statistics.

While it is possible to look up the sport's terminology online, you

may do better by talking with a player or coach in person. Ask him to
describe the common terms that players of that sport use to describe

> A :
> £8, Tips for Planning Sports Coverage

: WoW Lo? ¢ Ask your school’s athletic special credentials for big games or post-
ne) x0 Ww director for a list of teams, season play. Check on the availability and
5 e¢ coaches (with contact information) condition of your staff’s cameras and other
\°® and the calendar of games in each level equipment. Check the lighting of the
venue in
in each sport at the beginning of the year. advance, if possible.
Check for revisions at the start of each season. » If you face any administrative
or coaching
+ Post the game schedules in your publications staff restrictions for photographers
or
room and make it available digitally to reporters wanting access to fields or
players,
everyone on staff. request a written reason explaining the
e Update the calendar monthly and cover—or restrictions. You may want to get
parents and
arrange coverage—for every home game. players involved in requesting coverage of

these events. This could help you get the access

you need. School publications have a right

to cover the events of the school community,

and sports games are an important part of
what is happening in a school.

e Consider using beats for sports coverage,

assigning specific reporters and photographers
to cover each sport for the season.

Plan ahead for the big games. Often

reporters and photographers may require

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

326

Journalism: Publishing Across Media

scoring, statistics or specific moments in the action. Doing this in person

allows you to get a better “feel” for the sport. In addition, you can ask for
clarification when a term is confusing or odd.

Continue your background research on the sport by reading

online or print sports news from professional media sources. You will
learn how writers talk about that sport, and how they incorporate
sports-specific terms into their reporting. It is hard to write sports if

you do not read sports.

Learning to Cover Sports

The first game story you write will probably not be a strong one,
but your second one will be better. How do you get past those first few

weak stories?

For the Record

Colorful Sports Terms and Phrases

Sports has a language of its own. Here are just a

few examples:

love (tennis): means “zero,” and is thought to stem

from a mispronunciation of oeuf (“egg” in French)

flea flicker (football): a quarterback hands the ball

off to the running back, who quickly tosses the ball
back to the quarterback, who throws it downfield
(the play resembles a dog who uses a quick flick
of his paw to get rid of fleas)

duffer (golf): a person who plays golf without

much skill

pickle (baseball): situation in which a base runner

gets caught between two bases

can of corn (baseball): a lazy fly ball

Lambeau Leap (football): a colorful and well-known

move in which a Green Bay Packer player jumps
into the stands (at Lambeau Field) after scoring a
touchdown

suicide squeeze (baseball): a “squeeze play”

occurs when there is a runner on third base, and
the batter bunts the ball in the hope that the third
base runner will make it to home plate while the
batter is thrown out at first base. It's a “suicide”
squeeze if the runner on third, rather than waiting
to see if the batter successfully bunts the ball,
heads for home as soon as the pitcher releases
the ball.
dormy (match play golf): leading by as many holes
as remain to be played

catching a crab (rowing): a blade error in which

the rower doesn’t get the oar out of the water in
time, causing major drag as the momentum of the
boat surges forward. If the boat is moving even

at moderate speeds, the blade handle can strike

the rower in the chest or face, go over the rowers
head, or even eject the rower from the boat.

nutmeg (soccer): kicking a ball between the legs of

an opponent

nickel back (football): the fifth defensive back

brought in on more obvious passing downs, such
as third and long (standard defense has four
defensive backs)

put him in the popcorn machine (basketball): to

confuse a defender with feints and gyrations while
handling the ball, generally followed by scoring

charity stripe (basketball): the free throw line

slam dunk (basketball): a player leaps up and jams

the ball through the basketball hoop in a showy
display of athletic ability

ducks on the pond (baseball): runners on base

decleater (football): a powerful tackle that takes a

runner right out of his cleats

wy

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

Chapter Eleven Sports 327

After you have done your background research, watch a game,

match or meet covered by the professional press. Write your game story
first, then read what the professionals wrote. Make a list of the facts the
professional press included that you left out. Scratch out anything you
put in that was not needed. Were you inaccurate in any of your facts?

