Because at the high school level most of us can't timely report on a specific game, we have to come up with other ways to tell the stories of athletes. With assistant sports editor from The Arizona Republic Tom Blodgett's help, I think we brainstormed some great ones that we can take back to the classroom: the personality profiles, coaching changes, recruiting (and the legalities behind some of it), awards, unsavory findings, the JV, freshman and women teams (not to be forgotten), making professional sports relevant to our specific students and high schools, etc. Blodgett (pictured right) made a point of reminding us that at the professional level, reporters have to cover stories from different angles.Having our students develop various angles to cover sports, since they can't cover them in the traditional format, is such a great learning experience for them. If they do go into the professional field of journalism, they will be asked consistently to devise a new and unique angle on the same old topic. If they don't go into the field, no doubt they will enter a job that will require them to have new and cutting-edge ideas. Yet again, being members of the high school journalism class will prepare students for the real world.
Anna Horton
Highland High School
Gilbert, Ariz.
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Without influencing content too much, I encourage my sports editor to make sure that there is one game story for each issue. I try to encourage students to cover the game that is closest to the publication's issue date so that students get practice writing close to deadline and to give the paper some semblance of being timely.
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