How much community/youth sports is too much?

Just curious what the consensus is. I've worked at one small community paper and one medium sized paper that thinks it's in a small community, even though it has a population close to 400K.

The big wigs all seem to think people want to read about kids (younger than high school) and even tykes (younger than middle school) doing whatever, instead of a mix of local preps, college and national. I understand a weekly feature or wrapup or something, but when your sections are slim to begin, the little kids stuff is first to go in my book.

Am I wrong?

 

Walk into any sports bar or restaurant. They're all talking about tee-ball and midget-league soccer.

 

The amount of space dedicated will vary, depending on size of paper.
But ...
If you are not getting a representative from the league or leagues to write up the weekly report and give it to you on a memory stick or however, then you are not doing it correctly.
Your staff should spend zero hours with this stuff, save for an occasional build-up for a tourney that's coming into town or somesuch.
An interesting phenom player.
Here and there, features ... yes. Occasionally.
Anything else needs to be down by someone from the league.
Or else they don't get into the paper.

 

Youth sports is important ... in small doses. Maybe in the summer, when there's Little League and such it can be used more regularly, but it would be the first to go in a tight section during the rest of the year if I have any say about it.

 

We just had a marketing survey from corporate tell us to de-emphasize community/youth sports. Some thought it strange that the sports dept. jumped up on the conference table and did a little dance ...

 

And now you can prepare for every soccer mom and little league parent who lives vicariously through little Johnny and Janie to call and complain that their kids' U-10 baseball and soccer games aren't getting in the paper!

Also, I hate you and hope you die, you lucky son of a bitch! 

(Although, in fairness, we only do one roundup per week, in agate-sized type, and bury it on Page 6.)

 

You're kidding! Drive that thing down here and put something in the header about it coming from a consultant and slip it under the door, I'll take you to eat if you do.

 

here's the thing, all the old school editors and management types  love youth sports. they think it's going to save the business. their theory is more youth sports equates to more readers and subscriptions. i actually just missed out on a gig because they said the other candidate believed in having more youth sports in the paper on a regular basis during the high school seasons. yeah, right!

 

I once worked at a daily (in Florida) where we spent the entire summer (I couldn't make that up if I tried) covering youth sports. Endless days upon days upon days of roasting in the sun, swatting away the state bird of Florida (mosquitoes) and sitting through perpetual rain delays covering Little Johnny's 9-year-old sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-semi-quarter-half-final until 1 a.m. Oh, and add to that you pulled a desk shift in the morning, drove two hours to get to the ballpark and have to endure the stench of a sugar mill next door (smells worse than any sewage treatment plant you could ever imagine). Our editor's kids played in that league and don't know you know we covered every single game as if it were the World Series, Super Bowl and Daytona 500 all into one.

That my friends, is what hell is like.

Hopefully I get to a newspaper where it is covered minimally....or not at all. I think if I hear another "blah, blah, why wasn't the blah-blah-blah team in the paper," I'm gonna scream. I think that it is a classic case of the squeaky wheel (these nutso parents) getting the grease. Ninety percent of the community who has no kids in any of the leagues could care less.

I'm even getting hit with that whole "why wasn't this team at the top" from co-workers! Ugh!

 

Buth they try so hard, and I just think they should be recognized for it...

 

It shouldn't be covered. No little 10 year old needs to read the next day how their error cost their team the game. Youth sports is about building basic skills, not about inflating the egos of parents trying to live vicariously through their offspring.

 

Well now that we're talking about the point, exactly bamdog.
Kids are seperated into good and bad, stars and bench warmers soon enough in high school. This infatuation with youth sports in the paper is all about the parents. The kids wouldn't think twice if their game wasn't in the paper. I certainly don't remember getting up the day after a mustang league game and wondering where the write up was.

But back to reality. Anybody have any successful stories of dealing with insane bosses in this department?