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7 Tips for writing your first article in a sports magazine

Sports can be considered as the most happening and unpredictable event, that’s what makes it exciting too. It can easily be said that sports bring the world closer, nations connect over sports and people unite here. If you dig down to see how many fans following every sport has around the world, you’ll be stunned.

Hereby if you’re thinking of becoming a sports magazine reporter or want to write for a sports magazine the odds are definitely in your favor. For getting an idea of how a well-structured article is written you can always refer to peachy essay

There are multiple domains you can choose while giving a kick-start to generating content for a sports article or a magazine. People just don’t adore the sport, often players of that certain sport are greatly adored by the general public more. Let’s take the example of David Beckham, a former English soccer player, who makes it to the news every now and then for his striking looks and gorgeous personality. 

There isn’t just one time when you’ll enjoy a great response from the sports fanatics buying the magazines you’re writing for, rather you can enjoy their admiration all around the year. Thanks to global events like Olympics which include summer games as well as winter games. To produce a good sports article you need to have a keen eye to cover all the details readers are looking for. You’ll find some helpful tips if you want to start writing for a sports magazine.

Go through the past copies of the magazine

If you’re starting to write for a best seller sports magazine that’s a plus and if you’re willingly volunteering to raise up the standard of a struggling magazine that’s appreciable. What you need to do is start looking for facts about what made the sports magazine a best seller or where is it lagging behind in capturing its target audience. What is the audience looking for, does it want to know more about the sport itself, its series of events, its players, or the global sports events. This general research of the past copies of the magazine will help you grip the strong points and bridge the loose ones. If you keep this tip in view while writing your first article in a sports magazine you’ll soon become its favorite writer.

Alternating hard and soft news 

The basic categories of news included in the general news articles are the hard and soft news. The hard news contains all the ‘must read’ information while the soft news includes the general details about a certain event. Let’s say “Australia beats New Zealand in yesterday’s cricket match” hat’s a soft piece of information however, “After an intense match Australia beats New Zealand by 8 wickets, yesterday” is an example of hard news. Hard news includes a fact that you want your reader to read with full attention. 

So the best way to polish your career as a sports magazine writer is to alternate soft and hard news in your article, it will keep your reader engaged. Moreover, make your first/lead line really interesting as well as informative. The opening sentence of an article leaves an impression on the reader, hereby let it be a true summary of your sports article.

Choose your article topic with a clear mind frame

While you choose to write an article for a sports magazine, it does not necessarily have to revolve around a single type of sport. It can base on the public’s most adored sports player, sports equipment, how are especially abled people excelling in the field of sports, sports activities at the local educational institutes, how is technology playing a role and so much more. You just need to observe what the general audience is looking for and what’s new.

Writing style

There are different writing styles a sportswriter can adopt let’s say, a ‘feature article’ is the one that gives you a recap of a certain sports event. In which you cover the general detail of who did what, who stood out, and who scored the highest. A profile article includes more in-depth detail about the star player or other similar characters such as the coach, basically the one who the audience adores the most. Others include columns and season previews, season previews contain how a certain time frame/season was for a certain sport overall and in a column, the sportswriter can express his/her opinion of how they review the overall sport and its associated domains.

Write parallel perspectives

The parallel perspective includes something which is different from the mainstream bragging. This is an excellent way to stand out from the crowd as a sportswriter. If you see all the local magazines praising a certain aspect of the game or a player, you can always look for the critical side. You can show the world the less noticeable side of the aspect that is being highlighted. Taking an example that a player scored the highest as well as gave a good performance but he wasn’t good in his conduct and lagged in sport’s men spirit, on the other hand, the captain couldn’t give good individual performance but kept the team together, showed excellent leadership skills which led them to win the game. Vice versa, if the sportswriter is choosing the critical side, you can take out the positives and be the highlight.

Include information about various sports equipment

Sports equipment and sportswear enjoy equal limelight as do the game itself. Take American football as an example which has a wide range of mentor-inspired sportswear as well as official ones. Starting from school level to national teams, you’ll see plenty of random people wearing sweatshirts related to these football teams. You can include information about merchandise selling sportswear and equipment related to popular sports at affordable prices and places they can easily be found at.

Conclusion

It doesn’t matter how long the article is what actually matters is the kind of information you cover. It is essential to know more about the topic of sport you’re covering and the right facts n figures about it. You can also make your article appealing by attending a sports event in person, capturing good photos and then jotting down the detail in your article along with the pictorial material. Following these tips mentioned in the article you’ll surely leave a great impression on your reader’s right from your first article!

James Barker

James Barker has over 5 years of experience in Digital Marketing like SEO, SMO, ASO ORM & Google Ads. He holds a sound understanding of technical requirements/problem analysis and resolution for providing the best solutions to clients.

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