The Idaho State Journal does a fine job at covering local sports, especially high school sports. In yesterday’s (January 30) paper, Kellis Robinett wrote an excellent article about the opening round of the girls’ district tournament at Highland High School.
Kellis presented the facts in an orderly way. His description was spot on in describing the game. The opening paragraph, the lead, set the tone for the rest of the story with its strong opinionated language. This is how he started the article.
“From the opening tip, it was clear the Highland girls’ basketball team was going to roll.”
He backed up his bold statement with statistics that reinforced his point. He even mentioned the shooting percentage for Highland, not an easy task for Idaho girls’ basketball.
The article’s first quote came from the winning coach in paragraph four.
“That was a good start to the playoffs,” he said. “The girls were focused from the get go and came out with a mind-set that they were going to get better as the game went along.”
His quote selection was deliberate and it served as further evidence that the game went the way that he described it in the lead. Kellis didn’t settle for just interviewing one person, the coach. He interviewed two players that had a significant impact on the outcome of the game.
Kellis is a hard worker that brings a consistent level to everything that he covers. He is no stranger to big events. Kellis covered the Orange Bowl earlier this month. The Idaho State Journal is fortunate to have a writer of his caliber on their staff.