I had the privilege last week of covering the Class 1A girls' state tennis tournament in Minneapolis. It was an exciting couple of days for me because I earned my first official bylines in the Star Tribune.
Wednesday was the team finals, and Friday was the singles final. I wrote a small story about each match. It was a nice experience to cover an event, and then turn right around and write the story for the daily deadline.
I was a tennis player in high school, but I had never witnessed the state tournament festivities before. Covering a sport I was very familiar with at that level helped me feel a lot more comfortable.
Getting my feet wet
Watching the team tennis final is a bit more challenging than watching the singles final. There are seven matches going on at once, and you don't know which will be competitive, which will finish first and which might clinch the win. You also don't get to watch a lot of one match, so the team final is more about finding a good story angle.
The singles final between two of the top-ranked players looked like it would be a good, close match up. The pair played before in the section finals, and one was a section champion while the other was the defending state champion.
It turned out the match was a little more of a route than you'd think. It was a 6-2, 6-1 straight-set win for Amber Washington of Mounds Park Academy. I talked with Amber before and after her match. I found a great anecdote to use for my story lede, and I think it made writing my story a bit easier.
Improvement on day two
It's amazing how much more comfortable I felt after my first day covering the tournament. I also enjoyed being able to watch the entire singles match. It's more fun to be following one match at a time rather than seven.
Covering the tournament was a great experience, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to write about such a great event. I hope I will have the chance to cover more high school tournaments in the future.
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