Another helpful technique is to follow a more experienced journalist

as she covers a competition. Write your story, compare it to the other
journalist's work and learn from the difference.

—TN

— N
|=

S=1 Your TURN

You can enjoy the experience and at the same time practice covering
sports by conducting a mock sports event. Assemble the members of your
class for a game of dodgeball or basketball. Determine who will serve

as reporters and photographers, and who will be the players and referees.
(If possible, the referee should be a student who has actually officiated
games since referees are a key part of any sports event.) Photographers
should take photos during the “game,” while reporters record details.

Make the game short (20 to 30 minutes) so there is enough time after

the game for reporters to practice interviewing the players. Reporters

should write a game brief for the next day’s class.

Fe.

Photo by Jonathan Dai, The Winged Post, The Harker School

Sports Coverage Work Plan

At some point after doing your research and practicing your

reporting and writing, it will come time for you to do your actual sports
reporting. Where do you start? As simple as it may seem, your first task
will be to find the team, the coach, and the team statistician (if there is one)
wherever they hold their team practices.

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

328

Journalism: Publishing Across Media

For the sport that you are assigned, head to a scheduled practice
in person and politely introduce yourself (at an appropriate time) to
the head coach and assistant coaches. Ask for their names, official
team titles, and also request their contact information in case you have
questions or need a quote as the season goes on.

Find out who keeps the stats for the team and where they are kept.
Sometimes team stats are kept only on paper, but more and more teams
keep their stats in an online file, where team members can easily access
the stats.

These first meetings are important to your success as a reporter.

You want the coaches, players and statisticians to get to know you and
become familiar with your face and your presence at practices and games.
Tell the coaching staff that you will be covering the team at the next game
(or for the season, if your staff elects to go with beat coverage).

Here is a basic work plan for covering a single sports event.

preparation

setup

live coverage during the game

game brief

@ pk Co bags

comprehensive recap

Preparation

Before heading out to cover the event, you need to prepare. This
means double-checking the starting time and location of the game a
day in advance. Do not take it for granted that all games will be played
exactly as indicated on the schedule. Sometimes there are changes due to
field conditions, bus schedules, school conflicts or other situations.

Getting Comped

Check in with the athletic director or someone from the sports

booster club to find out how to get your name added to the list of
“comped” people who will attend that game for free. Standard practice in
the media is that if a person is covering an athletic event for a publication,
that person need not pay admission to the event. Press coverage provides
a public service to the school community, and therefore, media should
not be asked to pay. Reporters are not there as spectators. For postseason
play, you may need to get additional press credentials depending on
your league or conference policies. If you need help, talk to your athletic
director well in advance of the event.

Doing It All

High school reporters often work alone as they cover regular season
games or events. This means you will be doing all of the reporting,
providing social media updates and shooting still and video photography
by yourself. Do not worry. If you have prepared properly and developed
your own game plan as you head out to the field, you can easily
accomplish all of the tasks necessary to create great game coverage.

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

Chapter Eleven Sports

329

If you will be taking photographs of the event, be sure to talk with

your editor or designer before the event to determine which shots you
will need. Bring your shot list with you to the event.

Assembling Your Tools

After you know for certain where you need to be, and you have
added your name to the media access list, collect your tools for the game.
* Bring a reporter’s notebook and pens, as usual.

e Check out a camera with a fast shutter speed and telephoto or

telephoto zoom lens, assuming your program has this photo
equipment available. A fast shutter speed is a must for high-quality
still photos of any sport.

® Pack an extra battery for the camera. The duration of many

sporting events is longer than the life of some batteries. It is not
uncommon to have the first battery die just as the game or match is
heading into its final, crucial minutes.

