Guide for beginners in Campus Journalism

3. Sports Writing
Querino D. Lonsagon

5. What is sports?
• an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an
individual or team competes against another or others for
entertainment.
• pertains to any form of competitive physical
activity or game[1] that aims to use, maintain, or improve
physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to
participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators
(Wikipedia)
• a game, competition,or activity needing physical effort and skill
that is played or done according to rules, for enjoyment and/or
as a job (dictionary.Cambridge.org)

7. How to Write Sports
Story

12. 1. Introduction
• 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 teams’ perspective .
“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.”

13. 2. More info
• Telling who wins, who losses and how would ignite the interest
of the readers. However, 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.”

14. 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.
‘We miss LeBron. We miss LeBron every time he doesn’t
play. He’s our guy,’ said Brown.”

15. 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.
•audience
•weather condition
•environment (the significance of the place)
•prominent persons
•whence and the hence (history and outcome)

18. What to Focus during the game?

23. 1. “Sepak Takraw”
“Sepak” is the Malaysian word for kick; “Takraw” is the word for the ball.
When it’s put together “sepak takraw” translates to “kick a ball” or
“kickball”
2. “Regu”
This is the term for “team”. Typically, teams are made up of 3 people
“Regus”.
3. “Tekong”
The server (Tekong) of the serving team stands in the serving circle.
Tekong is “fed” the ball by another teammate (“feeder/setter/tosser”).
4. “Feeder/Setter/Tosser/Bowler”
This is the player that stands next to the net to the inside-right of the
Tekong (server).
5. “Attacker/Striker/Killer”
This is the player that stands at the net to the inside-left of the Tekong.
Attacker/striker/killer is positioned at either corner of the net in the corner of a
half-circle.

24. 6. “Block”
This term is self-explanatory. Blocks are performed to prevent the
other team from scoring points by preventing the ball from crossing the net
7. “Spike”
Spikes are powerful shots performed by the attacking team. These
shots are hard and fast making them more difficult to block.
8. “Roll Spike”
This move is essentially a back-flip kick. Players jump, kick, and land
with the same leg while completing a flip midair.
9. “Sole Kick”
The sole kick is when a player uses the bottom of their shoe to make
contact.
10. Everything else
There are a variety of kicks in sepak takraw. There’s the inside kick,
outside kick, toe kick, knee, header, etc