Author: dannystewart99

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/sports/prep_sports/forfeits-highlight-hickman-wrestling-victory-over-tolton/article_fad64752-04be-11e9-9412-ffef5648a658.html

Thursday night was pretty interesting. I got to cover a wrestling dual and it was an interesting dual at that.

24 hours prior to writing the story, I knew nothing about wrestling. I spent the whole day leading up to the dual learning about the sport because I wanted to get it right.

Then the meet came and a majority of the matches ended in forfeits. The tone of my story was to show the oddness of that because I was a fish out of water there. But it was a lot of fun because it was something out of my knowledge and comfort zone.

I think I gained some great experience doing that and I’m looking forward to doing more.

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/sports/prep_sports/rock-bridge-boys-and-girls-basketball-pick-up-victories/article_b85ea970-05a2-11e9-af8d-c350b857db65.html

Friday night, I got to cover some more high school basketball. I’ve taken a liking to Rock Bridge high school and its teams. It was a lot of fun to be there the entirety of Friday night to cover both girls and boys basketball.

Though it came with a lot of writing. The boys won in a 40-point blowout but they got more space in my article. They’re No. 3 in the state and they’re really talented and deserving of 700 words.

But, the girls game was a lot closer, more competitive and intense. I felt I did them a bit wrong by not giving them the same amount of space as the boys because it was a great game. However, there shouldn’t be 1000+ word stories on one night of high school basketball. They’re just regular gamers so, I had to realize that. It was also getting past 10PM when I finally finished writing last night so I had to make some editorial decisions myself on what to include and what not to include.

That was a great experience of having a full plate though. I’ve never felt more pressured by a deadline but it was a great learning experience and it was a lot of fun.

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/sports/prep_sports/rock-bridge-cruises-past-battle-in-cross-town-rivalry/article_88840078-033c-11e9-ba35-0b0702c8b2f6.html

On the night of 12/18, I went and covered my first high school basketball game. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun doing it. Something I had noticed about the atmosphere of the game included how the Battle gym played the song “Mo Bamba” thrice.

So, I included that in the story. I mentioned how the kids in the student section filled in the blanks of the clean version of the song with the vulgar lyrics. I then mentioned that the likes of bars and clubs do the exact same thing.

A staff member at the school said that what I wrote was incorrect. But it was correct. He said that it was wrong of me to compare “14-18 year old kids” to the likes of bars and clubs. I didn’t; all I did was say that the song is played in bars and clubs. I stand by my reporting. I didn’t make it up and I didn’t do anything wrong.

This person felt that I had victimized the Battle high school community but that wasn’t my intent at all. I apologized for the confusion it caused him. I didn’t apologize for the article or my reporting. All I did was report the truth and I’m sticking to it.

It was an interesting experience but my first dealing with negative feedback from a reader.

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/sports/mizzou_football/missouri-football-signs-to-national-letters-of-intent/article_1ef0e014-03db-11e9-ba30-93adc8cd4eb4.html

On 12/19, I wrote another football feature that ended up being the centerpiece for the sports page again. I’m really happy with the way this turned out.

My phone broke in the middle of interviews so I had to go to the old pen and paper to finish my interviews at the practice.

I also wrote this story on the run because I was originally supposed to interview players after practice about a completely different topic, but players weren’t available after practice at all. I had to come up with a brand new story on the spot and I’m glad I was able to pull this story together with the guidance of Michael.