Sports editor speaks to Nelson County students

He’s worked every sports venue from kiddie soccer to the Kentucky Derby, but Chris Morris still thinks sports writing is the neatest gig around. That is why he wants to encourage young people to follow in his footsteps.

Morris, regional sports editor for the Nelson County Times and six other Media General newspapers, shared tips Wednesday, April 13, with a group of students at Nelson County High School.

The students, members of a college-level composition course offered via Piedmont Virginia Community College, were anxious to know the difference between academic writing and sports writing. In a word — plenty. 

Fact is, sports writing differs even from traditional news writing. 

“With sports, we have to inform, tell the story, and entertain,” Morris said.

Writing from “once upon a time” until “happily ever after” might work fine for a short story writer. For the sports writer, however, this chronological order is the kiss of copy death. 

“Every game has a key player or a key play that represents a turning point,” Morris explained. “Make that your focus. Build your story around that.”

With the average sports story limited to 15-20 column inches, every word has to count. That’s why Morris recommends strong, vivid words that carry the action of the story. Using five words where one would do is a cardinal no-no.

“Develop a wide vocabulary,” he said. “Every business has its tools, and in this business, our tools are words. You only have so much space.”

How does a writer attract a busy reader’s attention in the first place? A short, catchy lead is the best grabber around. Not overloading the first few paragraphs also is key.

“You have all heard of the who, what, where, when, and why of newspaper stories, but what you don’t want to do is try to answer every single question in the first paragraph,” Morris said. “You’ll overwhelm your reader.”

Those treasured scores need to go near the top, and at the bottom goes the mark of every seasoned sports writer: The box score. It’s a chart that provides a visual graph of who did what and when. 

“Being able to put together a box will put you ahead of the game,” Morris noted, explaining that the art of sports writing comes more from on-the-job practice. “There really isn’t a class or a book on the subject.”

So what is the future of newspaper sports writing? Morris noted that the changing world of communication means that no one knows exactly what the future holds. But he believes there will always be a place somewhere for good, solid writing.

“With all the blogs and postings around, you might think that formal reporting is just going to go away,” he said. “But there will always be a need for good writing. Always.”

Morris invited the Nelson County High School students to consider becoming freelancers —”stringers,” as they are called — for the newspaper.

“We are always looking for talented freelancers,” he said.