Is a correction in order?

[huntsie]

Had one just recently, covering elementary schools cross country meet -- 712 kids from 17 schools, grades 3-5. Didn't do it as a winners/losers piece -- 25 inches on what fun the kids had, how proud their parents were, what a social gathering it was, and so on.
Got one nice note telling me I did a great job.
Checked the answering service and found one parent "very disappointed that your extensive coverage" didn't mention the name of the Grade 3 boys winner -- eight years old.
Tried to reach her to tell her it wasn't necessarily a story about winners and losers -- I interviewed one kid who finished 133rd out of 136. Anyway, ran a short item the next day -- in our Sports Digest -- once again listing the names of all the winners. Couple of paragraphs for the woman's scrapbook and it didn't hurt a bit.
In my weekly column a couple of days later, I mentioned it more or less how I've told it here -- that it wasn't about wins and losses, that there were so many good stories I was bound to miss one, and that sure enough, there was an autistic kid who finished late and his mom ran the last part of the race with him, and if I had seen that, that's what my story would have been.
All this to say -- do a short followup on Freddy Fourputt if his career was that significant.

 

[Ace]

Would it help -- when you do stories like this on teams that don't have 50-60 players -- to run a box in the story the roster and maybe their scoring average, low score or something?

It would "layer" your presentation of the team, ensure you get the kids named without bogging up the story and perhaps pique you interest in someone who isn't being hand-delivered by the coach.