® Add a shotgun mic, if you have one, for recording interviews and

game highlights with better sound quality.

e Use a digital recorder for interviews. (A smartphone also works well.)

If you don't have the ability to shoot video with your assigned
camera, plan on using a smartphone. Smartphones now have
built-in lenses and digital video options that will allow you to
shoot, edit and post great footage. The earlier advice about battery
life holds true for smartphones, so plan ahead. Many high school
journalists who have covered sports have had their phones or
other digital devices die in the middle of an interview or while
shooting a clip of game action. Make sure your device is fully
charged before you go to the event. If possible, bring an external,
spare battery pack.

Checking the Weather Report

On game day, dress appropriately and allow yourself enough time

to make sure you arrive before the action starts. It is usually acceptable
practice to wear a sweatshirt or jacket in your school colors. For outdoor
sports, it can feel chillier on the sidelines than it does on a crowded
bleacher, so think about bringing gloves or a hat to keep warm.

Anticipate the possibility of rain, sleet or snow. The fans can leave if
they are cold or wet, but you cannot. You must stay to cover the game
for as long as the game goes on, and after the game. The good news
is that games played in tough weather conditions often provide great
opportunities for fabulous quotes and riveting sports photos.

Make sure you protect your equipment from the weather and wet
conditions. For example, you can quickly re-purpose a plastic garbage
bag to cover and protect your camera. Just cut or tear a small hole in the
bag for the front of the lens to peek through.
Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
330 Journalism: Publishing Across Media

Figure 11.5 Getting close to

the action will improve your
chances of getting a high-
quality action shot.

Photo by Forrest Czarnecki, Conifer High School

Showing and Honoring Your Credentials

It is standard practice to wear a laminated press pass with your

name, staff position, school name and year on it. It is personal preference
whether you put your pass on a lanyard, on a clip or attached to a camera
bag, but it must be easily visible on your person while you are near the
field of play. It also is helpful to have the athletic director, principal or
vice principal sign your press pass before it is laminated.

Press credentials serve several functions. They lend an air of official

status (as press), calm game officials who may otherwise jog over and
ask who you are and why you are on the sidelines, and tell people in the
stands who are wondering why you are on the sidelines that you have
press authorization to be there.

A quick word of caution: A code of ethics accompanies this kind

of special access to athletic events. If you have press credentials and
are attending the game for free, you have an implied contract with the
schools and teams involved. This implied contract says that you are doing
the job of reporting and photographing the event. You are of there to be
a fan, or hang out in the stands with friends or to pal around with players
on the sideline, in the dugout or on the bench. You are there to work.

Another aspect of this code of ethics is that

you never “lend” your press pass to anyone
simply to allow that person to get into the
game for free or to provide that person access
to the sidelines. On many staffs, loaning your
credentials for non-journalism purposes is
grounds for immediate dismissal from the staff
or revocation of staff privileges.

Setup

As mentioned previously, well-prepared

sports reporters show up before the game, prior
to the first pitch or opening tip and preferably
before the announcer calls the names of all of
the starting players.

Situate yourself in a location with a good

viewing angle of the action, which could be
a spot on the sidelines or in the stands
(Figure 11.5). Make sure that you have a good
field of view for shooting photos and video.

In your notebook, record the basic facts

before the game gets underway: date of the
game, location, conditions (weather, lighting,
heat and cold, rain or snow). This level of detail
will help you report this single game and may
also come in handy when writing a season
recap, pulling up specific game highlights
or memories.

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

Chapter Eleven Sports

If the crowd is too big to

count, how do you give your

audience a sense of the size of the

crowd attending a sports event, or any

other kind of event? You may attempt to verify

actual attendance numbers from event sponsors,
but be aware they may want their event to seem
better attended, and therefore more successful,
than it was.

Most of your readers or listeners do not want

an exact number for large crowds, such as “the
game attracted 477 people” They will be happy to
know that “over 450 people” attended the game or
“almost 500 people” attended.

