Do you want to be a sports journalist?
When Caroline was a little girl, she wanted to be a journalist and she really wanted to be a sports journalist. She did PE GCSE (exams we take in England at 16 years of age) at school and for the non-practical element, she created a school newsletter focussing on the Winter Olympics. (I’m pretty sure it was the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics but in researching this, I’ve realised that the dates don’t really add up so it may well have been Albertville ‘92! CK)
Photo credit Kirk Lai Unsplash
I loved researching my newsletter which I handwrote and designed - more of that later - and pinned up the one, carefully crafted, copy each week on one of the noticeboards. A name that stands out in the memory is Wilf O’Reilly, a GB speed skater who was doing really well. Sadly, I don’t remember any of the female athletes’ names - perhaps I wrote about the men because that’s what the papers did?
My life took a different turn and I didn’t become a journalist but I have always understood and appreciated the power of sport and I still love writing. I know that there are girls out there now who like telling a story and would love to tell a sports story, and who might dream of being a sports journalist for a well-known newspaper , as I did, or for one of the many other formats available these days.
And that’s why Jo and I came up with the Olympic and Paralympic sports reporter project! We are looking for girls aged 10-18 to cover a sport in this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games and to report back to the We are Girls in Sport community.
Photo credit Marcus Winkler
Here’s what you need to do:
Go to the Olympic and Paralympic websites and choose a sport or discipline that you'd like to cover from the summer Olympic and Paralympic list:
Sports | List of Summer and Winter Olympic Sports
Paralympic Sports - List of Para Sports and Events | International Paralympic Committee
2. Let us know which you'd like to cover - it's a tough choice! Will you go for a team sport? Will you choose a sport you know and maybe play, or learn about a new one?
3. Start any research you feel you'd like to do on the female competitors and then when the Games come around, watch your sport avidly!
4. Provide us with an eye-catching round-up of what's happened in your sport's women's competition that we can publish on our website and social media! You can provide a weekly round-up if you like or a complete report at the end once the medals have been decided. Just let us know what you're planning ahead of time.
We would like a blog or vlog - so different to my handwritten newsletter! - but you can be creative too! Let us know your idea and we’ll tell you if it will work. You can talk to camera or you could cut to pictures of the athletes (be careful of copyright rules!). Your blog could be weekly or a synopsis at the end. You could work as a team with some friends or alone; you could try to get the inside track from the Olympic or Paralympic athletes ahead of time.
We want to hear about the upsets, the surprise winners; your passion for the sport as well as how watching the Games makes you feel!
Photo credit Mateus Campos
When choosing your sport, let us know which you'd like to cover so that we can make sure there's no duplication. We ask that you're as objective as possible when reporting but we do want your interest and joy for sport to shine!
There's nothing more for me to say other than on your marks, go - pick your sport and let us know!
Caroline & Jo x
p.s. if you have any questions, just email wearegirlsinsport@gmail.com