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 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.