Finding unique ways to cover the sports scene on high school campuses is vital to a school's publication, said Alan Weintraut.
Weintraut, a journalism teacher at Annandale High School near Washington D.C., discussed direct ways and angles to take in the sports section.
Similar to other speakers at the ASNE Reynolds High School Journalism Institute in Phoenix, Weintraut said students should focus on areas in their sports scene that they could be experts.
I often have trouble getting students to cover sports at our school. Whether it is because they are unfamiliar with the sport, don't want to stay after school or are intimidated by the coach or players, they avoid sports stories and that section of our paper really suffers.
One of the consistent complaints that we get is that we need to have a stronger sports section.
I think if I can point them to different types of stories as opposed to basic recaps or previews I might be able to get them more excited to write about sports.
Instead of doing a straight football game recap, maybe focus on practicing in the heat and weave in information about the game.
I also think that if we did shorter feature that were more visual, they might want to cover those.
Weintraut talked about an idea of "8 Things to Know about the Soccer Team", short, quick, relevant information with strong graphics that can serve multiple purposes.
I think I can also use the information discussed in the diversity discussion to try and recruit more students that like to write about sports. I have to go out and actively find those kids and get them excited to be the voice of our campus sports scene.
Chad Renning
Sandra Day O'Connor High School
Phoenix
My sports geeks just graduated. I rarely had to worry about sports coverage--they took care of it. The tweets they did from the stands were awesome (and so appreciated for the games I had to miss--I remember following one game from my living room couch--still in it because of their updates every few minutes. Awesome!). I will need to cultivate my sports writers for next year. They have potential, and I definitely feel armed with some great specifics to get them on their way.
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