Question about the whole calling things in thing

I'm a college freshman and I hear you guys talking all the time on here about coaches who have a bad habit of calling things in. Maybe it's my naivity, but aren't the writers at the game supposed to keep track of stats? Or is it a thing of the sports department isn't big enough to cover every game so they rely on some coaches to call in but not others? If they call it in, how do you write a story for it without quotes? Just wondering.

 

Newspapers can't cover every game.

Sometimes the coach only calls in so the paper has info for the box score. Other times, a coach calls in to get a short story in on a game and quotes will appear. Those stories usually don't have a byline (at least at any paper worth its salt).

 

You can't cover every game every night. Results have to be called in.

 

Yes, most weeklies or multi-weeklies are lucky to have a staff of 2 or 3 writers/freelancers...many are one-person shops. And in most areas we're covering anywhere from 5 to 30 high schools. We get to the big games each week, and have an extensive recap section where every school has a chance to get their results into the paper, but it's on the teams to find a way to send us those details.

 

Even a small paper that covers only one high school would have a conflict with a soccer team playing away and a volleyball team playing at home, for example.

 

On Tuesday, we had five volleyball, three water polo and a couple of tennis matches going on at the same time, and there's only two people in my department, counting me. We'll have the same thing today, except all the teams are out of town. Any tennis/water polo/volleyball mom that thinks we're going to everything needs a reality check, stat! Coaches also have people (usually JV kids) who can chart some secondary stats we just can't, like digs and assists in volleyball.

Technology helps too. In addition to emails (cuts down on the typos in names), I encourage coaches to use the notify service on Maxpreps. The mom of one of our softball coaches is also their scorekeeper and she transfers everything on to an iPad after the game and within a couple of hours after the last out, we've got a full recap. The swim coaches also send us a copy of the agate generated by the automatic timing system, so I don't have to sit through a two-hour meet!

 

Okay, thanks. I'm not trying to sound stupid, by the way. What is agate??? *ducks head to avoid having stuff thrown at him for what might be a stupid question*

 

Agate is the stuff you see in small type such as box scores, polls and other results.

(Friendly note to Skiptomylou: Hopefully you use another email address for your real correspondence instead of the one listed).

 

Yes, supplied stats help a ton...I've got a soccer coach on some such system (new to me) this year. So he doesn't have to bother calling in results, I can get his team online shortly after their matches. If something big happens, I give him a call.

Same with cross country/swimming and such...you can check through the results and cover a meet with a 10-minute phone call instead of putting in 2-3 hours at an event. Of course, we still cover the big meets in person.

Same goes for football/basketball, etc. I'll often keep some form of stats, but it's difficult when you have a camera to your face. I've given up on volleyball, and now pretty much all the coaches expect me to find them afterward to get their team leaders for the night. And they're tracking stuff on I-pad gadgets and such, so it's quick and easy for all involved.

 

How on earth do you keep track of volleyball stats? My college does it for the writers. I couldnt imagine trying to keep track of digs, kills, blocks, errors and the such by myself

 

You don't track everything by yourself, especially if you have to take your own photos.

 

Just like football stats, basketball stats, whatever, people learn how to do it.