One substitute for an attendance number

is to show your audience the scene through
whatever media are available to you. Shoot
images from a high point, such as the press
box of a football field or the top row of the gym.
Recording ambient sound can give your audience
an indication of the size of the crowd.

You can also use descriptions to indicate

how large the crowd was. How far away did
people have to park? How long were the lines
to the entrance? Describe the area the crowd
covered and where the overflow extended.

Sometimes only a number will give your

audience a sense of the size of the gathering.
Getting a rough count of a large group—such
as the crowd at a basketball game—takes skill,
practice and preparation.

Follow these instructions to estimate crowd

size in your school’s gym.

1. Go to the gym. Sketch the bleachers.

2. Count the rows in the bleachers.

3. On your sketch, divide the bleachers

vertically into equal sections. The bleacher
handrails and walkways or the supports
under the stands may help, or you may rely
on markings behind or under the stands.

4, Count the number of sections.

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

How Big Was the Crowd?

5. Note any large areas blocked off from public
seating, such as an announcers box. How
many rows does it take up? How much of a
section does it take up?

6. Next, find a picture of the gym when it is

packed. Make sure the picture shows at
least three rows of one of the sections you
identified in step three.

7. Count the number of people sitting on three

packed rows in that section.

8. Divide the number by three to get the average

number of people sitting in one row of one
section when it is packed. This is your key
number, so count and multiply carefully.

9. Multiply this key number by the number of

rows in a section.

10. Multiply by the number of sections.

11. If necessary, subtract for any unusable seats,

such as the announcer’s box.

You should now have a good estimate of the

number of people in attendance if the stands are
packed. If your gym has identical stands on two
sides of the basketball court and both sides are
packed, be sure to multiply the number by two.

Use the same technique with photos of three

lightly filled rows. This will give you an estimate for
a more lightly attended event.

Collaborate with other staff members to ensure

accuracy. If possible, use several different pictures
and compare your results with those of classmates.

Save a master copy of your sketch and your

estimates for lightly filled and tightly packed rows.
You will use this master document many times as
you report events that take place in the gym. When
a function has both packed and lightly packed rows,
take a minute to highlight or shade the sections
that are lightly packed. Use a different color or
type of shading to mark the densely packed rows.
It will be easy to estimate the attendance later.

You will find additional measuring tips, such

as guidelines for estimating the density of a
crowd and measuring without a tape
measure, on the Journalism website. =.

xtend

331
332 Journalism: Publishing Across Media

Include crowd size in your notes, even if you do not think you will
include it in your story. Look around and count the people at a small
event. Estimate or ask the ticket collectors if you are in a large stadium.

Jot notes as you survey the scene before the event starts. Who is in
attendance? Is it mostly parents? Are many students at the game? Are
there scouts in the stands? Are there any alums who are back to watch the
game? Is there a “celebrity sighting” in the stands that might make a good
secondary interview and sidebar for the game recap?

If one is available, grab a game program to use for additional info or

stats later. Review the photo shot list of specific images needed for strong
coverage of this game, especially any shots needed of key players in both
offensive and defensive moments.

Pay attention to the other team’s players and names. It is a mark of

quality reporting to identify the other players by name, as well as your
own. This can give your writing a professional touch since too often high
school reporters overlook the other team in reporting specific details.

Live Coverage

Given the increasing participation in social media and the continuing

Figure 11.6 Twitter can be

a useful tool for posting live
reports of key plays during
a sporting event. How does
your publication utilize
social media?

Cougar Gazette @cougargazetie

And it's a win for Cougar women’s
soccer! Celebrate at the pep rally
May 12th.

10 May

Cougar Gazette @cougargazstie

Cougar women's soccer leading 3-1

before halftime.

