Sports writing allows you to go
to town in describing plays, the
atmosphere, fans and other
colorful aspects of a sporting
event.
The advantage of sports writing is that
you are allowed a little it more leeway
in your choice of words. In crime or
business writing, you are restricted in
your use of adjectives and adverbs and
are encouraged to focus more on
nouns and verbs.
Ideally, any sports story would
have quotes from the winners and
losers. Indeed, many sports
articles are written around what
athletes say rather than what they
have achieved on the field of play.
STRUCTURES OF A SPORTS NEWS
Sample News based on structure:
NBA game between Boston
Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers
on April 1 as our example article.
1. Intro – the most important news aspect of
a sports game is the score. Who won?
How did they win and what effect did the
victory have? Also important is whether we are
writing from a Boston perspective or Cleveland. In this
case, we will go with Cleveland.
“Cleveland Cavaliers lost 98-96 to the Boston Celtics after
Delonte West’s sank two free throws in the final
seconds, dropping three and a half games behind the
Pistons for the best record in the Eastern Conference."
2. More info – The above is enough
for those who have a passing interest
in the sport. However, NBA fans
would want more information and you
could give it to them in one or two
paragraphs.
“The Cavaliers were without star player LeBron
James, suffering from a knee injury, while the
Celtics were minus Paul Pierce. Gerald Green
led the way for Celtics with 25 points while
Kendrick Perkins had 12 points and nine
rebounds.
The Cavaliers, for whom Larry Hughes scored 24
with Sasha Pavlovic scoring 17, have already
qualified for the play-offs while Boston are out of
the running."
3. Quote – This is where you can
provide a quote from the coach or a
key player from both teams. You can
precede each saying with a lead-in
paragraph or go straight into the
quote.
“Celtic forward Al Jefferson, said: ‘They
were missing their best player and we
were missing our best play. We just
stuck in there.’
Cavs coach Mike Brown said James’
absence was a key factor in their loss.
4. The rest – Once you got the
main information and key quotes
out of the way, you can go on to
describe the game. Even better
would be to describe just one or
two plays and include more
quotes.
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. When school papers
come out once every four to six
weeks, stories about individual
games a month earlier serve little
purpose and in fact are a waste of
space.
2.When writing about players, always
identify them by class in school and
position on team. Don't say "John Smith"
when you can say "senior tackle John
Smith," and don't say "Sue Jones" when you
can say "sophomore goalkeeper Sue
Jones." And don't use double-digit numbers
to refer to either grade in school or year of
graduating class.
3. Keep up with team statistics and
use them frequently in stories.
Find out who keeps the
scorebooks for various sports,
and review the stats often.
4. Keep up with individual statistics and
use them frequently in stories. If a
player sets or ties a school or local
record, note it in a story. Maybe
highlight it as its own story. Be sure
your coaches and/or athletic director
inform you when an athlete or team ties
or breaks a record.
5. Know sports writing style: scores are
numerals separated by hyphens (12-6, not
12 to 6); team records are numerals
separated by hyphens (8-2, not 8 and 2);
winning scores always come first, even if
your school did not win the contest (your
team lost 12-6, not 6-12). Spell your
opponents' school name and nickname or
mascot correctly.
6.Make sure your sports stories are
the last stories turned in before
deadline. This is so the stories
can contain the most up-todate records, standings.
7. If you are writing about a team, watch
the team practice and watch the team
play. You must be present to know
what happened, and you must take
notes on what you are watching. You
cannot write a good sports story on the
basis of what someone tells you from
memory.
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. These might include
stories about student trainers, the preseason tryout process, different
coaching philosophies, why
benchwarmers persist in trying out for
teams when they know they won't get
much playing time.
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. If you are writing
your own opinion about a team or a
sport or a sports issue, that is
commentary.
SPORTSWRITING RULES:
• NEVER be a cheerleader for your teams on the
sports pages. Don't write about "our" team, write
about "the" team.
•NEVER congratulate a team or an athlete in
your sports stories.
•NEVER end a story like this: "The Fighting
Gnus will undoubtedly be the class of
conference and will achieve anything they set
out to do.
What is a striking headline?
-The headline of a sports coverage story should
tell right away who or which team won over
whom or whose team( and whenever
appropriate or applicable, by what score).
-Appropriate action words should be used to
indicate who won depending on how the event
unfolded
Examples:
• Beermen dump Gins, 106-93
• Fil-Am sprints for gold in 100m,
sets new record in SEA Games
VERBS USED IN SPORTS WRITING
English
Filipino
Bag
Grab
Harvest
Sweep
Triumph
Clinch
Take
Nakamit
Dinurog
Napasakamay
Namayani
Namayagpag
Nanguna
Nasungkit
English
Filipino
Claim
Cop
Seize
Reign supreme
Rule
Hack out
Naghari
Winalis
Nasulot
Naagaw
Nagkampeon
Nanalo
English
Filipino
Blank
Overwhelm
Outsmart
Outclass
Destroy
Demolish
Knock out
Shock
Shame
Hinagupit
Ginulantang
Nilupig
Hiniya
Pinaluhod
Pinabagsak
Nagapi
Naungusan
nilupig
Prevail over
Snatch
Pocket
Capture
Romp away
Bring home
Chalk up
Nakopo
Humakot
Bumandera
Umani
Nakuha
Naibulsa
naangkin
Beat
Rip
Batter
Nip
Overpower
Crush
Pulverize
Dinurog
Pinulbos
Ginapi
Pinatulog
Pinatumba
Pinataob
Pinadapa