Hello media moguls. Today we take a step back from our job search to focus on a skill sports media companies value heavily, writing. Being a well-rounded individual is important in a modern media environment. Having a skill for writing game recaps and press releases in a short turnaround is essential for making it in the sports media world.
The problem today is getting your writing seen. The second a game ends, hundreds of sports journalists are already writing their game recaps. How do you get your work noticed on social media sites flooded with other writers? The best way to give your game recaps a chance to be seen is by focusing on the three keys, speed, title, and content.
Key #1: Speed
When it comes to game recaps, when the final whistle blows, you have no time to spare. Once a contest has ended, writers immediately start working on their game recaps. Waiting hours to start writing makes it much less likely that fans will even bother to look at your recap. When newspapers were still the fastest form of media, you could afford to write slowly, but with hundreds of game recaps being released, and flooding users’ timelines, you have to be quick to the punch. Start working on recapping earlier parts of the game in breaks before the game ends. This will allow you to finish your recaps more quickly than people who wait for the end of games.
Key #2: Title
To capture an audience, your recap needs to have a title that catches people’s eyes. Be honest; are you more likely to read a recap titled “Sixers Lose Again” or one that has the title “Sixers 2023 Woes Continues Losing Fourth Straight Game in the New Year”? You and I would both be more likely to click on the latter. Creating captivating titles increases the likelihood that users will gravitate toward your recaps. Using more interesting language is a good place to start when brainstorming titles.
Key #3: Content
You can be the first article released and have the most intriguing titles for your articles, but if you don’t do a good job of actually recapping the game, you will quickly lose credibility. When writing a game recap, you want the reader to be able to understand what happened in the game without being bogged down by information. This leads to a fine line between including too much or too little. Different sports require different information, but the way I like to look at a game recap is by thinking about what parts of the game will be mentioned in the water cooler talk tomorrow. Fans who aren’t able to watch the game you’re recapping want to be able to know what happened and not be lost in conversation when the game they read about is mentioned. Key things to mention in game recaps include scoring plays in pretty much every sport that isn’t basketball, and interesting plays, good or bad, that happened during the game.
Now that you know the keys to a game recap I want to share a game recap I wrote for tonight’s Phillies game.
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Late Three-Run Shot From Schwarber Propels Phillies to 8-5 Victory in San Diego
(San Diego, CA) – The Padres struck first on a warm afternoon in sunny San Diego. A Hosmer groundout allowed Jake Cronenworth to score first on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the first inning. The Phillies quickly claimed a lead of their own, as Bryson Stott singled to score Odubel Herrera. Stott then reached home as well on a double from Kyle Schwarber.
This lead was short-lived, however, as in the bottom of the third Cronenworth tallied his second run as both he and Hosmer crossed home on an Austin Nola 2-run double. Nola then scored along with Nomar Mazara on a C.J. Abrams ground-rule double, for the Padres’ second two-run double of the 3rd inning giving them a 5-2 lead. This would be the last time a player in a Padres uniform would score tonight.
Rhys Hoskins scored on a Nick Castellanos single in the top of the 5th to bring the Phillies within 2 runs.
In the top of the seventh with Bryson Stott on second and Matt Vierling on first, Kyle Schwarber stepped into the batter’s box for the 4th time tonight. After taking 2 balls on the first 2 pitches, and looking at a changeup in the zone. Schwarber launched an 82 mph changeup 403 feet into left field for a 3-run homer to give the Phillies a 6-5 lead.
Alec Bohm was scored by a Garrett Stubbs Single in the 8th, and Vierling scored again in the 9th on a Ray Kerr wild pitch to end the game with a final score of Phillies 8, Padres 5. The 3-1 series win over San Diego moves the Phillies’ Record to 39-35 on the season.
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This is how I write my game recaps. How will you use these tips to become more well-rounded in the sports media industry?
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