SPORTS WRITING
Sports reporting is sports writing. It
has the structure of an action story.
Sports writing is livelier because the
writer deals with physical movement
and action.
Practical tips on how to improve
students’ sports writing skills
Practical tips on how to improve
students’ sports writing skills
Encourage students to read sports page as
often as possible.
Direct the students to have a compilation of
sports stories they like. The more diverse the
articles, the better.
Instruct them to gather sports vocabulary
(verbs, adjectives, phrases) from articles they
have gathered.
Examples of Sports Verbs (strong verbs)
Win Defeat
bag beat
grab rip
harvest nip
sweep batter
triumph over power
clinch crush
Examples of Sports Verbs (strong verbs)
Filipino
nanalo natalo
nakamit dinurog
namayani pinulbos
napasakamay ginapi
namayagpag pinatulog
nanguna pinatumba
nasungkit pinataob
Sports Lingo or Sports Jargon
Basketball- five, quintet, shot, lay up, double
team, rainbow territory
15-foot line, technical foul, man to man, follow up,
tip-in press
Volleyball – Spikes, neat placing, full back,
corner, wallop, block spiker, booming service
net ball, two out of three
Sports Lingo or Sports Jargon
Badminton- smash, let, netting, forehand,
backhand, service over, backline, change end, tip in,
net, footwork, shuttlecock, fault, love all, match
point, game point.
Chess- middle game, end game, pawn, bishop,
knight, rook, king’s side, queen side, castling,
Sicilian defense, Queen’s gambit, Ruy Lopez
opening.
Sports lingo or sports jargon
A head-to-head matches
Best of three series
Split decision
Power hitting
Tough defense
Daring drive
Runaway win
Slowly but surely pulled away
Sports Lingo or Sports Jargon
Big defensive play
A real close game
Remained undefeated
Exciting series
To notch their three straight victory
An inspiring come-from behind
55-45-win
Sports Lingo (Filipino)
Lalong nabaon
Matapos magmintis
Nagkamada ng 20 puntos
Sinungkit
Humataw
Kinapus ng hininga
Matapos masilat ng…
Kung saan nagbida si…
matinik na kalaban
Practical tips on how to improve
students’ sports writing skills
Coach them to use the words they have gathered in
sentence form.
Teach the students how to read for sentence structure.
The standard sports story sentence is in the active
voice. (S-TV-DO+modifier)
Example:
Ateneo Blue Eagles outlasted the FEU
Tamaraws 85-83 when Chris Tiu sank a tie -breaking
lay up with 8.2 seconds left in overtime last night at
the Araneta Coliseum.
Practical tips on how to improve
students’ sports writing skills
Teach the students how to read for sentence structure. The
standard sports story sentence is in the active voice. (S-TV-
DO+modifier.
In Filipino however, the pattern is:
verb +subject+details
Example:
Bumulsa ng record breaking performance si John
Wilson nang trangkuhan ang JRU Bombers sa
pagdurog sa St. Benilde, 95-85 kahapon upang
isulong ang kanilang FinalFour bid sa 85 th NCAA
basketball tournament sa The Arena, San Juan City.
Practical tips on how to improve
students’ sports writing skills
Drill the students to experiment on composing
compound and complex sentences.
Example:
Ateneo Blue Eagles outlasted the FEU
Tamaraws 85-83. There were only 8.2 seconds left in
overtime. Chris Tiu sank a tie -breaking lay up. The
game was played last night at the Araneta Coliseum.
Ateneo Blue Eagles outlasted the FEU
Tamaraws 85-83 when Chris Tiu sank a tie -breaking
lay up with 8.2 seconds left in overtime last night at
the Araneta Coliseum.
Practical tips on how to improve
students’ sports writing skills
Require the students to compile sample sports
stories.
Encourage them to watch sporting events on
TV and during live games situations.
Assist them how take down notes.
Help them how to analyze data.
Teach them how to ask questions before and
after the game.
Practical tips on how to improve
students’ sports writing skills
Drill them how to write sports stories even if
the material is fiction based.
Tell your students that reading is key to
becoming an effective and efficient writer.
Always bear in mind that the sports story:
A. is a result-oriented
B. is written is active voice and in the simple
past tense.
Practical tips on how to improve
students’ sports writing skills
Always bear in mind that the sports story:
C. is a visual report, thus the need for more
description.
D. follows the structure of a straight news-the
inverted pyramid.
Practical tips on how to improve
students’ sports writing skills
Always bear in mind that the sports story:
E. has a standard lead format that answers the
5W’s.
Who won? Against whom? By what
score?
When? And Where?
Example:
The FEU Tamaraws crushed the
Adamson University Falcons, 84-75,
yesterday during their game played at the
Araneta Coliseum.
Practical tips on how to improve
students’ sports writing skills
F. the sports lead may play up any of the
following features:
1. Significance of the game
a. Did the team clinch the championship?
b. Did the team qualify for the finals?
c. Did the team exact revenge?
Practical tips on how to improve
students’ sports writing skills
Significance of the game
Example:
The FEU Tamaraws gored the Adamson
Falcons, 85-75, during their UAAP men’s
basketball tournament game played yesterday
at the Araneta Coliseum to secure a slot in the
final four.
Practical tips on how to improve
students’ sports writing skills
F. the sports lead may play up any of the
following features:
2. Spectacular Performance or Play
a. shooting a game-high 30 points, for
example
b. a series of three pointers
Spectacular Performance or Play
Example:
Diana Munz, a 15-year old sophomore, beat 17-year-
old US Olympic gold medalist Brooke Benette in a
heart-breaking 800-meter freestyle with 65 seconds
leads in the US Open championship Saturday.
Practical tips on how to improve
students’ sports writing skills
F. the sports lead may play up any of the
following features:
3. Hero of the game
a. a steal on a dying seconds of the game
to break a tie.
Practical tips on how to improve
students’ sports writing skills
G. Body includes:
1. Focus on the winning moment.
2. Use a quotation from the winning coach or
player.
3. Cite stats of the game’s best player/hero.
4. Highlight losing side’s best moment.
5. How the winners rallied.
THANK YOU!
SAMPLE EXERCISE:
Sports Writing
Araneta Coliseum
5th GMA Men’s Volleyball Tournament
2,000 in attendance
October 20, 2009
UST is the defending champion and has 4-0 record
UP has a record of 3-1 before the match
Winning team advances to the semi-final round
Team I II III IV V
UST 14 15 25 25 29
UP 25 25 21 21 27
Credits to: Zenon Roderick U. Yabis
from Aringin Elementary School
