How do you write a story about...

a girl kicker who has made only two extra points in seven games for her high school football team?
The girl plays football story has been done to death. But I have to write a story about girl who is on her school's football team. The team is really bad, only scored three touchdowns in seven games and has been shut out five times.
The girl has been in two plays all season. She doesn't do kickoffs and another kid on the team kicks field goals, although the team hasn't even tried one yet.
How would you approach this story without making the team or the girl look too bad?

 

Do you absolutely have to do the story?

 

You'll need to make this a people profile. Concentrate less (much less) on the football nuts and bolts and concentrate more on what makes the girl tick as a person and as an athlete. Perhaps she has a unique reason for playing football. Maybe dear old dad always wanted a boy. Who knows? Go where the feature takes you, rather than trying to fit the square peg in the round hole of a paint-by-numbers girl-football-player feetch.

 

This.

Find out how she feels being "one of the boys." Is there backlash in school? Does she get taunted by other girls? But yeah, find out what made her go out for it.

 

You don't have to make a hero or a star out of her. Just tell the real story instead of positioning it. Find out why she keeps showing up everyday for such a crappy team and what she gets out of it. Talk to some of her teammates, too.

 

Yikes.

I would just say that she kicked a PAT against so-and-so high on such-and-such date and another one against so-and-so high on such-and-such date. Just highlight the ones she kicked and not really get into why she's only kicked two in 7 games. I'm sure it's no secret that the team sucks and most people could probably figure out why she's only kicked two. You can give the impression that the team isn't visiting the end zone much without actually saying it. Sometimes less information is actually better.

Good luck. Sounds like a doozy.

 

Suggest she play quarterback in the lede?

 

It's almost a certainty that the coach will try to steer you away from this.

 

That would be a bit unfair to her. Many male kickers don't participate in hitting or conditioning drills.
It would exaggerate her differences unjustly.

 

Yeah, I've never seen a HS kicker that wasn't at the other end of the field with the other kicker, just pissing around and kicking every once in a while.

 

Ask Gary Barnett for a comment on her!

But yeah, just stick to the "why did you want to do this" aspect. And of course reaction from players, others.

Maybe talk to the parents about whether they were scared for her or supportive or whatever.

See if she wanted to play another position was but was steered toward kicker.
Can always make it interesting, even if it's been done to death. Maybe it just hasn't been done to death at your paper or your area. Still a rarity in sports.