An Article Review

Critical Reflection

As a reflection of one of my pieces for a critical appraisal, a time after where I published it, I have chosen my University Of Cumbria Netball article, originally meant to be used in the (unpublished) Informer.

I will leave a copy of the article below, and then analyse my views on it, how the articles came about and then how i gained the sources and my own opinions on how i wrote it. Here goes.

UOC Netball Article.

The University firsts netball squad down on the Lancaster campus is one of the best Cumbria has had in recent times, and 1^st team captain Naomi Mc Grath helps to explain why this team is so highly thought of.

With the team lying second in their league this season and with a win last time out against their fierce rivals from Lancaster University many would think that a season near the top would be enough for a team which last season finished fourth out of six teams last season. But they’d be wrong. When asked what the teams aim was for the season the answer was, “we want to play as hard as we can and win as many games as possible; we want to win every single game”. This is a team that wants to win, and with that desire and passion installed into each and every member, they have the ability to strive forward in the remainder of their games this season.

McGrath goes on to say that they are a team and have no star players, and it is this down to earth grounding which flows throughout the team which is what keeps them at an advantage going into each fixture. That and a team spirit which has been described as “excellent, supportive and encouraging” is what keeps the players striving for success, one that with their attitude and motivation is bound to come.

 As a netball team they are unbreakable, but in between matches they are just normal students going about their courses and enjoying the rest of university life. They are able to move from the mind-set which has brought them great success on the netball court to a mind-set which is suitable for academic achievement with ease, and it is this ease which makes it clear that the university has got not only great netball players, but great people too.

 

 

With second, third and fourth place finishes in recent times, this year’s crop of players will be hoping that they will be able to lift the trophy at the end of the season for the University. With their next game against top of the table Keele on the 21^st November, the pressure is on for the team to come together and produce a result, in order to keep themselves in contention at the top of the table, but if they continue with their recent form, they should be able to emerge victorious.

The team trains twice a week at the state of the art Lancaster sports complex, playing their fixtures there too, often with little or no support. For no obvious reason, Netball is one of those sports which receives less coverage, however the skill levels shown even in training sessions are of the highest quality, and it is that dedication, even to the ‘lesser’ sports which should be celebrated and welcomed. No matter if you have never seen a Netball game before,  go down and support the team when they next play at home on Wednesday 5^th December, playing host to the University of Liverpool.

By Jonathon Carter

15^th November 2012

521 Words

Appraisal

As mentioned previously, the article first sparked into life whilst our year were working as writers for the Universitys Informer newspaper, and from there took off. As a member of the sports desk the article was mentioned to me, before being delegated on my shoulders by another second year at a later date, very close to the deadline at which articles were to be handed in.

Overall i feel that the article which i wrote was finished to a high standard, starting off with a first draft, before undergoing subsequent editing checks from members of the second year who were acting as editors for the paper before it finally being cleared to be 'Ok' at the thrid attempt. This I feel made me sure that the article was a news worthy piece which was written in a suitable fashion.

The subject of the article is obviously the Universitys netball team, and their success at the time. In order to gain a source for the article I checked via the universitys webpage for anything related to the netball team. I also checked on the University sport league tables website bucs.org.uk. After failing to find a contact number in this attempt, i found that the netball team had their own social Facebook page, following up a paper trail put onto the University's Facebook page highlighting sports clubs.

I sent a message to the admin of the page, who was the captain Naomi Mc Grath, as well as Zoe Andrew and Georgia Roberts, who were also highlighted on the page. From this i gained a reply from two of the three members, and subsequently based my article on their response from messages sent back and forth. I feel that i used this method of interview for a number of reasons.

Firstly, due to the time constraints and the distance involved in travelling to Lancaster, where the team was based, as well as the financial issues, i chose not to follow the face to face route. Furthermore due to the fact that the members would type their responses i would be able to directly quote them, easier than over a phonecall. Lastly, i think that at this time i was nervous about interviewing one of my peers on a subject that i had had only a little time to prepare for, and therefore chose the messaging route, at the end of the day as an easier option.

The sources proved useful to the overall finish to the article, and helped me complete the article in time for the deadline.

I feel that my article, although not the most solid in its construction or the time frame that i was given turned out successfully, as i was able to produce a piece of Journalism that i would be happy to call my own following a stressful period of working on it. It may not be the greatest piece ever, but it is one that i was proud to have completed to the standard that it was, given the restraints i was under.

Thanks for reading,

Jon