covering high school swimming

Be careful if you walk on the deck and it's wet. It gets very slippery. I once went tumbling down in a twisted heap, all the while trying to keep a camera from hitting the deck. Some 90-pound diver had to rescue me. It was so awful ...

 

Style questions: Do you have to write out freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke, backstroke, individual medley or is free, fly, breast, back, IM OK?
Also, why do swimming people insist they're proper nouns and on first reference do you refer to the sport as "swimming and diving" or is just "swimming" OK?

 

I would write out the stroke name on first reference, then usually will use the shortened version of the words after that.

As far as capitalization/style standards, go by whatever your paper's style is, not that of swimming people.

Call it a "swimming and diving" meet (again, on first reference) if the competition, in fact, includes diving. Not all of them do. And even if they do, the swimming and diving portions are often separate, even being completed on different days, although the scores of each portion will be incorporated into the final results regardless.

If the diving results wind up impacting the final results significantly, or are even what the meet turns on, then that should be explained/discussed in the story. Otherwise, just talking about the swimming, and not bothering with diving (unless some kind of school or other record is set in it) is probably fine. Most schools are lucky if they have one or two divers, and their results rarely have much impact, although it can and does happen sometimes.

 

Thanks, because most swimming write-ups that I see are written by a swimming person and not a professional journalist, they can be very painstaking to edit.

 

I've found better luck getting interviews near the awards stand, rather than trying to snag a swimmer right after a race...usually they have calmed a bit and aren't being hassled by a crowd of teammates and coaches.

Perhaps a graphic could be made to help break down or explain the scoring?

 

If you're shooting get their early. Much like glasses, the lens will fog up and you're shots will be out of focus.
And stay away from the starter, the shot on the 500 free gets me every single time.

 

Awesome.

 

Funny story (funny because it worked out...lol). Had a swim meet a couple weeks ago...went out to the car only to find my battery dead. By the time I got that sorted out and charged up once more, the meet was nearly over. Expecting a close score, so went hoping to catch results and the last few races anyway and grab a quick photo.

I walk in and the final relay for all the marbles is halfway over. My glasses steam up, so I take them off wipe them down and I'm set. But alas, the dreaded camera fog. Sitting on the side of the pool clicking and hoping, while my camera is getting nothing but steamy fuzz...meanwhile the last swimmers are making their final turn to the finish.

My camera finally fights through just in time for me to get the celebration shot at the wall in a split-second race...one team dejected, the other thrilled. One of my best swimming shots...who knew???

 

I've written lots of swim meet stories, and I've found that you can write some decent play-by-play if you mention how a particularly important race went down. Think of the U.S. comeback against the French in 2008. If you anticipate a close race, keep your eye on the top seeds and track their position from lap to lap. Then you can base a few interview questions on how the person swam the race. All swimmers go into a race with a strategy. It usually involves their desired pace for different parts of the race. Also watch the entry. Someone might lose a race off the blocks. Ask about that.

If there are awards presented, try to interview swimmers at that point. Be aware that swimmers often do cool down laps after a race. It can be difficult to interview them immediately after a race. So take that into consideration.

Don't forget to ask about tapering. In swimming, it's an important part of things. Some athletes don't taper until after conference meets. That impacts times.

 

Yes...it's like waiting at the finish line to ask the track athlete a batch of questions while he's collapsed on the asphalt...lol. Give them time to warm-down, then jump in with some questions.