"I would walk twenty miles to listen to my worst enemy if I could learn something" LEIBNITZ
The love of sports and of sportswriting has always fascinated me. I was privileged to be invited as one of the resource speakers to talk about the topic of sportswriting during the Department of Education (DepEd)-sponsored Division Training in Campus Journalism participated by more than 200 campus paper advisers held at the Dr. Narciso D. Monfort building, DepEd Division of Iloilo in La Paz district last month. Division of Iloilo Superintendent Dr. Raymundo Lapating signed the invitation letter. The workshop was facilitated and managed by Division English Coordinator Sampaguita G. Gestosani and Education Supervisor I (English) Azelma C. Lebrilla. Before I left the training venue in the fourth floor of the building, I reminded Mrs. Lebrilla that one of the major handicaps of our campus writers as well as their paper advisers (the participants in the four-day training) today is their lack of skills in composing an item about sports—straight news, commentary, and feature writing.
EXCLUSIVE TO BASKETBALL
Some of them dabbles in sportswriting. They would always write only about basketball and disregard other sports disciplines. The seeming lack of interest and apparent discrimination of other events is a manifestation of major deficiency in the writer of a sports story. I also discussed with Mrs. Lebrilla that some lecturers tasked to train campus writers about sportswriting are also sometimes guilty of both the sins of commission and omission in the decline of quality campus sportswriters because of their propensity to prepare obsolete materials and focus their discussion mainly on, what else, basketball! A true-blue sportscaster Rene Monteclaro is perhaps one of the only few in town who can lecture on sportswriting and at the same time play the games.
In my power point presentation, I emphasized that "sportswriting is not only about basketball" which is not even the most popular event in the world. Because it is the most familiar sports in the country (thanks to the overdose of Philippine Basketball Association and National Basketball Association games on cable TV), many sportswriters tend to believe that basketball is sportswriting and sportswriting is basketball. This terrible misconception is one of the big hindrances in promoting sportswriting as an important component in campus journalism.
LACK OF MATERIALS
It’s understandable for some lecturers to be glued exclusively on basketball as their main topic as many of them are oftentimes ill-equipped with the tools needed to come up with a major recipe in the subject matter—the technical terminologies and rules of different events. I always reiterate that I have not met a sports writer here and abroad who can claim expertise in writing about all the sports events in any given time. He or she may be good in writing a story about athletics, but she or he is inutile when it comes to writing a story about chess and badminton.
After all, there is no Masteral or Doctorate degree in sportswriting. Not even a Bachelors Degree. That is why I always encourage participants to be diligent in gathering technical terminologies and in studying the different rules in the different sports. The efforts must come from the writer himself. Everyday is an opportunity for any sportswriter worth his salt to gather a wealth of technical words from sports pages of daily papers. I learned that neither the Department of Education (DepEd) nor the biggest university in the country has produced a textbook or handbook that accurately lists all the terminologies and styles in sportswriting.
DEFINITION
There has been a lot of definitions given on sportswriting when it is merely "an act of composing an article/story (news, feature, column/commentary) about schedules and results of competitions; records, statistics, events, athletes and coaches, games and history." It is also "an act of composing an article/story (news, feature, column/commentary) that involves human struggle competing for honor, medal, trophy, cash; athletic creativity and prowess, record-breaking efforts leading to a defeat, victory, anguish, drama, frustration, achievement and celebration."
In a nutshell, a sports item is a story/article based on action and competition. Sources of sports stories are: INDOOR (Gymnasium/Halls)—chess, weightlifting, bowling, billiards, boxing, wrestling, taekwondo, judo, gymnastics and others. OUTDOOR ( Stadium /River/ Sea )—track and field for athletics, javelin and discus throws, long jump, high jumps, marathon, soccer, baseball, dragon race and others. Below are some of my tips for dyed-in-the-wool campus and practicing sportswriters: Use only familiar terminologies and technical words; Know the rules of the events: Know the players and their background; Go direct to the point; don’t stray; To make your story interesting, always use monickers; Always quote the players and other experts and authorities (e.g. coaches, managers, officials); Always include more statistics aside from the score; Use earthshaking title; Use idioms (but sparingly); Use action verbs; Don’t speculate; Don’t be biased; and Be interested on the subject matter.
SPORTS COMPETITIONS
Below are some of the different sports competitions where a sportswriter can get a sports story: School Intramurals; District Meet; Congressional Meet; Regional Meet; Palarong Pambansa; PNG, LGUlympics (both have already been scrapped);n Southeast Asian (SEA) Games; Asian Games; World Cup or World Championship; and World Olympics. Like a normal straight newswriting, sportswriting is still governed by the following format: LEAD, LEAD SUPPORT, BODY, BACKGROUND.
These are some of the interesting action verbs that will help add excitement, breadth and width to a sports story: Clobber, Wreck, Dispose of, Blitz, Bomb out, Kayo, Defeat, Submerge, Swallow whole, Dethrone, Unmask, Shame, Silence, Down, Blow away, Put away, Outsmart, Demolish, Upend, Trounce, Hammer, Beat, Wallop, Nip, Rip, Smash, Edge, Destroy, Massacre, Outwit, Outgun, Outclass, Subdue, Thrash, Steamroll.
Since the three major sports events before the year ends are the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar on December 5-15, the 2006 World Pool 9-ball Championship in Manila, and the much-awaited Erik Morales-Manny Pacquiao "Grand Finale" on Noveber 19 (Panay time), I am listing their facts below as our exercises to hone our skills in sportswriting. The topic should be written in straight news.
BILLIARD n WHAT (EVENT): 2006 World Pool 9-ball Championship n WHERE (VENUE): Philippine International Convention Center, Manila n WHEN: Nov. 4-12, 2006 n FORMAT: Alternate break (knockout stages for the Last 64, 32, 16, quarterfinals, semifinals. Championship is race to 17. • PRIZE: $100,000 (champion), $40,000 (1st runner-up) • Defending champion is Wu Chia-ching ( Taiwan ) • 128 players from 43 countries • Seeded players/favorites: Efren Reyes (RP), Thorsten Hohmann ( Germany ), Alex Pagulayan (RP), Ralf Souquet ( Germany ), Mika Immonen ( Finland ), Rodney Morris (USA), Johnny Archer (USA) BOXING • EVENT: WBC Int’l superfeatherweight title dubbed "The Grand Finale" • VENUE: Thomas and Mack Center , Las Vegas , Nevada • DATE: Nov. 18, 2006 • Champion: Manny Pacquiao ( Philippines ) • Challenger: Erik Morales ( Mexico ) • Schedule: 12 rounds. IMPORTANT noun substitutes to remember in writing a sports story: clouter, kegler, shuttler, booter, cager, slammer, lifter, tanker, dribbler (you may add more). /MP mailto:madyaas_pen@yahoo.com
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