Step 4.5 - Reading Material

How to Write a Sports Article

For many aspiring journalists and writers, as well as seasoned veterans, sporting events provide a fruitful ground for practicing their craft. Sports are exciting, familiar, popular, unpredictable, and always happening somewhere. Be they for newspapers or websites or blogs, there are several typical forms of sports articles, from straight-up event recaps to feature profiles. Regardless of article type or sport covered, there are several methods, “do's" and “don’t's", and examples that can help someone who is new to sports writing.

Writing a Sports Recap Article

1. Go to the game, and make the most of being there. Watch closely. Take notes. Keep track of important plays, scores, and statistics. Take note of interesting details, such as how the players celebrated at the end or the feel of the crowd that night.

● Local sporting events are a good place to start for an aspiring sportswriter. You’ll find passionate fans/parents, eager participants, and a good environment for covering a sporting event from several angles.

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Talk to people there. Even if you are writing an event recap and not a personal interest story, a few good sound bites or a central figure to build the article around can only help.

• ●  Contact coaches to see if they have a player who would make a good story. Watch the subject play the game, and set up a brief interview. Figure out what makes his or her story distinctive.

• ●  Talk to players and coaches to get quotes about the game. Even asking boilerplate questions like “What contributed to you winning the game?” will give you some material with which to work.

3

● Ask permission to record your interviews. Also, try talking to people close to the person, such as parents and friends to create a well rounded view of the person.

Sort out the essential details. Obviously you need to provide the final score and who did the scoring, but think about the most interesting statistics to come out of the event. How many passing yards did the quarterback have? Did the team’s star swimmer set a personal best in the backstroke? Was a long losing or winning streak broken?

4

Start with a great hook. Known in journalistic circles as a lead (or lede), the opening lines of an article, sports-focused or otherwise, are critical to the success of the piece.[1] Leads should be short, direct, provide the most essential information, and compel the reader to keep going deeper into the article.

● Leads focus on the 5 “W’s” and “H” (who, what, when, where, why, and how). In a sports context, the score is always a great place to start. For example: “Last night in Falcon park, the air as crisp as winning quarterback Joe Smith’s passes, the Redview Falcons stunned the first-place Washington Coyotes in overtime, 56 to 54.”

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Flesh out the rest of the essentials. What was the best part of the game? What were the highlights? What made this game special? For a person, why is his or her story important? What makes them special? Use the quotes you got from players and coaches to add interest to the story.