Taking the "team" approach to sports reporting

Sports reporting is not rocket science, and that's a good thing, because with my luck I'd probably burn my fingers trying to light the fuse on the rocket booster. The process is simple, in theory — Paul Gadbois and I look at where each of the teams is playing in a given week and then make our travel plans, with the goal of covering at least one basketball game, soccer match or wrestling meet involving at least one of the teams from each area where Tri-County Newspapers publishes. If we can find games where two TCN teams are going head-to-head, it makes our job a little easier. We also try to take into account what teams/athletes were pictured in the most recent editions and then cover others. We want nothing more than to cover all teams and all sports, but since we can only be on one soccer field, or in one gymnasium nightly, after being in the office during the day, that's when the concept of "teamwork" becomes more important.

We rely on the teams/schools in our coverage area to pass us the occasional assist by either posting the results of games we were unable to attend online, or by returning e-mail or phone calls when we are looking for game information. Mathematically, if we were to attempt calling each basketball coach on a given morning, we would need to place 26 phone calls, since all 13 schools in our area suit up boys and girls basketball teams, and that's just varsity. Add boys and girls soccer and wrestling into the mix, and the number increases. On-campus coaches are busy in class during the day, and off-campus coaches are at their day jobs. In the afternoon and evening, we are at sporting events, and most likely not able to hear our cell phones.

At the beginning of each sports season, I send an e-mail to each school, along with copies of game report forms, and ask them to forward all my contact information to all their coaches at every level. Here we are at about five basketball games and soccer matches into the season, and there are some teams that have yet to submit any information. There are some where the school itself has not received a complete roster.

We attempt to get as many local athlete's names into the newspapers as possible, and give them the credit they deserve and work hard for, but without the names and the information, there is not much we can do.

If you have found the coverage of your favorite teams or athletes lacking, I will be happy to send you the same game report forms I mentioned earlier, if you want to make sure your coach has received at least one. The e-mail address is listed below. Of the four phone calls I placed Wednesday, just two were returned.

We can only provide the tools and the lines of communication - we cannot force them to be used.

Craig Purcell is sports editor for Tri-County Newspapers. Contact him at 824-1036 or sports@tcnpress.com.