Covering High School Sports

The high school sports section. What should be the easiest pages to write and produce in a scholastic newspaper often turn out to be the most difficult. Studies have shown that the sports pages are the most frequently read pages among these scholastic publications, yet they are also some of the most criticized.

What makes them (in theory) easy to produce and popular? First, there is never a shortage of people and events to cover. Clubs come and go, some student governments struggle to hold one dance or a car wash, but the teams and the games always go on.

What makes it the most difficult? Simply put, people expect the sports pages to be as timely and sophisticated as those in their local paper and feel the reporters should be as knowledgeable about the games as they are. These difficulties can be easily overcome by the following twenty tips.

20 - Be organized. Before the beginning of each season get the names of the coaches, scrimmage and game schedules, practice locations, and eventually, rosters of the teams. These can be found by asking the athletic secretary or the athletic director.

19 - Know your terminology and the rules of the sport. Make sure that any reporter covering the sport knows a little something about it. Basic books and rules of the sport can be found in the library. Better still; ask someone who plays it. Nothing makes a poorer impression on a coach or athlete than not knowing how one even goes about scoring in the game.

18 - Do some homework about the teams. Know their records from the previous year. Know how they are doing at the present time. Who are the stars? Who is injured? Who hasn't come through?

17 - Learn about the opponents. Are you about to play the best in the region or are they looking for their first win in two years? The opponents you have scheduled go a long way to determining your record in high school competition.

16 - Coverage of teams depends on the crowds drawn and the team's record. Sorry. A winning football team outdraws a winning cross-country team and therefore rates more ink. In some areas a losing football team might still rate more coverage than the winning cross-country team.

15 - Don't be a cheerleader, be balanced. Tell the truth. Period. Every school already has a squad of skilled cheerleaders, so don't try to do their job.

14 - Read ... and learn from others in the field. You will be amazed how much you can learn from the professionals. Some of the best reporting and writing are from sportswriters. Check out Rick Reilly if you don't believe me.

13 - Columns are worth more if you've been there. The biggest problem with high school columnist's writing their opinions is a lack of credibility. Everyone in the school knows whether or not they've actually played that sport, or any other sport.

12 - Game stories are usually worthless. Unless you can work your production schedule to report on the previous night's game, don't bother. Everyone will already know who won and how it was accomplished.

11 - Previews on a game day are priceless. If you really want to impress your readers, preview the event that will take place on the day you distribute.

10 - You can work around an uncooperative coach. The answer lies in their assistants. I have never heard of a head coach in high school sports barring his assistants from talking to the school paper. If anything, I've known some that rather have them do it.

9 - Interview the team captain or players recommended by the coach, not the best players. Unfortunately, the stereotype of the best athletes not always being the most articulate does occur on occasion.

8 - Clean up quotations. See above. I'm not saying change them, just make them understandable.

7 - Cover the J. V. and freshman sports. I realize they do not draw the gates or win the titles that the varsity does, but don't they play by the same rules and in the same setting?

6 - Cover the girls. They play virtually all the same sports as the boys and sometimes do it even better. Doesn't that deserve proper coverage?

5 - Remember managers, trainers, scorekeepers, the chain gang ... These can be some of your best feature stories.

4 - Write articles on the equipment and facilities that are used in sports. It takes a lot to practice for many sports, let alone play.

3 - Get a winning play from a coach to diagram. You'd be surprised at how many coaches would have no problem sharing with the readers how a last-second play was accomplished. The good coaches know that the other good coaches already know them.

2 - Use large, action pictures to complement your articles. Pictures really do tell a thousand words. (And if you want to score points with coaches, give them a print to keep, especially of any with them in it.)

1 - Always remember the players are kids. They are not professionals and many do not aspire to be.

Sports pages don't have to be a source of dread on the part of an adviser. They can be a stable anchor in which to get kids to read your paper and more importantly, a way to instill solid reporting and writing skills in your staff.

— Neil F. Kyle, CJE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
When Neil Kyle wrote this article in March 2002 he was in his seventh year of teaching journalism (I-IV, AP) and advising the newspaper at Hayfield Secondary School in Alexandria, Va. He is a Certified Journalism Educator and the 2001 recipient of the VAJTA Douglas S. Freeman Award. He also was a varsity football and basketball coach for 13 years. In the 2002-03 school year, he accepted the Activities Director position at Lee High School in Springfield, Va.

ABOUT THE ARTICLE
This article first appeared in VA Byline.

Best American Sports Writing 2001
Read the works of all-time favorites Gary Smith of Sports Illustrated and Roger Angell of The New Yorker or fresh voices. The 2001 edition, the tenth anniversary issue, collects 27 pieces by such writers as H.G. Bissinger, Jim Harrison and Rick Reilly.

Covering Sports: A Complete Sports Writing Workbook*
Dean Hume
More than 35 professional sports writers give tips on covering a variety of sports. Exercises follow each chapter.

The Coverage of Interscholastic Sports*
Bobby Hawthorne
Covers high school sports writing and photography. The updated 2001 edition is packed with examples.

Associated Press Sports Writing Handbook*
Steve Wilstein
From basic sports reporting to writing a column, interviewing and investigating. Noted journalists give insights into the business.

Sports Style Guide & Reference Manual*
Jennifer Swan, editor
Style rules, definitions and information to make sports sections consistent.

* Available through the JEA Bookstore Catalogue