How to be a Sports Editor or a Sports Writer

(Editor's Note: This Hub contains a brief story and insights on how to be a sports editor or sports writer). Sports writing has its own distinct identity, very interesting and yet enjoying. It has dimensions which are totally different with the other writing genres such as editorial writing, entertainment writing, feature news writing and the likes. Editorial write-ups deals more with the opinions, viewpoints and observations of the editor with his environments, entertainment writing has a lot more to say about celebrities’ whereabouts, new movies and press releases and antics (good or bad), feature news writing tackles about various stories, discoveries, places, cultures, breakthroughs and almost every thing under the sun that are interesting and has potential to pull potential readers and finally sports writing has something to do more with expressing the actions and heroics made by various athletes all over the world, whether it is a resounding victory, a heartwarming drama or simply a showcase of sheer might or grace.

Sports writing is truly one of a kind as it offers readers exciting insights about how a game transpires and even simulates and reveals what happened throughout in a sporting event, in other words, sports writing transforms every readers into real audiences as the real atmosphere an event being covered reverberates into the veins of readers as they are feed with necessary information to ponder on. Moreover, readers will perceive what are the crucial stages where there are vital turning point that shaped the outcome of the game, which player clicked and doesn’t, how other important personalities reacted (coaches, managers, team owners and even famous celebrities present to witness how the event or a game unfurls) and how jubilant or not the fan was. Sports writing bring the action live to the readers with so much intensity and enthusiasm as readers are supplied with useful information to digest upon.

How come sport writing is considered captivating and tempting especially to the male readers?

The secret lies to the succinct and exaggerating words utilized in creating a sports article, in short these are “Jargons”, words that is commonly and exclusively used in sports writing.

Examine the word “upset,” its meaning in everyday real life would be best described by a dictionary like the Webster’s New International Dictionary Unabridged, as “Getting affected by emotional disturbances.” In sports however, it is equivalent to “winning over a favored or a stronger team.” Nonetheless, terms like Cinderella (a team or player which is virtually new and considered weak contender but out of nowhere won the championship over favored teams), darkhorse (not one of the favorites but capable of pulling an upset win over favored teams), powerhouse (usually the defending champions or a team or a player that is tipped to figure well in a tournament or even wins it all at the of the competition), pulling the rug over, pummel/pummeled, Lady Luck, caroms (rebounds), seeded players (high-ranked players), and other many many more jargons are used to the hilt in sports writing.

1. Passion for sports, if you love sports learning the ropes of sports writing will fall like house of cards, in other words, learning to become a sports writer or sports editor will be relatively easier.

2. Read, read and read sports news articles, this takes a lot of time for sure but it’s the most reliable way of improving your writing skill in sports. The more you acquire information on how an article in sports is written the better you’ll get to know how particular words and phrases are integrated in a synchronized fashion to come up with an article with finesse, pizzazz and with exemplary results. Moreover, you’ll also get to know how to describe any sporting event that took place, the crucial stages of the game, and the behavior and spirits of players, coaches, personalities, fans and the venue itself.

3. Innate sound writing skill will also play an important part though. Writing talents will surely give someone distinct advantage. If you think you are not gifted with sports writing bear in mind that almost all of the skills under the sun can be learned and acquired through intensive learning and devotion of time mastering the craft. Persevere to research well on how to improve your skills, this takes also a lot of time to do it, but inevitably your hardwork will be amply compensated in the end.

4. Practice a lot, do some articles to hone and polish your writing skill don’t worry about the outcome, for sure you will discern your level of writing and you know when to keep on improving. Keep assessing yourself and try to let others read your articles and give them the luxury to rate them, hehehe, but be sure not to be disheartened when they criticize it. Bear in mind, that it is with bad comments that gives you motivation to be very good in writing. You can also experiment on writing an article about various sports competition that took place in your community.

5. If you think you’re ripe enough and still a student try to see if Lady Luck will smile on you, by going through screening as a sportswriter in your school or as a contributor. Remember also that in every time you write articles you gained valuable experience and exposure from it. This undertaking will surely boosts your confidence and improve your experience as a writer. If you made it, cheers, if not, don’t feel sorry there is still HubPages where there are no try outs or screening and there is a wide room for improvement nyahahaha…Joining trying-outs as a sports writer will give you an idea on where you stand as a sports writer.

5. You’re experience as an athlete is a plus too as a sports editor or writer. Hehehe, a cutting edge in writing about sports, since you know by heart how competition happens, you know the essence of winning and losing, and preparations you've made no matter what the results of your participation in the past materialized. Used this experience to write with heart, for this will surely be felt by the readers. Your experience can also be a potent driving force to express yourself very well and can motivate you to write well to the best of your abilities.

6. Be resourceful, sports writing is not just a mere writing stuff, boosts the contents of your hubs, blogs or write-ups with contents extracted from a deliberate research work. Be sure to make your stuffs filled with a lot of great information to thrill and enthrall your readers with fascinating and useful facts. Library and internet can be very helpful to enhance your write-ups.

7. Self correction, once done with an article, make sure that you read it again after a day it was done and you will be surprised that you are making some additions and improvements on it. Do this for several days before publication and before you knew it you have a great article to contribute or to pass.

8. If you think you are already ready for the bigger thing, hehehe, raise your bar a notch higher, hehehe, tryout for the sports editor position who knows this can be your passport to success as a national newspaper or tabloid writer. Keep dreaming and learning for these are free and can be rewarding.

9. Once you are a sports editor already, proofreading will be your main instruments in determining what articles which needs some revisions and/or corrections. Faulty grammars and misspellings should be eradicated from each article. Read at least two times each article for any errors.

10. Walk the talk, as a sports editor you need to practice some ethics too, be sure that everybody, including you, pass their articles ahead of the time or on time. Be sure to have great ounce of patience, always discuss things in a nice manner when trouble arises. Don’t be cocky in criticizing for some errors, correct them by talking in private. Smile always and show them great personality. Motivate your writers well, give them pointers all the time and find ways to make yourself available when they need your help.

My first hub in the November HubChallenge (Third batch)….

Finally after many days of being in hiatus, I finally found my rhythm in writing…

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