Up To Speed Journalism

If you dream of being a football reporter, a cricket commentator or a rugby writer, you will be in your element on the Sports Journalism course at Up To Speed.

Your chance to focus on sport comes in the second term of the course and builds on the writing and reporting skills you will have learned in the Reporting unit.

Up To Speed’s second term, with its emphasis on practical journalism, will allow you to devote eight weeks to placements in sports departments and organisations. You will study for the Sports Journalism unit once a week, allowing you to learn in detail about sports, their governing bodies and the typical cycle of sports reporting.

Assessment

At the end of the term you will take two NCTJ exams.

Part 1: a live match report. You will be shown a recorded game on television and must file 150 words at half time and a further 250 words within 2 minutes of the final whistle.

Part 2: A one-hour exam with three questions:

Round-up: you have to write a 180-220 words round-up based on a number of match reports for a single sport.

Knowledge of major and minor sports, sports politics and Public Affairs: you have to answer one out of six questions on these subjects.

Sports Interview You are told you have been given an interview with a major sporting figure and you must come with a list of ten questions for the interview.

Syllabus

The course concentrates on the three major British sports: football, cricket and rugby, and also covers more minor sports.

It is divided into eight units:

An introduction to sports journalism. You learn about the role of the sports reporter and their place within the sports department and also examine sports writing.

The sports news cycle. You look at coverage of sporting events from preview pieces to live coverage and then post-match analysis and follow-ups.

Press conferences and interviewing. You find out how to get the most out of press conferences and learn tactics for making the most of an opportunity to interview sports stars.

Sports knowledge, sports public affairs and sports politics. This is where you can build on your knowledge of football, cricket and rugby to ensure you have in-depth knowledge of leagues, clubs, players and managers as well as rules of each game.  You will also learn how to cover a range of minor sports including Formula One, tennis, golf, athletics, speedway, hockey, martial arts, squash and badminton. You will also develop your knowledge of Government departments covering sport as well as sporting authorities.

Sports features. You will look in detail at a range of sports features including profiles, analytical pieces, have-a-go-yourself pieces, first-person columns and sports diaries.

Editing sports stories. You will learn to sub stories down and write headlines as well as page-layout and desk-top publishing using InDesign.

Health and Safety. This will give you an introduction to your rights and responsibilities to ensure you do not put yourself or others at risk.

Freelance Work. You will be given an insight into working as a freelance, including submitting ideas for features to a range of publications and also negotiating a fee for your work.