Start A New Career By Being A Part-Time Sports Writer

This lecture sets the groundwork for how to get started in your sports writing career, whether you are interested in freelance, part-time or full-time employment.

Here, we'll discuss the best ways to begin and what are some of the biggest hurdles you might face (and overcome) as you start your journey to becoming a sports writer.

The best way to get experience and to become a better sports writer is to think "local" when it comes to sports writing. For now, let's forget about professional and college sports. Instead, there are plenty of local sporting events; athletes and coaches you should focus on in earning more experience and writing as often as you can about sports.

Resume? Check.

Sports Writing samples? Check.

It looks like you're ready to apply for a freelance, part-time or full-time sports writing gig. Here are the steps you should take in researching potential sports writing employment opportunities.

Bad news: no one hired you for a sports writing job. Don't quit. Don't give up. Never give up!

Either the media outlet didn't have any openings at this time or you need more experience.

Keep going. Work on areas that you feel need improvement. If you were interviewed and you didn't get the job, it's OK to reach out and ask why and how could you make yourself a better candidate in the future.

Also, you might want to consider asking someone to critique your work. A friend or a spouse might be too "nice" and say your article looks fine. After all, they don't want to hurt your feelings. Consider asking an English major or teach for a "red line" mark-up of your work. It will definitely help you write better.

The No. 1 way to get experience is to write an article and get it published. It's a great thing to see your work in print (or online). It's like a stamp of approval and it let's you shout from the rooftop "I'm a sports writer!"

In this lecture, we'll explore how you can create, publish and write your own local sports blog.

Lots of handy blog tips here, too!

Don't lean too heavy on covering one particular sport. Yes, you might be an experience in all things football, but you'll "drown" when you have to cover a local swimming tournament and you have no clue what a "medley relay" event means.

While working to gain sports writing experience, it is important to remember that you cover and write about all sports, especially the ones where you lack knowledge.

Volleyball was one of my initial failures. However, a local high school coach reached out and taught me everything about the sports, including the type of hits (dink, bump, spike, etc.); scoring; strategy, etc. I even attended some of the team's practices, so I could learn more about the sport. My volleyball writing become stronger and I could educate the reader about the sport while writing about it.

Pick your weak sports knowledge and learn more about it.

It's time to take your sports writing to the next level and write other types of sports stories and articles rather than just the game results story.

Here, we'll discuss writing the sports profile piece.

In a profile article, you'll be focusing, interviewing and writing about one individual. This can be an athlete; coach; sports administrator; athletic director; official or a sports celebrity.

This is a fun sports article to write and it gives your readers a different inside look at an individual rather than a team.

While a sports profile article is about an individual, writing the sports feature gives you many more opportunities to expand your sports writing career and gain more experience.

With the sports feature, you will typically write about a team or a group of individuals.

Some examples can include:

• How a team is playing great defense and why.
• Up and coming young athletes to keep an eye on.
• New sports in the community.
• Cheerleaders.
• Sports parents.
• Sports boosters and donors.

Writing about the upcoming game or tournament is known as a "sports game preview" or "preview." Here, you will help set the stage for next game between two teams.

In this piece, you'll write about team records; common opponents; winning and losing streaks and what fans can expect out of both teams heading into the game or tourney.

The sports game preview is rather easy to write and you can interview coaches via a quick telephone call and get some good quotes for your article.

Listen to this lecture for more tips on writing the sports game preview article.

Ah, the big game! One of my favorite things to do as a sports writer happened every week when I went to a game; kept stats; interviewed coaches and players afterwards and wrote a story on deadline.

By now, you're getting a good balance of articles in your sports blog and sports writing portfolio.

Remember, to mix things up a bit to show you can write about different sports topics and write different types of sports articles.

Game coverage stories are easy, but they do require some time investment - usually 2-3 hours or so per event, plus time required to compile stats and write the article!

If you're working on a sports blog - and still trying to land a freelance, part-time or full-time job - you might want to limit yourself to covering one sporting event per week. That way, your blog won't be full of game coverage pieces and will instead show what other types of articles you can write.

While there is always plenty to write about on the local sports scene, you may eventually want to move up to writing about college sports.

The college sports scene is a bigger jump from covering high school sports. However, you can easily tie the two together.

Here's how:

• Write about the local high school athlete player and how they are doing in college.
• Keep track of former high school athletes in college.
• Interview athletes when they come home for the holidays or summer break.

It's the cream of the crop when you get the opportunity to cover professional sports, but the reality is you'll need more experience and top-notch writing in order to cover the New York Yankees on a full-time basis.

Along the way in my sports writing career, I would be able to cover some pro sports, but usually only when it had a local angle. For example, a local golfer was playing in a Professional Golfers Association (PGA) qualifying tournament in a nearby town, or a race horse breeder had a farm in the area.

Try to keep local in mind when covering professional sports. Find the local connection with your blog and you'll be able to get your foot in the door and expand your sports writing experience.

If you find yourself still looking for a freelance or part-time sports writing job - and not having any luck - chance are there are some other local opportunities that might earn you a little bit of money and / or some additional experience.

Other local sporting events are being help almost monthly and, from time-to-time, these events might need a public relations person to get the word out about a tournament; write press releases; take pictures and do post-event articles.

Listen to this lecture to find out more about this hidden sports writing opportunity.

Make sure you keep everything you publish - even on your blog - in both digital and hard copy format. After all, you've put a lot of sweat (and maybe some tears) into your hard work.

If you're able to get some pieces published in the local paper, consider purchasing a large portfolio binder (similar to a photo album but much larger) to file and display your articles and photographs. This will come in handy when you are interviewing face-to-face and want to show writing and published samples.

If your work is online, save a hard copy to your computer's hard drive and print out a copy as well. Depending on the publication, online stories might have a shelf-life and the link to your story might go away after a period of time.

Remember, everything you scan and save to your computer should also be backed up to an off-site location or in the cloud.

As you continue in your sports writing career, whether you're looking for a freelance, part-time or full-time opportunity, always be nice, polite, friendly and professional. You never know who you may meet and where the next job opportunity will come from.

Be careful what you write and what you say. If you make the wrong people made, they might stand in your way down the road when you are trying to advance your career to the next level.

Oh, I've made some people mad - coaches, fans, parents, etc., but I never got sued, fired or beat up because of something I wrote.

Sports writing is a fun career, no matter what level you want to take it. It's a fun ride! Enjoy ever minute of it.

Use this simple "Getting Started" worksheet to remind you of the simple answers to questions that might be keeping you from applying for a freelance, part-time or full-time sports writing opportunity.

Remember, if you don't have experience, you can easily start getting experience by attending local sporting events; interviewing coaches and writing your own sports stories.

Create a local sports blog and publish your own sports articles there. Don't forget to include your byline, so you'll get credit for your work.

The tough questions that are floating around in your mind are here within the worksheet. The answers are easy. Don't let barriers get in your way!

And, by all means, please ask questions here through the course conversation section. I'll be happy to answer any and all questions and help you along the way!