Advice needed......

[Jrk500]

I am new to the board and also not even sure if this is the right place to post this but here it goes. I have wanted to write about sports for as long as I can remember but there are certain things that got in my way. I was unable to get my degree in college due to certain problems, and I had to take the first job I could to produce an income. Now I am taking online classes to get my Bachelor's degree in communications, but still have three years to go. I am 25 years old with a family now. My question to everyone was what do I need to do to try and get a job in sports journalism? I have no experience but have the heart and desire to do whatever anyone asked to succeed and relocate to where they wanted. I have had no luck with any jobs and I know it is my lack of experience that is the reason. I just don't know where to go from here. It is so frustrating because if I was given a chance I could show them that I have what they want, but with a family and full time job as a police officer I am unable to do internships etc. Any advice on what to do is appreciated, and once again I am sorry if this is posted in the wrong place but I joined to try and get a new start on my journey to become a sports journalist.

 

[Mr. X]

Send an email to the sports editor or high school sports editor of a daily newspaper in your area, asking if you can cover high school football games. Most daily newspapers need stringers to cover those games. This will help you get experience and learn to write daily game stories on deadline, which is a lot harder than it seems. This could eventually lead to your getting a job as a sports reporter.

 

[Mark2010]

Certainly breaking into the business -- or any business, for that matter -- can be difficult.

The most important thing is to get any published writing clips that you can, even if it involves non-paying assignments. I would contact the sports editor of the closest newspaper and let him/her know you would be interested and available in working high school football games this fall. That was my first expsoure some 25 years ago. I used that to get a spot at my college paper and then used stories from there to land my first professional, post-graduate job (making the princely sum of $14.5 k per year).

The reality is that in certain peak times such as high school football season, demand exceeds manpower supply and sports departments can often use a COMPETENT extra hand. It might mean going to a stadium, keeping stats during a game and writing a few paragraphs afterward. It might mean going to the office and taking several phone calls from persons in the field, entering information in a computer and writing/editing from that. In either case, you'll need to be able to work fast and accurately, spell correctly and get the basics of a game.

This business, like many others, is really hard on many with family issues. I couldn't imagine having a family at that age with all the responsibility that goes with it. If you've read many of the threads on these forums, you can get an idea of the state of the business today and how it is evolving. Certainly, I would never recommend it as a career to anyone aspiring to support a family. Glamour aside, it's mostly long and late hours, small towns, unappreciative people and wages that don't go much above fast-food worker level.

That being said, I've always encouraged people to follow their hearts. So if you really want to give it a whirl, talk to persons in your community about opportunities to get your feet wet. I wish you well.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Just to piggyback on what Mark said, becoming a "phoner" is one of the best ways to get your foot in the door. That's part of the night crew which takes game results over the phone. At some newspapers, that's the doorway into small writing gigs, and you take it from there.

Good luck. I admire you trying to do this while holding down another job.

 

[rpmmutant]

Not to discourage you from following your dream, but you are entering sports journalism when newspapers are slashing staffs and consolidating newsrooms. There are a ton of well-qualified, experienced sportswriters and editors competing for jobs with college grads. The jobs, by the way, are extremely low-paying, the hours are taxing and the schedules are brutal. Expect to work weekends, nights, holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, funerals and weddings.
Good luck in your pursuits. My best advice is don't limit yourself to newspapers. I have been freelancing for a few years. If there is a Patch network in your area, offer to cover games and events for them. Don't limit yourself to traditional sports either. I covered a bike ride for wounded veterans a couple weeks ago. Not exactly sports, but sports-related.
Some of my better clients are an engineering firm that sponsors auto racing teams and a radio station. Keep your options open, especially at this time in the biz.

 

[Turtle Wexler]

You mentioned taking online classes to get a communications degree ... make sure the school you are getting that degree from is accredited. Don't waste your time and money taking classes at Online Ozarks University or whatever, because potential employers may not see it as a real degree.

Here's a web page with links to the different accreditation agencies, which serve different regions (ignore the Iowa and teaching stuff, that's just the page I found it on):
http://www.iowa.gov/boee/accred.html

You want the overall school to be accredited, first and foremost, but it's a nice plus if the communications/journalism department of that school is also accredited by the ACEJMC. Here's their website:
http://www2.ku.edu/~acejmc

 

[Mark2010]

As traditional sports staffs continue to shrink, the demand for "citizen journalists" will increase.

 

[rpmmutant]

RE: Citizen journalism. Whatever you do, do not agree to work for free. It hurts us all and it will cheapen your value. Always get compensated for your work.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

Stay full time as a police officer.

 

[jr/shotglass]

No. Don't let this disintegrate into 50 reasons not to be a journalist. He's been quite clear that this is what he wants to pursue.

 

[WriteThinking]

You need to get an internship, preferably with a daily newspaper or major Web site.

Check your school's connections for those, or else, talk to the sports editor of your area paper, express your interest, and inquire about how to go about getting one there. Do it for at least a semester, or longer, if they'll have you.