10 May

Cougar Gazette retwested

J Abraham Craven @craveniribune 10 May

) Lashawn Michaels impresses again, two
3 ; goals in the first half. Living up to her title,
“Cougar Athlete of the Year”

=a Cougar Gazette @cougargazetie 10 May

a Cougar women's soccer starts first

half strong, leading 2-0! y

transition to mobile devices, strong sports reporting should appear
(literally) in the reader’s hands, whether during a sports event or shortly

after the final buzzer. As more and more

schools take their publication programs online,
the opportunity to provide cutting-edge, live
coverage has never been easier, or faster.

Sports audiences are a devoted bunch. This

means that if you provide real-time updates,
you have an excellent chance of developing
a loyal following. Of course those real-time
updates are of no value unless you tell your
audience in advance where to find them. If your
audience knows ahead of time where you will
be posting, they will be looking and waiting for
your first post.

Whichever social media platform you use

for your publication, the principles of reporting
will be the same. As you take notes in preparation
for your full story, you will also be posting quick
reports on key plays in real time throughout the
duration of the game (Figure 11.6).

Your live posts need to be concise, accurate

and free of bias. Follow AP style and your
publication’s guideline for social media posts.
Avoid passive voice in live posts. With so few
words to work with, choosing action verbs will
better communicate the essence of the game's
movements and pacing.

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

Chapter Eleven Sports

333

Start your live coverage as the game gets underway. Provide the
basics: Who is your school playing? What's their season record? Where is
the game happening?

It helps to think about the score of a game and the actual game itself
as a breaking news event. Your audience wants to hear about what's
happening as it happens. They will “stay tuned” if you continue to provide
in-game coverage.

Continue with live coverage, focusing on providing updates

immediately as big plays happen. Keep the score updated as halftime,
innings or periods end.

If possible, include a photo or short video clip with your key posts.
Using your handheld smart device will usually be the fastest and easiest
way to do this.

When the game ends, post immediately a closing to the “live” coverage.
In the same post, tease the game brief that will be coming soon so that your
audience knows to watch for more.

Game Brief

The bread and butter of basic sports coverage is the game brief, a
thumbnail overview of the game. Your goal is to post the brief via social
media or online almost immediately after the game. You can accomplish
this faster than you might think because you will have already written
much of the content for the brief in your earlier posts and notes.

But before you can begin writing your brief, you have one last
reporting task. You need a quote. As soon as the game ends or after posting
your closing to the live coverage, hustle over to the players and coaches as
they head to the locker room or bus. Interview them to get their thoughts
on the game. Include the strongest insights and comments in your brief.

The brief can be as short as 100 to 200 words. It starts with a summary
news lead of up to 35 words, including the basic facts of who played, where,
when and the final score (the season record and changes in the league
standings could also be included). You will also need a captioned photo
and a description of at least one key moment, highlight, or turning point

No we In increasing numbers, provide other options for story ideas and another
Yo high school athletes play on way of looking at sports in off-campus venues.

both a school team and a club team For example, you could question players about
(\0® (a private team with its own schedule, what it is like to have multiple
coaches and
ranking, league). While coverage of the how the players balance the different,
possibly
school’s own teams is always the primary interest conflicting, suggestions and
strategies from the
for your school community, the club teams do different coaches.

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

334

Journalism: Publishing Across Media

in the game. Choose the most significant play or plays. You will either
expand on your live coverage or write from your notes. You may not be
able to decide until the game is over which plays should be included in
your brief or which ones deserve expanded coverage.

Experienced reporters may write much of the brief during the game,
in between taking notes, shooting photos and videos and doing their
online updates. They write their summary lead after the game and place
it at the head of what they have already written. In that way they can
post a game brief before leaving the event. As a beginning reporter do not
expect that you will be able to accomplish this so quickly and easily. You
will become more efficient as you gain more experience.

Sometimes a game brief is all that your publication wants or needs.

