Sports Writing
IHSA Sample Prompt
Block A
Be sure to put your contestant
c
ode in the upper right-hand
corner of each page of your
entry. Do not put your name
on the entry. If you do, your
e
ntry will be disqualified.
DESCRIPTION OF SCHOOL
School: Abraham High School (AHS), 2715 McGraw Drive, Middleland, Ill.
(
518) 554-2334 (518) 554-2339 (fax) www. abrahamhs.edu
M
ascot: The Loggers
School Colors: Brown and White
Location: Middleland, Ill.
School Size: 789 (9th-12th grades)
School Newspaper: The Standard
Yearbook Name: The Annual
Radio Station Call Letters: WMIL
DIRECTIONS
You are a sports writer for the Abraham High School's The Standard (Middleland, Ill.). You are to write a story based on the inter-
view information listed below. In addition to well-written and organized articles, judges will be looking for the use of an interesting lead
that pulls the reader into the story, accurate details about the information given, and proper style and mechanics. The word limit will
be 400 words. You are permitted to use an AP Stylebook and dictionaries.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
“Snowmageddon 2010,” the record-shattering snowfall, dropped about 22 inches of snow during last weekend, causing problems
for coaches' and athletes' schedules.
Winter sports are in the middle of conference and regional tournaments and spring sports are having tryouts. Teams and volun-
teers pitched in to shovel the snow covering the athletic fields and the track. However, the space remained largely covered.
Without fields to play on, teams were forced to split time in the main and auxiliary gyms and boys' varsity baseball showed up
before school to fit in part of their tryout.
The coaches' decision process was also strained. With such conditions, some coaches had a hard time evaluating the players. There
are a lot of new coaches in multiple sports and they had to figure out how to handle the situations. Some did not know the players.
Baseball coach Justin Janis is in his first year as head coach. He came to AHS from Iowa. Softball coach Warren Kasper is also new. He
came to AHS from Kentucky.
Athletes spent months preparing for spring, in many cases hitting the track and scaling the bleachers only a week after the fall sea-
son ended. But when the snow came, training was halted in the middle of the crucial that lead up to tryouts.
Being cooped up inside because of the blizzard for nearly two weeks, athletes' pre-season workout routines were interrupted. They
had to find other ways to get in shape.
Schedules for spring sports have been delayed as well. Teams may not be able to complete their non-conference schedules tradi-
tionally at the beginning of the season, so the season will be abbreviated.
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