How I Became a Sportswriter:
A speaker at TIPA 2026 said to never say no when opportunities arise. before I’d even heard of the Saad Yusef, or TIPA, I unconsciously took his advice.
One day, I was sitting in a Mass Media class, contemplating my future and considering job applications future me would need to fill out. In walked the professor with…a stranger? She introduced herself as Serena Reese, the editor of Rampage, ASU’s student newspaper.
She announced that Rampage was in need of a new sportswriter.
“It couldn’t hurt to apply,” I thought to myself. I emailed Serena and submitted an application. I had no experience and never expected to get the job. I got an interview scheduled for the following week.
I showed up sweaty and shaky and listening to Creep in my headphones to relax.
I was offered the job on the spot and started work a few weeks later, after filling out the paperwork.
I took a chance at what seemed to be a long-shot opportunity and landed a huge career-building chance.
I got another opportunity a few weeks later, going to my first EVER baseball game. I grew up a baseball hater, and went to an Angelo State game, expecting to hate it.
One game was all it took for me to be converted to a baseball fan.
Gotta love taking chances.
How I Approach Writing an Article:
An Article and the approach varies from sport to sport, and even game to game, but for every article I ask myself a few questions to get the ball rolling.
- What would I want to know as a reader?
Say I had to work and couldn’t go to ASU’s baseball series against UT Tyler. I would obviously want to know who won, so I’d check the score. Then I’d want to know how the star player preformed. I’d also want to know what plays shaped the game, or what weakness the winning team may have exploited.
- Was there a key play that doesn’t show up on the stat-sheet?
Take football, a pass breakup on a stat-sheet looks nice, but under what circumstances did it occur? Was it a pivotal play? I try to paint a picture of key plays for the readers outside of just the stats.
- Is there a trend across multiple games?
Trends don’t always show up on a stat sheet, especially over a series of games. If a basketball player is averaging just 12 points per game over the season, but scores 32 points in back-to-back games, the audience will want to know that.
So, I take all those into account, then look at my notes from the game and try to give the audience the story of the game without recapping the whole game or just repeating the stat-sheet.
Gotta give the people what they want.
The Rugby Trip Mishap:
Sometimes things don’t go according to plan, and it’s my job as a sportswriter to roll with the punches. Injuries are unavoidable, but they don’t just effect athletes. Storytime:
ASU’s rugby club was going to participate in the Yellow Rose Sevens tournament in Houston, Texas in early February of this year. It was going to be their first time participating, and a number of bigger schools from the SEC and other D1 conferences were sending their teams to the tournament. It was a big deal that Angelo State was going to compete. My boss and I filled out all the paperwork for a rental, credentials and a hotel room for the weekend so that I could write a feature on the tournament. Two days before we were going to leave for Houston, I run into the team captain and he tells me that a player tore his peck, and the team had to drop out of the tournament. I’d canceled plans and rainchecked a date for this tournament, only for Angelo State to cancel.
Gotta roll with the punches.
How I Approach Writing for Different Sports:
I mostly write articles keeping up with four sports: baseball, softball, basketball, and my personal favorite, football.
- baseball
My very first sports article at Rampage was baseball, and I mistakenly called “runs,” “points.” Luckily, my friends and family were quick to show me the error of my ways.
When it comes to writing baseball, I emulated my favorite weekly NFL article. Every week, NFL.com publishes an article with takeaways from each game that impacted the outcome of the game, as well as a key stat or preformance. I try to shoutout a player when he has a big game, even if he was instrumental in defeating the Rams. I also track my favorite stat (Hit-by-Pitch) throughout the season, or highlight any other statistical trends.
- softball
I mostly stick to an abreviated game recap format for softball. The stat-sheet will show the full score, so I try to focus on the moments that made or broke the game for the ‘Belles.
- basketball
I follow a similar format to softball, but with a paragraph or two dedicated to the statistical leaders of the game and their highlight moment.
- football
Football is where I do the most…creative work. I inject a lot more of my personality into my football articles and tackle what was “Good, Bad and Ugly” from each week’s game. The good and bad are pretty self-explanitory, but the Ugly is where it gets fun. Fun for me, at least. I look for a play that made me stand up in my seat, a hit that made me groan, a nasty juke, and dominating performance, or a facet of ASU’s game that was just… extra bad.
With all these articles, I will usually give a reminder of the team’s record and their next opponant’s record, as well as their standing in the conference.
Gotta tell the reader why each game matters.
Why My Favorite Article is Sitting in my Drafts:
I wrote a six page, in depth season recap for the 2025 football season.
As you know, football is my passion. I owe my girlfriend an apology in the fall because during the season, I live, watch, breathe, read and dream football.
Due to my debilitating football addiction, I wanted to make this season recap my masterpiece. I worked on it for a week, reading and rewriting until I was satisfied that I had done my favorite sport justice. I submitted it to my editor, who sent it off to her boss. I got it back in my email covered with corrections, questions, and highlighted sections that needed work.
I was crushed. By this time the season was long over and the window had closed. I’d poured so much work into this article, injecting humor I knew football fans would appreciate, players to watch next season, players who were leaving this season, questions for next season, the whole nine yards. But, it didn’t meet the standard. It was TOO conversational. It didn’t adhere to AP style. As a sports fan, I knew it was what I would want to read, but as a sportswriter, I wasn’t doing my job professionally. So, it sits in my drafts, a reminder to follow the rules.
Gotta stick to the script.