There are lots of different kinds of stories you can write on the sports beat, but probably the

most basic is the short game story. A short game story, usually 500 words or less, follows a straightforward format that can be applied to any game you cover. Heres the format: The Lede The lede of your story should include the final score and some details about what made the game interesting. Generally this means focusing on the efforts of an individual player. Lets say a teams star athlete is injured and a previously unheralded player comes into the game as a substitute. Not much is expected of this rookie but he defies expectations and plays a great game, leading the team to victory. Example: Second-string quarterback Jay Lindman, who had never played a down for Jefferson High School, came off the bench after star QB Fred Torville was injured Friday night and threw three touchdown passes to lead the Gladiators to a 21-14 victory over the McKinley High School Centurions. Or maybe the game is a close, seesaw battle between two evenly matched opponents, and is won in the final seconds by an especially dramatic play. Example: Second-string quarterback Jay Lindman threw the game-winning touchdown with just 12 seconds left to lead the Jefferson High School Gladiators to a 21-14 victory over the McKinley High School Centurions Friday night. Notice that in both examples we focus on the efforts of an individual athlete. Sports is all about the human drama of competition, and focusing on a single person gives the game story a human interest angle that readers will enjoy. The Body of the Story The body of your story should basically elaborate on the lede. If your lede was about the benchwarmer becoming the games star, then the body should go into more detail about that. Often a simple chronological account works best. Example: Torvilles ankle was sprained when he was sacked in the first quarter. Lindman came into the game with low expectations but threw his first touchdown pass in the second quarter with a high, floating ball that receiver Mike Ganson snagged in the end zone.

In the third quarter, Lindman was forced to scramble out of the pocket to avoid the rush but managed to fire a bullet to receiver Desean Washington, who made a diving catch at the goal line. The Wrap Up The wrap up or ending of your story usually centers on quotes from the coach and players gleaned from post-game interviews or press conferences. Getting great quotesfor sports stories can sometimes be tough coaches and athletes often speak in clichs but a snappy quote can really be the icing on the cake of your game story. Example: I knew Lindman could play but I didnt know he could play like that, said Gladiators coach Jeff Michaelson. That was one heck of a game by a young guy who showed a lot of heart. Washington said Lindman exuded confidence even in the huddle before his very first snap. He just said, Lets do this to win, Washington said. And he went out there and did it. That boy can throw the ball.

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 thre 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.

Straight-lede game stories are still used for coverage of high school and some college sports. But they're used less nowadays for pro sports. Why? Because pro sports are seen on TV and most fans of a particular team know the score of a game long before they read about it. The Feature-Lede Game Story Feature-lede game stories are common for pro sports. Readers usually already know the score of pro games as soon as they're done, so when they pick up a sports section they want stories they offer a different angle on what happened and why. Here's an example of a game story feature lede: It had rained all that day in the city of brotherly love, so when the Philadelphia Eagles took the field the ground was already a soggy mess - much like the game that would follow. So it was somehow fitting that the Eagles would lose 31-7 to the Dallas Cowboys in a contest that was one of the worst of quarterback Donovan McNabb's career. McNabb threw two interceptions and fumbled the ball three times. The story starts out with some description, and doesn't get to the final score until the second paragraph. Again, that's fine: readers will already know the score. It's the writer's job to give them something more. Delayed-lede game stories tend to be a bit more in-depth that straight-lede stories, and as a result are often longer. Profiles The sports world is full of colorful characters, so it's no surprise that personality profiles are a staple of sportswriting. Whether it's a charismatic coach or a young athlete on the rise, some of the best profiles anywhere are found in sports sections. Here's an example of a profile lede: Norman Dale surveys the court as his players practice layups. A pained look crosses the face of the coach of the McKinley High School basketball team as one player after another misses the basket. "Again!" he shouts. "Again! You don't stop! You don't quit! York work 'till you get it right!" And so they continue, until they start to get it right. Coach Dale wouldn't have it any other way. Season Preview and Wrap-up Stories

Season previews and wrap-ups are fixtures of the sportswriter's repertoire. These are done any time a team and a coach are preparing for the coming season, or when the season has just ended, either in glory or infamy. Obviously the focus here isn't a specific game or even individual, but a broad look at the season - how the coach and players expect things to go, or how they feel once that season is done. Here's an example of a lede for this kind of story: Coach Jenna Johnson has high hopes for the Pennwood High School women's basketball team this year. After all, the Lions were city champions last year, led by the play of Juanita Ramirez, who returns to the team this year as a senior. "We expect great things from her," Coach Johnson says. Columns A column is where the sportswriter gets to vent his or her opinions, and the best sports columnists do just that, fearlessly. Often that means being very tough on coaches, players or teams who don't meet expectations, particularly at the pro level, where all concerned are being paid huge salaries to do just one thing - win. But sports columnists also focus on those they admire, whether it's an inspirational coach who leads a team of underdogs to a great season, or a mostly unheralded player who may be short on natural talent but makes up for it with hard work and unselfish play. Here's an example of how a sports column might begin: Lamont Wilson certainly isn't the tallest player on the McKinley High School basketball team. At 5-foot-9, he's hard to spot in the sea of mid 6-footers on the court. But Wilson is the model of an unselfish team player, the kind of athlete who makes those around him shine. "I just do whatever I can to help the team," the ever-modest Wilson says.