A newish benefit of my NY Times Kindle subscription is access to "The Athletic," which was acquired by the Times about a year ago and which focuses on sports of all kinds.
I don't spend all that much time there but it's nice to be able to dig into some favorite teams, with reporting by journalists who are close to those teams with lots of access.
A story that caught my eye today was on what happens during the Cincinnati Bengals pro football team halftime. The total time available is 12 minutes, and I was surprised to learn that this is HALF of what college football teams get. That little stat is startling to me, though I may be one of the last fans on the planet to have been ignorant of the time difference.
Most of the story is made up of short anecdotes from various players and coaches, many focusing on the logistics of coaches getting from the press box to the locker room (and then back again for the second half) and how many are not in all that great shape. All that racing to the elevators and down hallways leads to about three minutes of conversation, sharing of video clips, and planning for the coming half of football.
There are no cameras or even reporters in those halftime locker rooms. I assume that is a rule designed to keep "secret" plans from leaking to the opposition. Or maybe it's nice for even professionals to have a few minutes away from the all-seeing and all-knowing media.
What drew me to the story in the first place, though, was that the reporting attempted to take me "behind the scenes" and reveal aspects of the sport that have been invisible to me. Those are the sports stories that high school reporters can often bring readers, if they make the effort. Student reporters may even enjoy more access than their professional counterparts.
Fans of high school teams who care likely either attend most games or at least pay close attention to results and trends and stats and rankings. They don't need the basic 5Ws and H all that much, though even when we can watch a sporting event with our own eyes, a lot happens that we can't quite make out.
But those invested fans are the "base" of our sports audience. We might be able to induce some students to check out a sports coverage story if the events are dramatic enough or if we find some universal human interest angles, but we need to pay attention to the die-hard fans if we want to be successful over time.
A nice opportunity exists for high school reporters to gain access to locker rooms during halftime, as long as we can persuade the coach that we can be trusted. We can establish that trust simply by regularly attending practices and listening more than opining. The more reporters become a familiar fixture at practices, the more likely the coaches and players will accept them in the locker room.
Yes, there are issues with gender and privacy, particularly at the high school level, but reasonable restrictions and expectations can take care of any concerns. Sophomore female reporters will not find themselves surrounded by naked players near the showers... not at halftime.
I'm not sure some sort of minute-by-minute story on what happens during a particular halftime can produce a true narrative, but hearing and seeing adjustments being discussed, spirits lifted, challenges presented, etc., can produce more insightful coverage.
Athletes know this: more than 80 percent of any player's participation in a sport is NOT on the field or court or in the pool. Success (or failure) can always be traced back to practice and to team meetings... and even halftime planning and recuperation.
It certainly requires some dedication and some investment of time to produce that sort of reporting, but the potential is there for those curious and driven enough to explore that type of sports reporting.
We aren't there to embarass or spill secrets or play "gotcha" with anyone. I would call it "doing your research," and that works in almost any writing situation.
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