If you're a preps writer, how not to move up

[Ace]

There are lots of places for writers who don't break news. The two or three best writers I know personally seem as if they could care less about breaking news. Not everyone has the stomach for it. And I'll add this: The timbre of this thread seems to be that if you're not breaking news, you're not working hard, or working hard enough. There are plenty of people in the industry who break that stereotype.

Well, even a glad-handing prep writer would break news. Probably lots of news -- of a certain kind anyway.

What constitutes breaking news, anyway? If I'm at a weekly and we run a photo of a guy who caught a 30-pound fish, that's breaking news, isn't it? Because there's no way the daily newspaper/TV station would run something like that.

Well, a plugged in writer who is not going to write "negative" stuff still should get stories like coaching hires, firings, kids committing, events coming to town, etc., etc.

 

[TyWebb]

The thing that helped me most when breaking prep stories was knowing and regularly talking to the minor characters - the trainers, the announcer, the team mom, etc. The football announcer at a team I once covered told me that a starting linebacker had been kicked off the team because he flipped off the coach at practice. I was working at a weekly, but my story ran before our rival weekly AND the major daily that covered the team.

Obviously, the kid's parents were upset, but the rest of the team's parents liked it because he had acted like that all season. You can't please all the people all the time.

Curious, Ty. How did you confirm that the kid flipped off the coach and was suspended for that reason?

I talked to the head coach and he confirmed that the player was kicked off for "making an obscene gesture and unruly behavior" during practice. I did not put in the story that he flipped him the bird, but that kind of goes without saying at that point.

 

[Pilot]

The thing that helped me most when breaking prep stories was knowing and regularly talking to the minor characters - the trainers, the announcer, the team mom, etc. The football announcer at a team I once covered told me that a starting linebacker had been kicked off the team because he flipped off the coach at practice. I was working at a weekly, but my story ran before our rival weekly AND the major daily that covered the team.

Obviously, the kid's parents were upset, but the rest of the team's parents liked it because he had acted like that all season. You can't please all the people all the time.

Curious, Ty. How did you confirm that the kid flipped off the coach and was suspended for that reason?

Good question. I'd like to know, too. I'm not sure how I'd handle that ... I haven't had a situation really similar, but a few close. The best kid on the team that my stringer covers pretty much by himself got kicked off for drinking. My publisher knew (has a kid on the team, didn't tell me because she figured I'd find out anyway and didn't want to "rat out" the other kid ... she was friends with the family .... I kid you not) and my stringer knew the kid was gone, but not why ("forgot" to mention it to me). When I finally found out one issue after the fact, I wrote a column about how the team was doing without him, and mentioned at the top of the story my stringer wrote. I didn't mention the booze, no one would go on record with that, but just said he was kicked off for disciplinary reasons.

Ya think I played the the right way? I tend to side with "they're just kids." I don't have a problem ringing up a college kid for why exactly he got kicked off the team, but I don't feel the need to go into great detail about why a HS kid got kicked off.

Another time a good football player transfered from my main school I cover, but no one would go on record why. He went to a football powerhouse about three hours away, which was clearly part of the situation, but there was also some pretty serious relationship issues between his parents, which apparently also played a big role. I wrote the story about how he left, where he went and a little about the recent history at that school (all their D1 kids), but focused in greater detail on who the local team had to replace him. The kid would never go on record about it either, btw.

 

[Pilot]

I have a question: At my weekly paper, I am a one-person sports department. How do I separate what should be a trend story from what should be in a column? My bosses want my columns local, local, local (if I can and I get special dispensation to do a Super Bowl Preview and March Madness preview column).
Some column topics I have written in the past school year include:
Adult kickball, Indian nicknames (local high school is the MHS Indians), keeping youth sports in persepctive, the exciting first-round playoff football game (three lead changes last five minutes), the reaction of the school's two biggest wrestlers to the new 285-pound weight class, three sisters on the varsity girls basketball team (soph, jr, and sr), the fact that six teams in the eight-team conference have ble as their prime color (and four of those have yellow as an accent), whether high school hoops needs a shot clock, A high school senior who tried out for the LA Galaxy, wood bats vs. aluminum, how neat I thought it was that most teams took spring break off, the local hs baseball team playing later this summer in an MLB stadium.

How do you guys suggest I do stories like these while still filling the hole for my column?

I too am a one-person sports department. I don't always stay so local with my columns though. I usually try, but when I come across ideas like you mention, I like to make them big, full-blown features so I can really use a lot of photos and get a little more creative with design. I don't feel that's an option with my column, which is always on the left side.

It's a debate I've had with myself 1,000,000 times, but I usually come to the same conclusion: I can do a story better as a feature than as a column. I write local when I can, and almost always stay at least regional, i.e. the area college teams or the pro teams. I think it adds a little bit too — offers a break from the same old prep stuff. If I used all my feature ideas for columns, I'd be afraid of running out of them too fast.

