Swimming and the press game

COACHES'

CORNER

Picture this scene. It is Monday morning after a long twoday meet. You are sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying a cup of your favorite coffee. You open the paper to the sports section, and look for the article about your swimming team's success this past weekend.

You look at all the pages, and find nothing.

You then get upset, thinking, "Why doesn't the newspaper publish the results of our meet?"

This scene is repeated in many homes across our country. The swimmers have a great meet, but there's no mention of it in the local paper. Many coaches, parents and swimmers wonder what they can do to solve this problem.

The reason for this lack of coverage in the local newspaper is quite simple. But as in many things, the obvious is often overlooked. The reason that teams don't get any coverage of their meets is that they fail to provide the information to the media.

In my experience, I have found there are many potential stories for a reporter to pursue. However, he or she will choose the stories that are likely to interest the most readers, or the stories that are the easiest to write. A reporter must also "meet the deadline."

The obvious solution is to help the reporter.

The coach must make coverage of swimming as easy as possible for the person writing the article. In my 25-plus years as a swimming coach, I have had difficulties, at times, in getting media coverage of my swimming programs.

Many teams have this same problem. But the one thing that they all have in common is they fail to promote their program. If the coach, or his designee, doesn't take the time to promote the program, no one will.

Remember these words: "promote...promote...promote."

Most college and professional sports teams have a director of media relations or a sports information director (SID). The SID's job is to write, distribute and provide press releases to various sources about "his" programs.

The coach, or someone appointed by the coach, needs to become your team's SID. After each competition, that person should immediately write a press release and include the results. With the availability of lap top computers and word processing programs, drafting a press release after the meet should be relatively easy.

Most word processing programs have spell check and grammar check, which makes writing a simple task. Most meet operation programs (Hy-Tek and Easy Meet) have a function that will print the results in formats that are convient for the media's needs.

Many papers will only print the results of the top three finishers in each event, if any at all. You can include all of the finishers in each event, but I would suggest sending just the top three. High school teams have it a bit easier, due to the smaller number of events in their meets. If your results are from a multiple age group meet, don't expect the paper to publish all the results. They just don't have the time nor space.

Also remember that the newspapers don't have the space to print every child's name who was in the meet. Press releases that list every swimmer and his or her result, usually end up in the recycle bin. I know that sounds cruel, especially to parents, but there simply is not the space to cover every child.

Smaller papers can afford to be more accommodating, but to be on the safe side, your press release should focus on the top achievers and outstanding performances.

Be Creative

This is not to say that swimmers who are not event winners should not be covered. You must look for creative ways to get coverage for these swimmers. Look for things in your program that might be deemed "human interest stories."

A swimmer who is overcoming an injury and is making a good comeback always makes good copy. This kind of story doesn't have to be current news. The reporter or sports editor may hold such a story until she has room to run it, or needs "filler" stories on a slow news day.

Look around and think. There are ideas for stories all over the place. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination. Also, don't forget the local television and radio stations.

I have had success in sending out small press releases about something special that happened at meets or with my programs. Ideas include swimmers breaking a long-standing meet record, or the team extending their winning streak.

The key to receiving coverage is to inform the reporter or sports editor-and to keep him informed. Distribute information regularly and educate the people who are responsible for covering local sports.

For many years, I have produced a team media guide and have distributed it to all the local newspapers, television and radio stations in our area. Computers make this very easy, and after the initial work of developing the guide, updating it every season with current information is also very easy.

You can include small bios and photos of each team member and of the coaches. Don't forget to include team records, your competition schedule and other information that would be useful to a reporter.

In addition, an explanation of the events and how meets are run is useful. If you need some ideas, check with your local college or university, and ask if they have any media guides for their teams. They will give you some idea of how to develop your guide.

As I stated earlier, "promote...promote...promote."

When submitting your press release, think of the ways a reporter can make use of it. If the release is too long-or requires a good deal of rewriting-it may not get published. E-mail makes an excellent vehicle to submit your releases. If the reporter needs to rewrite or edit the release, it is much easier to edit an electronic message than to retype a fax or a hard copy of the release.

Don't forget to submit photos with your releases. Digital cameras make the photo process very easy. You can still send in prints, but digital seems to be the way to go these days. I have never had a digital photo turned down by a newspaper.

In conclusion, it is important to take matters into your own hands and become the SID for your team. It is amazing what a little bit of planning and organization can do to get your team more press coverage.

When you begin to promote your team, your community, school, parents, swimmers and other teams will see what you are doing. Use good common sense, and we'll look forward to reading your future articles. Good luck.

Robert H. Kelly is the head aquatics coach at Sam Rayburn High School in Pasadena, Texas. He has coached on the high school and club level for 25 years. In addition to his coaching duties, he has worked as a writer for numerous publications, covering local, regional, state and national sporting events, including the Olympic Games. His wife, Darla, is also a swimming coach, and their daughter, Kristine, is a competitive swimmer and water polo player.

Copyright Sports Publications, Inc. Jan 2003
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