Sports Writing

This was one of the rare, important sports games where the context of the game was more important than the game itself. It was Apalachee’s first game back since their defensive coordinator was killed in a school shooting, so I covered an emotionally-charged game. As both writer and photographer, I had the opportunity to sync my words precisely to the photos – I balanced the emotional context of the game with reporting on it, allowing the more important narrative to shine through.

This was a unique opportunity – it had been twenty years since Clarke Central, a school with a proud football tradition, had sent a skill player to the hometown University of Georgia football team. The signing was rushed, along with the promotion of it, but I still managed to recap the excitement of the moment along with the most important factors in Millender’s decision and Clarke Central career.

Another rare opportunity – Athens’s first professional hockey team played its first game in a newly-opened, 8500-seat arena, and I was one of the few journalists to receive a media pass and be on ice for the occasion. Because it was opening night, interviewing was a challenge, as no players were made available to the press – I instead interviewed a fan to supplement the story. Having never reported on hockey before, I researched the rules and slang of the sport beforehand before telling a fairly straightforward game coverage, but special due to the occasion.

I've written nearly a dozen game coverages, but no game was as compelling -- or as well covered -- as this. The event had it all -- city rivalry, emotional context, a poster dunk, and a dramatic victory that made for a juicy story. My only challenge was trying to include everything relevant, but I was very pleased with the outcome.  

This was published as a website package, but the heart of it was a 300-word story on girls varsity basketball player Ayanna Lonon, a senior with dreams off the court. I really discovered a passion for 300-word stories with this one, where I had to really think about the heart of the story. The easy story would have been an "I love basketball" one, but when I started writing, I knew that wasn't the right one. One of my favorites to this day.

Borne from a press conference with Athens-area schools, "Season's greetings" was a big learning curve for me. It was the first article I'd written as Sports Editor, and looking back, I now see that I did too much with the piece -- preview the holistic season, the upcoming rivalry game, and discuss the new region alignment. However, the story was fundamentally solid and provided a baseline for my future sports news.

A short sports news brief about a grant given to the physical education department, this story isn't the sexiest I've ever written. What makes me proud of it is the speed at which I wrote it -- only two hours from the press release's publication, the story was up with interviews, giving me confidence in my writing ability on tight time frames.