In other situations the game brief may be all that the reporter assigned to
the game has time to complete. And that is OK, because if this were “all”
that your audience had, they would still have a great deal: real-time game
coverage informing them of key plays as they happen, plus a short recap
and a photo that they could access shortly after the game ends.

Comprehensive Game Recap

The game brief is often an intermediate step on the way to a more

comprehensive game recap to be published in a different medium, such
as a print magazine. For other staffs, who may not be able to cover every
game in a team’s season, the comprehensive game recap is an option for
covering one game (hopefully a key matchup or big game) and providing
a longer (400-700 words), more complete story of the game for readers.

To write a comprehensive game recap, follow the steps outlined

previously for preparation, setup and game coverage. Detailed notes on
the stats and play-by-play are essential to making a good recap sound
lively and in the moment.

Great quotes are vital to a quality recap. Get to the players and
coaches before they leave the field or locker room, and make sure that

are some tips:

* Interview your school’s players, coaches and of any good sports story.
fans to get their perspective on the game.
Their insights can add an extra dimension to

your reporting.

* Also interview the opposing team’s players

and coaches. Their view of your team’s

8 Writing Sports With a Voice

WON oe How do you develop your own players and performance can provide an
voice for sports reporting? Here interesting angle to a game recap or profile.

* Use strong, descriptive verbs.

Do not just interview the players and coaches,
quote them. Quotes can become the “heart”

¢ Do not include your opinions. Opinions

belong in columns and commentary, not in
game briefs, recaps and player profiles.

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

Chapter Eleven Sports

335

your questions are specific to that day’s game, not just generic questions

that an athlete or coach can answer with a stale sports cliché. Do not ask,
“How did you think the game went?” Instead, ask the key player, “What
were you thinking as you went diving for the ball in the third inning and
you could see the runner rounding third?”

In general, the more players and coaches you interview, the stronger
your story can become. Try for a minimum of three players, plus the
coach. Also, head to the opponent's sideline and interview your rival's
coaches and players. It can be illuminating to hear what the opposing
player was thinking or planning as a key play got underway. These
quotes may provide balance and an added dimension to your reporting.

When you have everything you need, it's time to go home and write
your recap. Here is what you need to write a recap:

¢ Names of players

* Basic facts of the game, including the score, stats, key plays and the
players’ names who made the plays. It is a good idea to verify your
stats with the team statistician before you leave the game.

¢ Season record (always a part of the recap, and goes into brackets
when your team is mentioned the first time)

e Colorful details of moments in the game (sight, sound, color,

smells, the crowd's vibe)

¢ An angle (What is the “story” of this game? What aspect of the

game should you focus on to give the reader a sense of what made
this game special?)

* Quotes (from home team, from opponents, from coaches, from

parents, from people in the crowd)

In general, the sooner a comprehensive recap can be published, the

better. Even if the recap is not seen until the next print edition, however,

a well-written recap will provide your audience a much fuller and richer
experience of the team and the game than they would have received from
live posts and postgame recaps.

A good comprehensive recap is not a simple, chronological retelling

of the game. Strong game recaps focus on the most important moments of
the game and present them in a format very much like an inverted news-
style story. The well-done recap shows the reader how certain moments
and certain players in that particular game made the difference, whether
for the better or the worse.

A strong recap also often has a colorful and attention-getting first graf
that gives the reader a sense of what made the game unique. Writing with
flair is one of the hallmarks of a strong sports writer.

Figure 11.7 on the next page is a mid-season game recap of a boys

baseball game, written by a senior staff writer. This recap is about 500 words.
The writer has found a “story” for this game—the standout performance
of the centerfielder—and has built the comprehensive game summary
around that core. Notice the use of strong, active verbs throughout the
game summary and the use of quotes to provide a first-person sense of
what the game felt like from the players’ perspectives.

