Game Recap From Your Box Score

A recap can only be as accurate as your notes. Before you leave the field or gym, make sure you have:

• The sport and level, the date and where it was played
• The final score and the score by quarter, half, period, set or inning
• The official box score or scorebook, from the scorer or the coach
• Each player's first and last name, spelled as on the roster
• Who scored or made the key plays, and when
• Both teams' records, the standings and the next game
• One or two quotes, written down word for word

Catch the coach after the postgame team talk with one open question, such as "What changed at halftime?" Write the answer down exactly or record it. If you can't check a quote against your notes or a recording, don't run it.

Before you write, decide what the game turned on. It might be a late goal, a 10-0 run, a comeback, a goalkeeper who wouldn't be beaten or one player's best night. That goes at the top, even if it happened in the last minute.

Then ask why the result mattered. A playoff spot, a rivalry, a winning streak or a program's first title gives readers a reason to care beyond the score.

Choose the numbers that explain the result and leave the rest in the box score. A keeper's seven saves help explain a 3-2 win; in an 8-0 rout, nobody needs them. Skip the play-by-play, too. Readers want the story of the game, not every possession.

The lede, your opening sentence, carries the result. Purdue's Online Writing Lab says a news lede generally runs 25 to 30 words and should rarely be more than 40¹. It adds that one written for the next day's paper should do more than repeat news readers already have, so put the reason beside the score.

Give the score in figures with the winner's total first, even when the loser is the subject: Central lost to Lincoln 3-2, never 2-3. Name the day, not "last night." Purdue's summary of Associated Press (AP) style gives the rule: for an event the day before publication, use the day of the week instead of "yesterday"².

Save the headline for last. Give it the winner, a present-tense verb and the score: "Shah's late header lifts Lincoln past Central 3-2."

Here are the parts in order, using the same game.

Quote people exactly. The Associated Press's News Values and Principles state that AP does not alter quotations, even to correct grammatical errors or word usage³. If a quote is garbled, paraphrase it faithfully without quotation marks, or leave it out. Never write a quote for a coach who didn't give you one.

Use a player's first and last name the first time, then the last name alone. Questions that come up every week, such as how to write team names and records, belong in a short house style guide.

School and club recaps are usually about teenagers or younger children. The Society of Professional Journalists' code of ethics, revised in October 2026, asks journalists to use heightened sensitivity with juveniles⁴. In a recap, name a player for a goal, a save or a career night, never for a missed free throw, a dropped pass or an own goal.

Say "Central couldn't clear the corner" rather than naming the player at fault. In a loss, credit what the other team did well and what your team did right.

In the US, a public school that posts its own recaps must follow FERPA, the federal student privacy law. A school may treat students' names, sports participation and athletes' height and weight⁵ as directory information. It can release that without consent only after it has told families and given them a way to opt out⁶. Ask the athletic director for the school's opt-out list before you name anyone.

A newspaper reporter writing what they saw from the stands is in a different position. The Student Press Law Center explains that information obtained through personal knowledge or observation⁷, rather than from an education record, is generally not protected under FERPA. The ethics above still apply.

If a score or a name turns out wrong, correct it and add a note that says what changed. AP's standards say a correction must always be labeled a correction³, never a "fix" or a "minor edit."

For a longer piece, such as a season review full of records, get fact-check comments on your draft before it runs. If you email families each week, gather the recaps into a newsletter for parents and boosters.

Short on time after a late game? The tool at the top of this page turns your box score and notes into a draft recap, headline and social post. It marks anything missing for you to fill in.