Short Hand Notes and Writing A Match Report

Short Hand Notes and Writing A Match Report Language, Literacy and Communication – Year 5 Euro 2016: A Welsh Curriculum Resource for 7 -11 year olds

GET ORGANISED! DO YOUR RESEARCH WRITE IT DOWN! HOW TO WRITE A MATCH REPORT PLAN YOUR STORY ANYTHING MORE? GET GOING BE BALANCED!

How to write a match report • Watching sport and writing about it is a dream job for many people. Journalists really are lucky people. • But how do you write a really good report which tells the story of the match and makes the reader feel like they were there? • There's lots of different ways of going about it, but here are some general rules about the art of writing a match report.

Write it down • It's not a memory test, so don't turn it in to one. If you rely on memory, before you know it you'll be getting players' names mixed up and confused about the order that things happened. Get your notepad out and get scribbling. • One tried-and-tested method is to have a notepad and draw a line down the middle with the home team on one side and the away team on the other and jot things down whenever something of significance happens - in football, this would be goals, red and yellow cards, good chances, bad refereeing decisions etc. • You might also note more general themes as they occur to you - "Team A lacking a cutting edge" or "Team B controlling midfield" and so on. • You might want to develop your own shorthand, e. g. YC for yellow card, MC for missed chance etc. - as long as it saves you time and you can decipher it afterwards, it's fine! • At half-time, read back over your notes and highlight the most significant events - a missed chance in the first five minutes that seemed important at the time might not be quite so crucial if the team is 4 -0 up. • See if any general themes are emerging - is one team losing possession too easily or is one player having a nightmare that is affecting his team?

Plan your story • Review your notes again at the end of the match with the final result in mind. • What was the most significant thing that happened? Was it a late wining goal, or an early sending-off? Or perhaps it was an easy chance squandered? • Was it that one team moved into the next round or was knocked out of the competition? • One good test is to think about what you would tell your friends if they asked you about the game. If, for example, you were talking about Wales v Netherlands in November 2015, you probably wouldn't say ". . . well in the first minute, Netherlands had a corner and then in the third minute Daley Blind over hit his cross. . . " • You'd naturally go straight to the most interesting thing, which might be the winning goal or the fact that Wales now feel prepared for the Euros after a great game with the Netherlands.

Get going • The most interesting thing will probably feature in the introduction of your report, and then you can move on to the other major incidents. • Don't feel like you have to mention everything you noted down - concentrate on the most important events. Remember that it's an overview, not a blow-byblow account. • Try not to rely too heavily on clichés and make sure you get details like players' names and positions correct. Nothing undermines a report more than getting basic information wrong. • With an online report, most people read a few paragraphs and then click away to something else, so make sure that all the main details are fairly early on in the story. Don't leave the winning goal until the last sentence. • Think about how long your report should be: if it's for a school newspaper, find out how much space there will be and adjust your report accordingly. As a general rule of thumb, keep it short and sweet where you can. • Try to add context, which might include general points about a team lacking ability in midfield, or a specific fact from the match - e. g. explaining what the result means in terms of the league table.

Anything more? As well as writing the report about what actually happened on the pitch, you may also want to include some insight from the players or coaches involved. If you can speak to them to ask what they made of the game and the key incidents, great! If not, keep an ear out for what they say to other journalists at press conferences etc. If you think it's relevant to your story, work out a way to include it.