Things You'll Need:
- Computers
- Spiral Notebooks
- Portable Tape Recorders
- Newspaper Subscriptions
- ESPN - The Magazine
- Sports Illustrated Magazines
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Step 1
Take as many writing courses as possible in high school and college because strong English skills are essential. Work on your high school and college newspaper, too.
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Step 2
Keep in mind that, as in other branches of journalism, every subject will come in handy: history, political science, biology, etc. Major in journalism in college only if the journalism department gives you time to take lots of outside courses; if you can, make it a liberal-arts major with a journalism minor.
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Step 3
Learn to type. Very few sportswriters learn shorthand, which is a mistake; they miss a lot in interviews, and tape-recording and then transcribing is too slow.
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Step 4
Learn about sports: what constitutes a 300 game in bowling, how to do a box score in baseball, what three events make up the Triple Crown in horse racing. Watch and read about as many contests as possible.
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Step 5
Remember that apart from school newspapers, a great place to start is to cover high school sports for a local paper. Most papers are anxious to find people willing to stalk the sidelines of Friday-night high school football games; it might result in only a three-paragraph story, but it's a foot in the door.
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Step 6
Keep up to date by reading "Editor & Publisher" magazine; its classified-ad section almost always lists openings in sports departments around the country. Subscribe to the Columbia Journalism Review as well.
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Step 7
Become a better sportswriter by reading good writers - and not just in the newspaper sports sections and sports magazines. Most of the best sportswriters read widely: mainstream novels, mysteries, articles on politics, etc.









Comments
roosites said
on 12/30/2008 There is no substitute for experience. http://uwritesports.com is where everyone can be a sports writer. This site allows you to have a living resume where you can send potential editors to view your work.
roosites said
on 12/30/2008 There is no substitute for experience. http://uwritesports.com is where everyone can be a sports writer. This site allows you to have a living resume where you can send potential editors to view your work.
Anonymous said
on 11/22/2005 To break into sportswriting, there are only three rules: write, write some more, and keep writing. There are many sites which accept original contributions; your goal is to build a portfolio of articles that are professionally written and laid out.