The Sports Feature Story
Background
The sports feature article is a vital part of the Sports Journalism world. It goes beyond the field and covers a side of athletics that cannot be seen on the nightly SportsCenter coverage on ESPN. Forget all about the statistics and game scores. The feature story captures so much more. Usually focused around a specific athlete, place, event, etc., sports feature stories encompass the true emotion and passion surrounding sports.
They take the format of a short story, made up of a character or group with a plot or story. What separates the feature story from a short story is the fact that it is completely non-fiction. In a normal game story in sports, it is more structured and written consistently the same way. However, the feature story relies heavily on the writer’s creativity and reporting. They may have to dive deep into someones life or even at times do some investigating and digging into a subject. Getting quotes and real world examples is key for drawing in the audience and giving them perspective. They are meant to engage and entertain the reader. Even though some of the same audience will be attracted to read both normal game stories and feature stories, they are definitely read for different reasons. The reader has a different goal and something they want to get out of it.
Genre Expectations
With the genre of the sports feature, you will see a lot of variation from story to story as the subject and style of writing is different with each one. For example, there may be a feature on an athlete that suffers from a life threatening disease and is forced to quit the sport. This article will most likely be written differently than a feature story on the success of the New England Patriots for example. The article on the life threatening disease will have more of an inspiration concept while the other is more of an in-depth success story. Both are inspiring, just in completely opposite ways. Like previously stated, the story will bring people in for different reasons depending on the subject.
A main component of a sports feature or any feature is creativity. The writer will write in a creative and unique way when trying to tell his/her story. It all starts with the title. For example, in a feature centered around NFL superstar Odell Beckham Jr.’s rise to fame and becoming a massive public figure, the writer (ESPN’s Seth Wickersham) titled the story “And Now For His Next Act…”.
This is obviously a very creative title that the author came up with by sort of playing with different puns and phrases that go with the subject of the article. This title, in my opinion, works perfectly with the article. Frequently, it is the first thing that the audience will see, so authors do try hard to make it as captivating as possible.
Another norm you will see throughout your feature story reads will be the voice of the author. Feature stories are written using the active voice and it is crucial that the story is written this way. Using the active voice means putting the subject after the verb. For example, saying “he threw the ball” instead of saying “the ball was thrown by him.” This adds energy and color to the story keeping the reader engaged. For example, in a feature story on NFL quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, the author uses the active voice throughout the entire story.
The subject of Jimmy Garoppolo always comes before the verb in the sentence other than the recipient of the action coming first. This would be called the passive voice.
Although it was previously stated, a vital part of feature stories whether its sports or not, is only focused around one event, issue, person, group of people, idea, etc. For example, in another ESPN feature article titled “Runs in the Family,” the article is solely focused around NFL coach Deland McCullough’s search for his biological parents and also “And Now For His Next Act…” is strictly only Odell Beckham Jr. and nobody else. The reader knows exactly what they are getting into.
Audience
The audience for a sports feature story is comprised of both sports fans and non-sports fans that may come across the story. They can draw in non sports fans because of the plot and writing style of the piece. Inspiration and motivation can be drawn from the characters of the story, which in this case would be the athletes, coaches, and other sports figures displayed in sports feature stories.
Feature story fans are drawn to the genre for multiple different reasons. They may prefer this genre over other sports related articles because of the way the piece effects the reader. There are a variety of different emotions that feature articles can make you fel while reading. For example, there are sad, emotional stories within sports that inspire and teach a lesson while there are also happier, more lighthearted stories like athletes succeeded from a rough childhood or overcoming an injury to name a couple. These stories touch the reader in a way that stays with them even after reading.
Obviously, there are limits to this audience, however. The audience would have to have access to either a newspaper, internet, or even a cell phone depending on how you consume your media. Sports features are widely, and more recently, popular on the internet and social media on various sports media sites or accounts such as ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, Bleacher Report, or Barstool Sports. In result, people that do not have access to internet will most likely not be up to date on the latest stories in sports.
Practical Considerations
Sports features can be read on a variety of different platforms. In physical form they can be read in newspapers occasionally but usually the more popular stories are found in magazines such as Sports Illustrated, ESPN: The Magazine, or Slam Magazine in terms of physical readings. The majority of sports features today are read on websites and many of them are marketed through social media. Popular ones include the ESPN, Bleacher Report, and Barstool Sports websites. Barstool Sports specifically building their audience via social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram to gain millions of fans.
There are constraints to these platforms like ESPN.com. It is limited to people with access to the internet, of course but there is also a different part of ESPN.com that contains stories that require a subscription called ESPN Insider. Limits such as these are common in the journalism world as certain access is required to read the best of the best.
