Sports Writing Sports writing/write-up is Action News Item Descriptive Raving Entertaining Walk 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 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. 10. Must bear in mind that he writes for his readers and not for himself. Structure of the Sports Story • •
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Lead • • • •
One-sentence paragraph Attention-getter News in a nutshell Score-oriented
Mark Andrew U. Fernandez English Department
Classic or Summary Lead (1) Who won (2) against whom (3) by what score (4) where and (5) when. Compare the lead on the left with that on the right. What do you observe? (1) The Rizal National High School basketball team won against (2) Llanera High School’s 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) opponent’s ground (5) yesterday afternoon.
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 audience’s breath away by a make-or-break 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 defender’s 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 Teacher’s 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 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.
Sports Writing Helpful Verbs Big Margin Overwhelmed Clobbered Ripped Clouted Murdered Subdued Pummeled 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 Climax of the Game It is the highlight of the game. This part of the story accounts the aggressiveness of the team or the player in the court. Decisive Play This accounts the most crucial part of the game that gives a certain team the winning margin. Quotes It is important to account the sentiments of the hero/es of the day. Words fresh from the winner/s are vital in the writing of the story for its posterity. Play by play Account This part of the story recaps the sports event covered. This is usually done through a round by round reporting. It is important to note that this part must be score-oriented and must describe the progress of the fight in detail. Sports Lingo a. Basketball- five, quintet, shot twinner, pivot, rally, rebound, technical foul, quarter count, 15-foot line, hook shot,
Mark Andrew U. Fernandez English Department
lay-up, ice-breaker, tip-in, press, one defense, man to man, 30 second rule, , full court, gun time, lemon time, keyhole area, long tom, follow-up b. Volleyball-spikes, neat placing, change court, Chinese kill, wallop, block, scored off, straight set, two out of three, spiker, blocked his kill, booming service, net ball, return play, three out of five c. Tennis- best of three matches, surfeit services, straight set, singles, smash cut d. Swimming- tanker, naiads, aquabelle
