Being a Sports Reporter

There are a few things that can hinder and facilitate the ability for a sport reporter to meet deadlines.  The time of the game or event can either hinder or facilitate the ability for sport reporter to meet deadlines.  If the game or event is held in the evening, such as a Friday night football game, it can be very difficult and stressful to meet the deadline.  Once the game is over, the job of the reporter isn’t over.  They usually meet with coaches or players to get quotes, and then they have to head back to the office and put all their notes together to form a story.  However, if the time of the game is held in the morning or early afternoon, the reporter is given plenty of time to meet the deadline for that night.  They are able to take their time talking to coaches and players, and they also have plenty of time to go through their notes and be thorough in their story.  Also, the availability of resources such as coaches, players, or other personnel that are needed to complete the story can hinder or facilitate the sports reporters’ ability to meet the deadline.  Sometimes it can be very difficult to reach the people that you need to speak too.  However, sometimes the people you need to speak too are very easy to reach and more than willing to give you the information that you need to complete your story.  Also, access to the Internet or technology devices can hinder or facilitate the reporter as well.  If the reporter is scheduled to cover a game that is a few hours from work, then they need to have access to some sort of technology in order to get their story in on time.  For example, a Friday night football game that is held 2 hours away is going to be very difficult for them to get back and write the story on time.  Therefore, the access to technology could help speed the process and allow them to complete their story before the deadline. 

I had no issue with reaching my deadline, and I feel like this had a lot to do with the simplicity of the game and the time of the game.  The game did not obtain a lot of crazy plays or occurrences.  Also, softball is a slow pace game.  Therefore, it was easy to keep the notes and highlights of the game.  So when I went back to write my story, I was able to easily follow my notes and understand everything that I had written down.  The slow pace of the game allowed me time to be thorough in my notes, and therefore, there was no confusion.  Also, the time of the game made it easy for me to meet my deadline.  The game started at 1:00pm and ended at about 3:00pm.  I had an hour drive back home, which gave me about 6-7 hours to complete my story.  This allowed for plenty of time to sit down and put my story together.  The type of information that I needed to put my story together was fairly simple.  I took notes from the game that highlighted the main points of the game and possible turning points.  I then talked to the head coach of ODU to receive a quote to put into my story.  Also, I used the tournament program, which had the rosters of both teams.  Therefore, I could put names in my story.  The overall experience of acting as a sports reporter really helped me appreciate what the do and the time it can take to put together one story.