Sports News Portal

One of the most-read sections in any newspaper is the sports page. This is probably the quickest, most inexpensive, and easiest way to keep current with players, favorite teams, and new trends in the sports world.

If you want to be a sport writer, it’s important that you do understand the sports that you are writing about otherwise, you will not be able to capture the interest of your readers. Also, you must know how to sound neutral even if you are rooting for a particular team that you are writing about.

Here are other tips to consider when writing sports articles:

1. You must have in-depth working knowledge on the sports that you are writing about. Although you don’t need to be an expert, it’s a must that you know the rules of the game, its history, etc. It would be best if you are playing this particular sport instead of just reading the rules and other information from books and other online resources.

2. Read and learn. Make it a point to read the sports page of any newspaper so you can easily get a feel of the tone and writing styles that are commonly used in these types of articles. Identify the elements that can capture and hold the interest of readers and know what sports fans consider hot news.

3. Love the game. Although it is not a must, it will help in your writing career if you are really into the kind of sports that you are writing about.

4. Make time to attend live sporting event so you’ll feel the excitement of the game and your enthusiasm will reflect on your articles.

News writing style is just as important for sports reporting as it is for general news, business stories or any other journalistic work.

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.

Sports writing, however, allows you to go to town in describing plays, the atmosphere, fans and other colorful aspects of a sporting event.

For this article, we will go through, step by step, how to write a straightforward sports report using quotes.

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.

However, you also have sports articles written without quotes. When rookies learn how to write like a journalist, especially in sport, they are likely to come across the structure that we will show you here.

We will adapt the 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.

‘We miss LeBron. We miss LeBron every time he doesn’t play. He’s our guy,’ said Brown.”

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.

The thinking behind sports articles is that people would have watched the game on TV anyway and would not want boring game description. Therefore, quotes from the people who matter, such as athletes and coaches, would offer better reading value.

There are many types of sports news writing that is offered around the world everyday. We have merely showed you its simplest form. Certainly, it is a rewarding form of news writing for journalists who love their sport. And the structure they use allow them to adapt their skills to any type of journalism writing.

You’ve got to follow general journalism techniques or trade secrets when writing your sports articles to make them compelling and exciting.

1. Use killer headlines. As this what will grab your readers, it’s a must that you make them sound very powerful. Although your titles must not contain more than 15 words, they must effectively summarize the gist of your content. If possible, you can also give your audience a reason why they should go ahead and read your articles.

2. Have a strong lead. Your first paragraph is as important as your titles. It must be strongly written and it must contain all the major information that are being looked for by your target market. Ensure that you’ll be able to answer all the possible questions of your readers at this point.

3. Write with clarity. Keep in mind that you’re not writing a novel and that you’re serving people who do not have the time nor the patience to read in between the lines. So, write your articles in a very easy to understand manner. Your audience must not need to read your articles over and over again just to understand the points that you’re trying to get across. Also, get straight to the point. Beating around the bush will surely annoy both your editor and your readers.

4. Understand the sports. Although you don’t really need to be an expert in the sport that you’re covering, you must have at least basic working knowledge. You must be familiar with terms and how the sport is being played.

For sports journalism, as with any other specialism, you need to know your subject inside out, be passionate about it, and have the determination and enthusiasm to succeed. But how do you break into sports journalism? Having a qualification behind you is valuable, but it is practical, hands on experience that tells an editor that you are up to the job. One of the biggest challenges faced by a wannabe journalist is how to build a file of published clips if an editor is only interested in hiring someone with experience.

Building up a healthy collection of clips is important so you can show off your capabilities. Quality is more important than quantity, but it is best to have a wide range of samples. Not just different sports, but also different styles of articles, such as features, news and editorials.

Whether you are still in education or trying to land your first job, getting work experience in the field is key. Take any opportunity you are given to build on your experience by getting a reporter job at a weekly or local newspaper, or finding an organization that will offer you an internship or work experience. Make of the opportunity what you can; seek advice, use your initiative and build up your contacts book. It might even lead to full-time paid employment.

Working your way up from the bottom is a good way of gaining valuable experience and getting your foot in the door. By working in a junior or trainee role, you will be gaining practical experience that will help when you are looking to move into a reporting position elsewhere or help you achieve promotion with your current employer.

It may also give you the opportunity to accompany reporters to events and observe how they go about their job, providing you with knowledge of how journalists work and skills that you can later put into practice. You may even be able to put what you have learnt to the test by interviewing colleagues and reporters about their jobs and finding out more about the industry.

The Internet has opened up incredible opportunities for wannabe sports reporters and journalists. Choose a topic, sport, or team that you are a passionate about and start a blog; it is a great way of beginning your reporting career. Citizen journalism sites, such as The Latest.com, are ideal for taking your first steps in publishing your articles. Not only will you build up your portfolio of self-published clips but you might also receive offers of employment from news organizations.

Sports magazines that have online web presence (ESPN and The Sporting News for example) and team network portals, such as Scout.com and Rivals.com are renowned for seeking sports writers and should be considered when establishing yourself as a sports journalist. Although pay may not be overly generous, there are advantages and these jobs are CV builders.

Suite101 and Allsports are also good places on the web to cut your teeth as a writer. Suite 101 allows freelance writers, non-fiction authors and journalism students to publish 10 articles every 3 months. The site is ideal for any writer wanting to get paid for their work, build their portfolio and be promoted. Site 101 also offer free training on writing for the Web and allow you to work 1 on 1 with an editor. AllSports provides free web hosting and lets you choose what sports, league or team you want to cover. They have won awards for their work, making it a well respected addition to your CV

Entering competitions such as the recent Sportingo.com Student Sports Journalism Award 2008 is another way of demonstrating your skill as a sports writer. Competitions like this provide the opportunity to have your work appraised by a team of professional sports editors and have your article published. If you are lucky enough to win an award there are usually added benefits. These might come in the form of a mentorship programme, the chance to report at leading sports events, or advice and guidance on developing as a sports writer. You might also be presented with a portfolio of your work and a reference, sure to open important industry doors.