Guidelines For AYSO Select Game Coverage In The Davis Enterprise

Select teams can submit information for publication in The Davis Enterprise if you follow the guidelines listed below:

Timing

Stories should be submitted by 5 p.m. on the Monday after the game or tournament being reported. This is to enable the sports department to edit the submissions on Monday evening and put the league summary together for publication on Tuesday.

 

The Enterprise will publish all timely submissions. If your story is not published, it is either because the sports department did not receive it or because it was not timely.

Form of Submission

• The preferred form of submitting stories is by e-mail, because they go directly into the Enterprise’s computer system that way. The e-mail address is sports@davisenterprise.net. That address is for the entire paper, not just the sports department, so the “re” line should specifically refer to “AYSO” or to “soccer” so that it will be forwarded promptly to the Sports Department.

• If stories cannot be submitted by e-mail, they can be faxed to the Enterprise at 756-1668. Hand delivery is acceptable too, but it is not preferred.

• Include the name and phone number of the person who submitted the story. Also, if you want to make sure that the story has been received and will be published, call the sports department on Monday night or Tuesday morning to follow up. Leave your name and phone number, and they will call you back if they did not get the story or if they have any questions.
  

Length and Organization of Stories

The typical published story is 2-3 paragraphs per team. For the story that is chosen to lead the summary because it involves a particularly important game or tournaments, the story might be 4-5 paragraphs.

 

The lead paragraph should include the name and age group of the team. Game stories should lead with the most important plays, and tournament stories should lead with the most important games, rather than simply reporting all games or events in chronological order. For example, if your team wins the tournament, describe the championship game in the first paragraph.

 

When describing any specific game, be sure to identify the opponent.

 

Do not try to get every player’s name into every story. Focus on the players who scored the goals or made the most important passes or defensive plays.

 

Be sure to include the first and last name of every player who is identified, and spell all names correctly. The newspaper will print names as they are reported.

 

Style Of Reporting

If you don’t want to have your submission completely rewritten by the newspaper, look at the published AYSO summaries and see how the published summaries are written and organized. For example, the lead paragraph always contains certain information: the team, its opponent or tournament, the day or days of the game or tournament, the highlighted result, and perhaps a fact that is central to the highlighted result, as follows:

 

“Jane Doe scored on a penalty kick in the final minute of play to lift the Davis Fuego (U-12 girls) to a 1-0 victory over Concord United on Saturday, running the Fuego's Select Season winning streak to five games.”

 

In general, begin with what you think is most important, and stick to the facts.