High school sports reporting: Remember these are children, not pros.

Five seconds to go. It all depends one player. One shot. One chance. He shoots and he misses. What will be the headline in the school paper?

Tom Blodgett, Sports Editor for The Arizona Republic gave teachers pointers on how to handle this and other sensitive situations while reporting sports. He said that we should remember that these are still children with sensitive feelings and we should not threat them as we would a professional, or even a college player.

That is such good advice that I will not only stress to my journalism students, particularly, but all of my students. It is so easy to get caught up in the moment and want to write about how the player blew it for everyone. We forget it is a pretty big deal to play in front of a stadium full of people either pulling for you or wanting your head on a platter, depending on how the game goes. So he missed the shot...life will go on...let it go and get over it.


Alma A. McDonald
Hattiesburg High School
Hattiesburg, Miss.