 

[TyWebb]

Pilot - I was lucky to get the coach to confirm that he had been kicked off, but it helped I had worked with him a lot and developed a good relationship.

There will be times when you hear something in the preps world but can do jack about it because no one will confirm it. In that case, just walk away. But I've always had a problem with the "They're just kids" philosophy. I was just a kid back then, too, but I never did anything so stupid as to get me kicked off a sports team. There has to be some responsibility there. Now, when it comes to how a kid plays, there is no reason to pile on them. In that case, I respect the fact that they are just kids and are playing because they want to.

Another example: had 10 football starters from a school get busted for vandalism and drinking after a game - they were arrested and suspended for two games. We had a police report and a quote from the coach, so it would be ridiculous not to write a story about that. They may be kids, but they have to be responsible for their actions.

The key is to do enough good stories on the talented, responsible kids to make those kinds of stories seem like abberations.

 

[Ace]

Good for you, Ty. If the coach is willing to say on the record, I am apt to print it.

 

[Some Guy]

Pilot - I was lucky to get the coach to confirm that he had been kicked off, but it helped I had worked with him a lot and developed a good relationship.

There will be times when you hear something in the preps world but can do jack about it because no one will confirm it. In that case, just walk away. But I've always had a problem with the "They're just kids" philosophy. I was just a kid back then, too, but I never did anything so stupid as to get me kicked off a sports team. There has to be some responsibility there. Now, when it comes to how a kid plays, there is no reason to pile on them. In that case, I respect the fact that they are just kids and are playing because they want to.

Another example: had 10 football starters from a school get busted for vandalism and drinking after a game - they were arrested and suspended for two games. We had a police report and a quote from the coach, so it would be ridiculous not to write a story about that. They may be kids, but they have to be responsible for their actions.

The key is to do enough good stories on the talented, responsible kids to make those kinds of stories seem like abberations.

Regarding the "it's just kids" line of thinking ...

To me, it depends on a couple of factors. Are we talking about a relatively small town, where the high school in question is pretty much THE major sports draw? Are we talking a paper in this town that treats covers that team as if it were the Dallas Cowboys? Is it a somewhat important player? Or are we talking a third-team offensive guard?

I know it sounds like a double-standard, but I think it matters.

If I'm a reader at a smaller paper where the high school game is basically the pro team, I'm gonna want to know why the quarterback isn't playing that week. If I'm a reader at a major metro, I'm probably not going to care about a high school kid so much. He'd have to be really, really high-profile, or else he better have done something really, really egregious.

 

[boots]

There is not a damn thing wrong with a guy NOT wanting to leave preps. I know many who have been around for decades, made a lot of money and carved their own niche. They could care less about covering the pros or college and there is a lot to be said about that that.

 

[Meat Loaf]

Funny this should come up because I've got a volleyball coach hiring story and a possible football coach resignation happening on the same day. The AD was level with me on both fronts, but would only talk off the record. I know who the hire is, but no one knows if the football coach is going to stay or go.

Naturally, TV runs a story citing "rumors" and "anonymous sources" as their info. In reality, it's a rumor that the station GM heard, so surely it's true. </sarcasm> This is the only non-game story they've done this year.

My editors didn't want me typing a word until it's official. They'd rather be right than first. So, I keep in touch with my sources to see if anything changes and sit on my hands. If it's true, then I don't guess I broke anything. But, I also know I can write a story with 10 times better depth than anything TV will show in 30 seconds. I take some consolation there because depth is what I'm known for.

 

[Meat Loaf]

Like you, we cover about 30 high schools, but we have 6-8 teams whose home games we ALWAYS cover (speaking football and basketball). Those are the schools and teams we primarily focus on.
Breaking stories there is really easy. It usually a matter of face time. I know that's hard with the 30 team in your area, but think about which teams generate the largest interest? Which games do you ALWAYS cover?

I think that's part of the problem. I've covered Big City High as a beat, and I've covered the entire district as a general assignment beat. Neither were ideal: not enough material from following one school, but too little depth from following 30. We have no ME right now and the SE doesn't have a clue what he wants, so there's not any leadership. I think what you're suggesting about finding a handful of schools would be a good approach. This summer would be a great time to figure out which ones to look at, so thanks.

 

[RedCanuck]

I think you can do both negative stories and be a positive ambassador at the same time. You just have to be out there a lot and have people know where you are coming from.

Absolutely. That's especially ideal on a major beat or in a one-or-two team town. The more you're out there, the more trusted you are and people might actually relish your honesty in putting out those stories.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

You are doing yourself a disservice to steer clear of negative stories.
I know writers (all prep guys) who would rather castrate themselves with a rusty post office key than type a negative word about a local team, player or coach.

Avoiding negative stories makes you look like and out-and-out homer.
* Not to be confused with Homo. That would be because you wear fuscia-colored pants and pink shirts that you casually - but firmly - refer to a "melon."