For most of us, along with the sportscasting comes many other duties including sports writing. We’re tasked with being our team’s media relations manager, as well as broadcaster, and maybe even more. With those many hats comes writing, in both an informative manner as well as creative columns to keep fans engaged.
Sometimes, sports writing can take up more of our work-week than broadcasting the games themselves. It’s no secret that sometimes the keyboard pounding can be a bit tedious and monotonous. Despite that, it’s imperative that we work on our writing as much as our play-by-play calls. We all know that in order to be the strongest broadcaster possible, an intimate relationship with language is crucial.
If you haven’t written in a while, or if you feel that all you type up is heavy and informative pieces, check out this article from Tony Rogers at thoughtco.com. He offers up tips on five different types of sports stories which might give you some inspiration and even spice up your recaps, too!
Getting a handle on sportswriting can be daunting because there are so many different kinds of stories that can be done. For the aspiring sportswriter, these are some of the main types.
The Straight-Lede Game Story
The straight-lede game story is the most basic story in all of sportswriting. It’s just what it sounds like: an article about a game that uses a straight-news type of lede. The lede summarizes the main points—who won, who lost, the score, and what the star player did.
Here’s an example of this kind of lede:
Quarterback Pete Faust threw three touchdown passes to lead the Jefferson High School Eagles to a 21-7 victory over crosstown rival McKinley High.
The rest of the story follows from there, with an account of the big plays and playmakers, and after-game quotes from coaches and players. Because they often focus on high school and small-college teams, straight-lede game stories tend to be fairly tightly written.
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