Imagine going to exciting sports games and then telling everyone what happened! That's a bit like what a Sports Reporter does. They go to football matches, rugby games, tennis tournaments, and many other sports events. They watch carefully, talk to the players and coaches, and then write stories or speak on TV or radio about what they saw. Their job is to tell people all the exciting details, like who scored a goal, how a team played, or what a player thought after a big win or loss. They help fans who couldn't be there feel like they were part of the action! Sports Reporters need to be good at writing clearly so that everyone can understand. They also need to be quick, because news about sports often needs to be shared very fast, sometimes right after a game finishes. They might write for newspapers, websites, or magazines, or even talk live on TV and radio. It's a fun job for someone who loves sports and telling stories!
For someone just starting out as a Sports Reporter in the UK, they might earn around 18,000 to 22,000 pounds a year. This can grow as they get more experience.
With a few years of experience, a Sports Reporter in the UK could earn between 25,000 and 40,000 pounds annually. Very senior or well-known reporters might earn even more.
While it can be competitive, there are often hundreds of job openings for journalists and reporters across the UK each year, with a good number of these being for sports roles in newspapers, websites, and TV channels.
Imagine you're watching a football match, and you get to tell everyone what's happening, cheer for the goals, and talk about the players! You'd describe all the exciting moments.
You'd go to amazing sports events and take brilliant pictures of athletes running, jumping, and scoring! You'd capture all the fastest and most exciting parts.
If you love horses and sports, you could write stories and report about horse riding, show jumping, and all the incredible things horses and riders do together. You'd share exciting news from the stables and competitions.
Start by watching lots of different sports! Pay attention to how the commentators talk about the game and how reporters describe what's happening. Think about what makes a good story.
Watch sports like football, rugby, netball, athletics, and tennis. Notice how the people talking about the game use exciting words to describe the action and how they explain the rules. Listen to what questions reporters ask players after a match. You can even try to 'report' on a game while watching it at home, pretending to be the reporter!
Practise your reading and writing! Read sports articles in newspapers or online. Then try writing your own short stories about your favourite sports or a game you've watched.
Look at sports pages in newspapers or kid-friendly sports websites. See how journalists describe the scores, the players, and the exciting moments. Then, pick a game you saw or even one you played, and try to write down what happened. Focus on making it interesting for someone else to read. You can write about who scored, who won, and what made the game special.
Get involved in sports yourself! Playing helps you understand the rules better and how players feel when they win or lose, which is important for reporting.
Join a school sports club, a local team, or just play with friends in the park. Whether it's football, swimming, or running, understanding sports from a player's perspective is super helpful. You'll learn about teamwork, fair play, and the excitement of competition, which are all great things to write or talk about as a sports reporter.
Keep practising writing stories about sports. Try to use new and exciting words to make your reports sound great and interesting for everyone.
Write about school sports days, local matches, or even make up your own fantasy sports stories. Focus on using strong verbs and descriptive adjectives to bring the game to life. For example, instead of saying 'the player ran', you could say 'the player sprinted like lightning' or 'darted across the pitch'. Read your stories aloud to see how they sound.
Try to learn about lots of different sports, not just your favourites. The more you know, the more types of sports you can report on later!
Explore sports like cricket, rugby, athletics, swimming, cycling, and even less common ones. Learn the basic rules, the main players, and interesting facts about each sport. Watch documentaries or read books about sports history to broaden your knowledge. This will make you a more versatile reporter in the future.
Practise asking questions! Ask your friends or family about their favourite sports or what happened in a game. This helps you get good at talking to people.
Pretend you're interviewing a famous athlete. Think about what questions you would ask them. You could ask your parents about their favourite team, or your teacher about the school sports day. Listen carefully to their answers and try to ask follow-up questions. This helps you learn how to get interesting information from people, which is a big part of being a reporter.
Try to make your own sports report. You could write it for a school newsletter, record it as a radio show, or even make a short video!
Ask your teacher if you can write a sports report for the school website or newsletter. You could record your voice describing a game using a phone or tablet, pretending to be a radio reporter. Or, if you enjoy making videos, you could film yourself talking about a sports event you've seen. This is a great way to practise sharing your stories with others.
If your school has a newspaper club or a media club, join it! This is a great place to practise writing and sharing news.
Being part of a school club that focuses on writing, photography, or making videos can give you lots of experience. You might get to write about school events, interview students or teachers, and learn how to put together a newspaper or a show. This kind of experience is really valuable for becoming a sports reporter.
Keep reading sports news and listening to sports reporters. See what you like about their work and what makes their reports special.
Pay attention to how professional sports reporters tell stories. Do they use funny words? Are they very serious? How do they make you feel excited about the game? Learning from others helps you find your own special way of reporting and makes your stories even better. You can get ideas from different reporters and try out what works best for you.
Someone who takes amazing pictures of sports games and athletes for newspapers, websites, or magazines.
The person you hear on TV or radio during a live game, explaining what is happening and adding exciting details.
Someone who writes news stories about all sorts of things, not just sports, for newspapers, websites, or TV.
Explore relevant apprenticeships that can help you kickstart your career in Sports Reporter. Apprenticeships offer hands-on experience and training while earning a wage.
A Sports Reporter primarily researches, writes, and reports on sporting events and news for publications, which aligns directly with the core duties of a Newspaper or magazine journalist, specialising in the sports domain. While a 'Sports commentator' speaks on live events, a reporter's role is more about written journalism.
You can get into this job through:
You can take a degree course as a first step towards this career. Relevant subjects include:
Some courses are accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Graduates of other subjects can do a postgraduate course in journalism, lasting 1 to 2 years.
You'll usually need:
You could do a college course, which would teach you some of the skills and knowledge you need to get a trainee journalist position or to study at a higher level. Courses include:
Some colleges offer the Level 3 Certificate in Foundation Journalism and courses in shorthand, accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ).
Entry requirements for these courses vary.
You could apply for a place on an apprenticeship with a media organisation, such as:
These usually take between 1 and 2 years to complete.
Employers will set their own entry requirements.
You could start as an office assistant or trainee reporter on a local or regional newspaper, or junior feature writer for a magazine.
You'll need a minimum of five GCSE grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), including English, or equivalent qualifications. Many recruits have A levels or a degree.
There is strong competition for jobs, and you'll need to show you've got writing experience. You'll find it useful to keep examples of your published work, especially if these include your name as the author.
To build up your writing experience you can:
You can study for a number of professional qualifications in journalism at different levels, accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). These can be done online, part-time or through fast-track training.
The NCTJ also offer online and short courses like:
You may be able to get help with funding for certain NCTJ courses through the Journalism Diversity Fund.
It'll be useful for producing online content if you can:
As a journalism student you can apply for student membership of the National Union of Journalists.
You can find out more about working in journalism from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ).
Explore other careers or use our AI to discover personalised paths based on your interests.
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