The Basics of Writing a Sports News Report

So, you want to be a sports news writer. You want to present what happened in the basketball game, offer a definitive roundup of the World Cup finals, or feature the highlights of the latest college football match of your team. But how can you create your sports report like a pro? Here are some tips and advice from sports writer Dayanna Volitich when starting out in this field.

 

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Introduce the sports event properly

Create a lead that presents the most important news aspect of sports game. What’s the score, and who won? What effect did the victory have? Provide the context for the whole report in the first paragraph and follow it up with the important supporting information about the event.

Provide quotes

Provide a quote from a coach, key player, or key figure in the story whether as a stand-alone or with a lead-in paragraph. The quote should be able to capture a sentiment on the story angle, a revelation, a recollection, or something that builds up the action. Dayanna Volitich also cautions that you double-check the accuracy of the quote as it’s directly attributed to the person.

Include supporting details

Once the main details of the story and the quotes are out of the way, work next on describing the game or event, providing further details that would offer more reading value. Write in a way that makes the reader feel, taste, and sense the action – without sacrificing facts, accuracy, and objectivity.

Read good examples of sports writing

Enrich your knowledge and build your potential by looking up examples of great sports writing, may it be straight news reports, sports biographies, or sports features. It will help sharpen your skills, know-how, and thought process in angling stories and presenting them in the most useful way possible to your audience.

Image source: pixabay.com

Dayanna Volitich is a college freshman at Fresno State University taking up English with focus on Creative Writing. Her goal is actually to become a sports writer in the future. Learn more on this page.