Thursday, June 24, 2010

Sports short

In the black, white and read-all-over world of journalism, I believe that sports journalism sits comfortably nestled in a gray world. I believe that sports writers have the most fun of any staff, but they also spend the most hours away from home, out of the office and under public scrutiny.

I really appreciated Tom Blodgett’s presentation about sports journalism. What I appreciated most was that his presentation was geared toward high school advisers, with the understanding that high school papers do not publish frequently enough to stay current with the fast-moving world of sports.

His advice, from creating in-depth player profiles to covering college signings was very helpful, and I think they will be very easy to implement in my paper’s sports coverage.

As a district, we don’t celebrate many athletic victories, so my newspaper staff has struggled to keep up with any of the teams. Our sports coverage has been minimal at best, but always out of date and very one-sided.

My students, who often fashion themselves as the “anti-athletes” in the building, will probably enjoy the opportunity to move away from what happened on the court or field. I think that by gearing our sports coverage more towards the player profile pieces, it will also help foster a greater sense of community within the school.

Above: Tom Blodgett recounts a high school basketball game that hinged on two free throws.

Jessica Kahlfeldt

Turner High School

Kansas City, Kan.

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