Lesson 12: Sports Writing - Sport In The News
Complete TWO of the following:
1) Research a lesser-covered event, for example handball, and write a 300-word report on the last major championship or event. What sources did you use?
ASSIGNMENT TWELVE: QUESTION ONE
TEENAGE SENSATION TOBY ROBERTS QUALIFIES FOR PARIS 2024
Luke Richards
Word count: 285
Toby Roberts has become Great Britain’s latest Olympic hope by winning the men’s boulder and lead finals at the Sports Climbing European qualifiers in Laval, France.
The 18-year-old from Surrey scored 169.8 out of 200 points across both disciplines to qualify for next summer’s Paris games ahead of Spanish climber Alberto Ginés López.
Roberts suffered on his first climb in the boulder final, slipping on the M2 wall before completing it easily on the second attempt.
The teenager would have no issues on the M3, topping the wall on his first attempt to finish second behind Frenchman Sam Avezou going into a dramatic lead final.
Lopez posted an impressive climb and looked set to win Olympic qualification when Avezou cruelly slipped to deny him a place in what would have been a hometown games.
But then, Roberts – the final climber - rekindled the form that helped him win two World Cup gold medals in his first senior year of competition.
Despite some early nervous moments, Roberts completed the wall with a sensational last jump to earn all 100 points on offer.
“I’m truly lost for words,” he told the IFSC’S YouTube channel. “Coming into this competition, I just tried to have no expectations and enjoy climbing.”
“To climb in the Olympics is such a big dream for me. I’ve been training so long for this; it just means so much. That last jump was the cherry on top.”
Roberts will become the second British climber to compete in the Olympics after Shauna Coxsey competed in the sport’s inaugural appearance at Tokyo 2020.
Judging by the technique, strategy, endurance and power on display in Leval, there is much to be entertained by in Paris next summer.
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The research I used for this report is drawn from a range of sources that include the international federation of sports climbing (IFSC) website, sports reports, social media and You Tube.
I have also been fortunate enough to have a friend who is an amateur sports climber who has been able to answer questions about a sport I had little to no of knowledge of before this assignment.
Below are the links I used for my research:
General Sport Climbing Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_climbing
https://frictionlabs.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-sport-climbing
https://www.ifsc-climbing.org/
https://olympics.com/en/sports/sport-climbing/
Olympics sport climbing
https://olympics.com/en/news/how-to-qualify-for-sport-climbing-speed-at-paris-2024
Toby Roberts Links
https://www.instagram.com/toby_climbing/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toby_Roberts
https://olympics.com/en/news/toby-tristan-roberts-sport-climbing-teenager-father-son-interview
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/roberts-qualifies-for-paris-2024
2) Sport is played to rules but sometimes they are changed by the governing bodies. Is there a rule you would like to alter? Make out a convincing blog-style argument in 500 words.
ASSIGNMENT TWELVE: QUESTION TWO
THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS. IT’S TIME TO PUT VAR BACK INTO PANDORA’S BOX BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.
Luke Richards
Word count: 500 (not including standfirst)
VAR was brought in to make football purer. But has our desire for perfection damaged what we love about the beautiful game?
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” the ancient proverb warns.
In modern times, the term has been adopted in film and literature to express caution or regret at inadvertently causing disaster.
The perfectionists inevitably die in the following scenes. Normally by being stabbed to death by a rival (Romeo and Juliet) or eaten by a Velociraptor (Jurassic Park).
This week it was football’s turn to express regret after the latest VAR controversies in the Premier League.
Despite being heralded as a system that would eliminate unjust decisions, VAR has only caused mayhem since it was introduced in 2016.
According to FIFA, VAR has increased refereeing accuracy from 92.1% to 98.3%. An improvement, but not perfect.
But then, is our quest for purity in football achievable in a sport that thrives in its unpredictability and tribalism?
We all like to believe that we know what a dangerous tackle or a penalty looks like, but the reality is that football is subjective.
What my dad’s version of a tough tackle is now a red card offence, one man’s push in the back is another’s weak defender.
For every person who insists the ball is out, there is another screaming that the ball is round.
These arguments predate VAR. What has changed is the pressure on officials to be robots.
Technology in cricket and tennis is successful because you can decipher if the ball has nicked a bat or crossed a sideline without discussion.
However, every system that is controlled by humans is not infallible.
Changes can be made but what are we willing to sacrifice about the game we love to reach the promised land?
We can move to a system where the referees wear microphones like in Rugby and NFL.
Communication would ease frustrations of match going fans who are often left checking their messages to find out what is happening.
However, we will have to accept more disruption in big games like Spurs v Chelsea, when the ball was only in play for a third of a 56-minute first half.
The VAR officials made the correct decisions eventually. Probably taking longer to make sure they weren’t on the receiving end of a pile-on.
Great for talking points in the media perhaps, but not for those in the stadium gasping for their next pint.
There have been other suggestions to improve VAR. Better training, semi-automated offside systems and importing better referees.
Maybe one of our pundits could put themselves forward rather than suggesting that nobody understands the game better.
Will AI be the answer to football’s quest for perfection? But then, what becomes of football?
Chances are we will still gorge each other over how VAR is implemented. Supporters will still be robbed of moments of joy over subjective decisions.
Then - like an old man shouting at a cloud - we will yearn for the days when football was fun. We tried, but it is time to put VAR back into Pandora’s box before it’s too late.
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