Sports Writing

Mark Andrew U. Fernandez

Sports

Sports writing/write-up is

A ction N ews Item D escriptive R aving E ntertaining W alk of Life

A good sports writer must have

interest in all sports events know the rules and regulations of the event or game he is writing about have a working knowledge of the language and jargon of sports writing usually referred to as sports lingo

Gauge 1 Sports lingo and interest

Do you know in what sports events these words are used?

pigskin

shuttlecock

gloves

bat

1000-m dash

upper-cut

rebound

spike

Penalty kick

free throw

bicycle

somersault

smash

goalie

Qualities of a Good Sports Writer

1. Must know sports; rules, strategy, team and players' records. 2. Must attend the games or meets as a reporter, not as a spectator or cheerer. 3. Must know coaches and players as intimately as possible.

4. Must observe accuracy. 5. Must be able to take notes quickly without losing the sequence of the play.

6. Must be fair and unbiased in reporting event, although he has a favorite team.

7. Must not make comments without supporting them with facts on which they are based , although sports writers have more freedom than any other news writers. 8. Must use the specialized language of the particular sports that he is reporting.

9. Must avoid sports slang and trite expressions which hack writers use today. He should tell the story in plain factual terms that describe the action. 10. Must bear in mind that he writes for his readers and not for himself.

Structure of the Sports Story

LEAD
Climax of the game
Decisive plays
Quotes
Play-by-play account
Significance of the game
Other information

Lead
One-sentence paragraph Attention-getter News in a nutshell Score-oriented

Classic or Summary Lead

(1) Who won (2) against whom (3) by what score (4) where and (5) when.

Whats wrong with this lead?

(1) The Rizal National High School basketball team won against (2) Llanera High Schools with the score of (3) 87-53 at the (4) LNHS ground (5) yesterday afternoon. (1) The Rizal National High School Quintet subdued (2) Llanera High School Dribblers, (3) 87-53, at the (4) opponents ground (5) yesterday afternoon.

Helpful Verbs
Big Margin Overwhelmed Clobbered Ripped Clouted Murdered Subdued Pummelled Crushed Overshot (basketball) Outspiked (volleyball)
Small Margin Nipped Edged out Squeaked past Survived Clinched Nosed out shaded

Helpful adjectives
Use adjectives sparingly (poor performance) Anemic Tripid Rustly Limped Bothered Sore Pathetic

Perk-up the lead with

The Key play The RNHS Cagers squeaked past the LNHS Dribblers with ten baskets in the last three minutes to subdue a nerve-fuzzling Llaneran rally, 53-50, as they clinched the invitation game in connection with the celebration of the Foundation Day of Llanera National High School.

The outstanding player Forward Pining Garcia took the audiences breath away by a make-orbreak three-point shot within the last two seconds that made the multi-titled RNHS Dribblers to clinch the most coveted HSAAP Championship over LNHS Cagers, 89-88, at the defenders homeground last night.

Sample Story
The fast-breaking Baguio City High School Yellows edged Baguio Optical Athletic Club Blacks, 47-41, in an exhibition game held at the Teachers Camp basketball court this afternoon. R. Sable, breaking loose to score six points in the last minute after the Black defense broke down, carried his team to victory. I am confident that my team will this game, proud yellow coach Ting Ting Spoelstra said in an interview. It was an exciting game all the way with both teams tying it up, 19-19 in the first half. At one point in the game, the Blacks led by as much as four points, 25-21, only to err a little later after combined efforts of Sable and Valdez rendered them helpless. It was then that Sable poured in six points and Valdez four points and the Yellow led 31-25. G. de Leon, pouring in 18 points, 12 of them in the second half, could not do well to score more after he was double-teamed by R. Villanueva and J. Catabagan. Black guard J. Torres, fouled out in the last five minutes of play when he could not stop the barrage of points by Sable, leaving the scoreboard nailed at 47-41.

Dig out facts below to write sports story no less than 7 paragraphs
The game ended in 54 mins. Mallorca High Schools Joel Reyes defeated Mambangnan High Schools Amando Sandoval in the quarter final of San Leonardo District Meet mens badminton singles. The 15-year old Reyes consistently played well throughout the game to bag a one-sided contest against the Mambangnan shuttler. The scores were 21-14, 21-13. Reyes said that he is very much prepared for this match. He said that he really wants to win the title. The game was held at San Anton High School, July 15, 2013