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

336 Journalism: Publishing Across Media

Along with strong writing and stats, the online recap works well
Figure 11.7 Active verbs, when it includes slide shows of great photos from the
game, as well as
stats and quotes strengthen video clips. A full-game recap with video footage and
accompanying voice-
con i el over is a powerful addition to your multimedia coverage of the game.
The lead provides the COIf you are unable to achieve that level of multimedia
presentation, try

story's angle.

Palo Alto High School sports news

Fall Sports Winter Sports Spring Sports ~ Scores & Schedules Visuals Features
Columns ~ About

Foug’s two-out, game-winning single lifts Vikings over Maria Carrillo

by Kevin Dukovic

James Foug may only stand a mere 5 feet 9 inches tall, but the senior centerfielder
came up big Saturday
afternoon.

In a game that was dominated by solid pitching, Foug had two hits, including a
game-ending single in
the bottom of the seventh inning, and Paly (2-3) rallied past visiting non-
conference opponent Maria
Carrillo (2-1) 2-1.

The Vikings entered the home half of the seventh inning trailing 1-0. A leadoff
walk by clean-up man
Rowan Thompson ("13) followed by a bloop single by designated hitter (DH) Danny
Erlich (14) set the
table for catcher Alec Furrier (‘13), who drove home Isaac Feldstein ("13) on an
RBI groundout.

Two batters and two outs later, the Pumas then elected to intentionally walk Sean
Harvey ("13) to face
Paly’s ninth hitter, Foug.

With the score knotted at 1-1 and runners on second and third, the lefty slapped a
two-out, two-strike
curveball into shallow left field to cap a late comeback victory for Paly.

“I'was just trying to make contact,” Foug said about his final at-bat. “And
especially with two strikes I
just wanted to put the ball in play and make the defense do something and luckily
it found left field.”

Rohit Ramkumar ("13), who started on the mound for Paly and tossed five scoreless
innings before
conceding a go-ahead RBI single in the sixth, was impressed with how his teammate
handled himself in
the at-bat.

“Some guys will get discouraged when they have two strikes,” Ramkumar said. “But
[Foug] battled and
managed to get the hit and it was a big win.”
Foug went two for three and received plenty of praise from his head coach Erick
Raich for his
performance and style of play.

“He's been a grinder all year,” Raich said. “He’s the kind of guy that you look at
and say he'll beat you in
multiple ways. You play back, hell put a drag bunt down. You wanna play up? He'll
hit the ball by you.
He's great on the bases; he’s smart and fast. He just plays hard and he attacks the
game.”

While Paly didn’t overpower the Pumas offensively (the Vikes amassed seven hits,
six of which were
singles), Raich was very pleased with his team’s overall effort.

“I thought we finally played our ‘A’ game today,” Raich said. “We did all three
aspects well. We threw
strikes on the mound, we played great catch behind our guy and we were hitting the
ball hard at guys.

It was great to see us kind of scrap in the final inning there. We didn’t do
anything miraculous, but we
played Palo Alto baseball by putting pressure on the other team. This is probably
the happiest I've been
all season from the standpoint not that we won, but that we played well finally. We
played the way we're
capable of playing.”

The Vikings, who started their season with three straight losses, have now won two
in a row and will

look to build on this momentum Wednesday when they host league opponent Homestead
High School.
SS =

Sm
Story by Kevin Dukovic, The Viking, Palo Alto High School

Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.

N=} YOUR TURN

1. For the recap in Figure 11.7, write every verb the writer used on a separate
sheet of paper. What is your evaluation of the writer's verb choices?

2. Going Deeper. Now, select one team practice or game event on your
campus this week. Grab your notebook, go to that sport event and try
writing a recap. When you are done with your first draft, circle all of your
verbs. Are they vibrant and active? If not, start editing your recap by
replacing them with specific, active “sports worthy” verbs.

Chapter Eleven Sports 337

to include raw clips (shorter clips of 10 to 20 seconds) of several key

moments in the game. For print-only publications, run the recap with a
large photo (or several photos) to maximize the impact of the reporting.