You need regular work, and varied experience, not just occasional chances to write five paragraphs with AP ledes on high school football games.

Oh, and learn production-related programs like InDesign, Quark Xpress, CCI, Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator and Final Cut Express, as well as and HTML production and producing and editing video. If you know that stuff, your chances of getting a job increase tenfold. You need to be able to do more than just edit a story.

In fact, if you know that stuff, there's a good chance you could probably skip right over getting lots of reporting/writing experience. I'm not being negative. This is the reality, and the way to set yourself up best.

 

[Turtle Wexler]

Also, you'll notice none of these suggestions have anything to do with "watch more of your favorite pro team" or "start a blog about LeBron" or "memorize the script of SportsCenter anchors."

Our business is journalism. Sports is just the topic. Make sure you understand and can execute the journalism side of things.

 

[Stitch]

What kind of chance do you want? You need to nail down your writing. Your post had several errors and if you make those same mistakes in a cover letter, you're not going to get a chance. Why do you want to be in the business? What contacts have you made so far? With high school football starting less than two months froms now, try to get on as a freelancer for local paper. Read what the best do and what sportswriters in your area write.

 

[baddecision]

Respectfully disagree with those posting encouragement. Even if I really, really wanted to be an astronaut or a jockey or a boy band lead singer or a gigolo or a blacksmith, it wouldn't matter because there's not a match between my skills and the market. If this young man wants to be a sportswriter, he should start with a blog, $25 freelance gigs for the local Patch or weekly, maybe a feature given to the local papers on spec, maybe a one-shift-per-week job as an agateer. Once he learns the difference between the allure of sportswriting vs. the reality, he'll be back in a patrol car. The kicker for me is that he's married with a family. It's one thing to go through hell yourself trying to build a future in a business where there is none. But to drag a kid through it? Forget it. Study for the detective's exam.

 

[TheHacker]

Respectfully disagree with those posting encouragement. Even if I really, really wanted to be an astronaut or a jockey or a boy band lead singer or a gigolo or a blacksmith, it wouldn't matter because there's not a match between my skills and the market. If this young man wants to be a sportswriter, he should start with a blog, $25 freelance gigs for the local Patch or weekly, maybe a feature given to the local papers on spec, maybe a one-shift-per-week job as an agateer. Once he learns the difference between the allure of sportswriting vs. the reality, he'll be back in a patrol car. The kicker for me is that he's married with a family. It's one thing to go through hell yourself trying to build a future in a business where there is none. But to drag a kid through it? Forget it. Study for the detective's exam.

Hey baddecision, it's refreshing to see so many people take the time to offer real advice rather than just dismissing the guy's desire out of hand. That sort of thing doesn't always happen around here. But at the same time, I have to agree with your assessment.

My advice to Jrk500 would be to follow what others have said here. Approach the local papers or the Patch site in your area if there is one and offer to staff some games for them. In my area, in addition to Patch, we have a couple of other small websites that specialize in covering high school sports. I've seen one of them actively recruiting freelancers.

Before you do any of that, do one very important thing: Read, read, read. Read every high school sports story in every paper or on every website you can get your hands on. Read, read, read. And pay attention to the way the stories are written. How do they start? How do they end? How do they transition from one idea to the next? You're going to need to produce something like that. And you'll need to know how to keep your own stats. Pretty easy for baseball if you can find any opportunities over the summer, but a little more complicated for football if you've never done it before.

But I think baddecision is correct, you should temper your expectations. The last time I had an opening for a reporter on my sports staff, more than 100 people applied. Given the state of the industry, the number of experienced people looking for work, and your lack of experience, covering high school games is about the best you can hope for right now. As others have said, that's a life of nights and weekends and dealing with cranky parents and coaches and very low pay. Surely less than you'll make as a cop.

 

[jr/shotglass]

If it's going to be that tough getting his foot in the door as a sportswriter, he'll find that out himself. That's not what he came here for. He didn't come here to get his dream shot down. He came here for the best advice possible on how to chase that dream.

 

[baskethead]

You're going to have to make the decision that it's going to cost you some time with your family. It just is, there's no way around it. Most sportswriting, especially entry-level, as noted here, takes place at night, either in the office taking phone calls or if you're lucky enough, out covering a high school game at night. You're not going to simply walk into a job covering a college or pro team.
Hopefully you're married to someone who is encouraging of your goals and understands what that will entail. It's a talk I had with my now-wife when we were first starting out (and she worked at the paper, so she had an idea anyway). Nights, weekends, whatever, it's going to be hard to have a "normal" schedule if you really want to do this, because realistically, you have to take what you're offered in order to get those all-important clips. I started out, like probably many here, working in the office at night taking call after call and writing up a few paragraphs on each game. Sounds boring, and it is, but it's also good experience, especially for someone who doesn't have any.
Good luck. A full-time job is hard to find these days but keep looking and in the meantime, call any outlet around you who might need some help and offer it. And be willing to take what they offer because if you don't, someone else probably will.