Sports writing usually covers the following basic information:

Below is the format of writing a sports report:

The first sentence of any news report (yes, including a sports report) is the most important part. The lead (or lede) is where you, the journalist write the news aspect of a sports game. Usually, in sports games, the lead is where the score is announced. It will show who (or which team) won the game or match. The lead will be followed with a brief explanation of how did the champion won and how this victory could advance them.

This is the part of the report where you can provide a quote from the coach or a key player (if the athletes were in teams). Make sure the quote you put in your report is relevant to your lead.

Once you’ve written down the most important information and key quotes, you can now write the rest of the report by describing the game. You can also add more quotes to make the report seem more engaging to read. To end your report, you can include a short discussion of how the results of the game will affect the athletes or teams and whether they will stay or will be kicked out of the series/tournament.

A sports article varies its length on the relevance of the being covered. It can be as short as 500 words to as long as 2,000 words.

There are different types of sports around the world but they have been categorized by the number of players. The three main categories are individual sport, dual-sport, and team sport.

To be a sports news writer, one thing you should have is a great interest in playing or watching sports. You also need to develop the skills of observation, communication, and resourcefulness.

A pro-tip when it comes to writing a sports report is you can never go wrong with focusing on what an athlete does. Since sports revolve around the competition stakes, highlighting a person gives your story a human side that your readers can relate to. Indeed, sports writing is a great field to write about if you’re truly passionate about sports. It gives you the opportunity to do what you love and to be able to show off your talent. To guide you on writing your sports report, refer to our sample templates above. They are all free so you can download any of the templates above.