Taxpayers deserve JV coverage.

Oh, when you wrote that they weren't quoted, I thought you meant they didn't talk to the coach or the players. It really isn't that hard to turn a story around for a sister paper, but you have to put in a little effort. I know I have always taken that very seriously when I had to do two versions of a story, but not everybody does.

 

They didn't talk to our coach or players, because they finished fifth. They got a quote from coach of the winning team.

 

Thanks for clearing that up. While I think the coach is way out of line, I do think the reporter didn't do his job properly. If you are there to cover the event for the sister paper, you get at least one quote from a coach or player for that version of the story. I know it's a hassle. I've been there many times myself. But you do your job and get the quote.

Can you tell I have had some serious hyper-local training?

 

Well, like I said, I had zero problems with the way the story was written. We hacked it down to fit an 8-inch space anyway. So it was pretty nuts-and-bolts. We didn't have space for a quote about how "the kid worked really hard" to finish in fifth.

 

It's amazing how much crap stupid quotes like that can save you sometimes, and it has value just because it gets the local name in the paper.

More importantly, it covers your ass in case something interesting happens. There is that one in 100 times that the local kid broke her foot Monday and played on Saturday or her father is in the hospital or aliens landed in her back yard that morning and you miss it if the reporter doesn't bother to take two minutes to talk to somebody.

I see your point. I know how those stories go and 99 percent of the time those two minutes are wasted when it comes to the actual quality of the story. But they can earn you a little good will and sometimes they can save you from missing something really good.

 

Friday afternoon, I received a voicemail from somebody who didn't leave a name or number informing me that the middle school field hockey team had a game that afternoon and that they had been undefeated for two years. The caller asked if I could cover it. I couldn't even call them back to politely inform them that I had already planned to cover something else.
It's amazing, three things that would make me say "Sorry, no can do," all in the same call: 1). Not leaving a name or number. 2). Calling the day of the event to tell me about it (actually, just a few hours before the game). I assume they knew about the game long before they called. 3). Calling about a middle school team.

 

It all comes down to time...if it's a small community then you may have more opportunity/space to cover some youth events. If you're mixing in 10+ high schools though then jvs and such just don't have the space.

I fall in that latter catagory and experimented with letting youth coaches call in, but have been told twice in recent years that coaches don't want their kids in the paper...it seems that they fear parents getting all over them for not including every kid in every report. Oh, the wrath of the over-involved parent

We do cover some little league district and state tournaments in the slower summer times, but that's about all we can manage. Most appreciate it, but every year you can count on a handful of angry parents and the usual accusations.

I must admit the "tax" argument is one I haven't heard before. Usually, it's I pay a subscription, so I "own" a percentage of the paper and you need to cover what I think is important!!!

lol

 

One of these days I'm going to figure out the people who call a couple of hours before an event and expect you to drop everything to be there, oblivious to the fact that it's also (choose one) homecoming/regional playoffs/traditional rivalry/Olympic gold medalists fighting at nearby Indian casino, any or all of which you've been hyping all week. Then again, I hope I don't, since I might be struck dead right there.

Most of the youth leagues and sub-high school teams seem happy just to send in a team photo after the year when their year is done,trophies in tow. But there also seem to be ones just like described, who expect you to drop everything to cover them, even in the middle of the summer. Then a day or two there's an e-mail, wondering why they weren't covered. I'm pondering an e-mail to the league(s) most notorious for ignoring us until the final moment, explaining what needs to be done (i.e. at least a week's notice). Good or bad idea?

 

get your publisher to sign up for http://www.communitysportsdesk.com/ and let the parents or coach worry about it.

 

I had another undefeated middle school team e-mail this afternoon about a game that was being played this afternoon.
I let the reader know if they wanted to send a team picture and brief article we could publish it.
Maybe in addition to all the other guidelines we have for submitting youth articles (deadlines, e-mail addresses, types of attachments, etc.), we should also let people know that if they'd like something covered to please contact us at least 48 hours before the event. Our photo department needs all requests by 11 a.m. the day before the event (and 11 on Friday for anything on the weekend or following Monday).
Of course that would just be one more thing for people to ignore. My experience is that regardless of what you put in the paper about submission policies, people don't think you're talking to them unless you're actually talking to them.
If I only covered one town and one high school, I guess covering a subvarsity team that's having a great season would be worth considering. But with five schools and towns, it's all I can do just to cover the varsity.
And after you write about the first such team the bar for what qualifies as a "great season" will be lowered every time somebody calls to make a case for their kids' JV/freshman/middle school team.

 

I had a mom try to sneak one through the pipes last week. She e-mailed me saying her son had a big game in JV and attached a photo. Except the photo of the home stadium showed it was still daylight and the field was green as can be. The local JV hasn't played a game at the main stadium since September because of heavy rain and poor drainage. And the sun sets before kickoff time around these parts, even as far south as I am, in mid-to-late October.

 

At one of my previous papers, we took it a step further than just printing the submission guidelines in the paper (because just like you said -- it did little good). We actually typed up a letter and mailed it out to all the youth and sub-varsity coaches and laid down the law about submitting stuff. Of course, we still had a few morons that ignored it but for the most part it was a success.