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-to-
date 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 pre-
season 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 Nakamit
Grab Dinurog
Harvest Napasakamay
Sweep Namayani
Triumph Namayagpag
Clinch Nanguna
Take Nasungkit
English Filipino
Claim Naghari
Cop Winalis
Seize Nasulot
Reign supreme Naagaw
Rule Nagkampeon
Hack out Nanalo
English Filipino
Blank Hinagupit
Overwhelm Ginulantang
Outsmart Nilupig
Outclass Hiniya
Destroy Pinaluhod
Demolish Pinabagsak
Knock out Nagapi
Shock Naungusan
Shame nilupig
Prevail over Nakopo
Snatch Humakot
Pocket Bumandera
Capture Umani
Romp away Nakuha
Bring home Naibulsa
Chalk up naangkin
Beat Dinurog
Rip Pinulbos
Batter Ginapi
Nip Pinatulog
Overpower Pinatumba
Crush Pinataob
Pulverize Pinadapa