From the Sidelines

I’ve had some people ask from time to time to explain the process behind writing a feature article – how it’s formed, when the photos are shot, etc., and I thought my latest story was pretty typical of how my feature stories work. Feature stories are articles where you typically have a longer time period in which to report, gather information and conduct interviews – unlike a typical game story or other breaking news article. They give writers a chance to really dive in to their subjects, which is why they’re often times the best stories to read.

For tomorrow’s issue of the Bellevue Reporter, I wrote about Interlake graduate and promising race car driver Tyler Allen. Allen, who recently graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in mechanical engineering, got into racing as a sophomore in college – a late start – but he’s making big strides so far. His goal is to race in NASCAR’s Nextel Cup Series and he recently found out he has a huge opportunity, as he was selected to compete in Richard Petty’s Driver Search II, a competition that allows the one winner the chance to compete to qualify in an ARCA Series event in October.

To win would mean a big break in Allen’s career, but even going allows him to network with Petty, a racing legend, as well as other former NASCAR drivers.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I’d received a few press releases about Allen and his racing down at the South Sound Speedway in Rochester, Wash., and had begun to get curious. I thought this could be a good story – because how many race car drivers are living in Bellevue, where it’s not the biggest sport around? My thought was not many. When I found out Tyler was selected for Driver Search II, I thought this story had some potential.

So I gave his father, Terry Allen, a call and we decided to meet up at the Allen’s house in Bellevue. I ventured out and was welcomed into their garage where they work on the car. And when I say garage, I mean typical, everyday, attached-to-the-house garage. Except theirs has a giant stock car in it that, when turned on, rattles you to your very bones. Which was very, very cool.

Tyler and I spent about 10 minutes talking before Chad Coleman, our very talented photographer, showed up for the photo shoot. Tyler bounced in to the house to change into his racing suit and spent the next 35-40 minutes shooting photos with Chad. I used this opportunity to speak with Terry about his son and his accomplishments, hopes and dreams before I was called by Chad to do what I’ve done so often – serve as a human light stand.

I held up lights for Chad for the next 10 minutes or so and we finished up. I could tell by the amount of shooting Chad was doing, combined with the backdrop of the car and Tyler’s personality that this was going to be a good shoot. Subjects like Tyler – unguarded, outgoing and upbeat – make our jobs much easier. When a subject is like that, they open up so much more. In Chad’s case, it’s getting them to ease up and trust that he’s going to be taking some pretty cool photos and won’t make them “look bad.” In my case, it helps me be able to ask all sorts of questions and opens up new directions you can go in when someone is so willing to be completely open with you.

Once Chad finished up (and graciously accepted a bottled water from Terry Allen after his hard work) he packed up and I resumed my chat with Tyler. We talked for nearly 50 more minutes and my questions ranged from all over. The other great thing about Tyler was how passionate he was. He answered everything I asked him in a tone that made me tell how much he cared about racing.

Once we wrapped up the interview, Terry instructed Tyler to fire up the car so I could hear what it sounds like. Let’s just say it’s a good thing the Allen’s neighbors are all family.

The next part of the writing process is probably my least favorite – transcription. I take plenty of notes when I am interviewing someone and I also record everything. With feature stories like Tyler’s, I always try to make the interview more of a conversation and less like an interview, if that makes sense – I’d rather us talking back and forth freely instead of him speaking with my head buried taking notes. As a result, I typically have to refer back to my recorder in times like this. And with Tyler – who had so many interesting things to say – that meant typing out a transcription of our conversation.

The next step in the process is the most obvious – writing the dang thing. The problem with great stories often is over-information. You simply have so much great stuff to share, you have to determine what is most interesting.

With large feature stories like this, where I have plenty of time to work on the story, the process is typically the same. When I am interviewing someone, I would say 99 percent of the time there is a moment where I think “there’s my lede” (lede, in journalist lingo, is the lead paragraph(s) of a story that draw the reader in) and write it down. Sometimes it’s just something you observe, like when I noticed the Allen’s trailer and its license plate: I’m Not Speeding, I’m Qualifying. I wrote that down, thinking that was a great place to start. But later, once I heard Tyler’s story about graduation at the UW, I knew that’s where I would begin my story.

From there, things just seem to flow into place. For this story it did anyway. Sometimes, you just get stuck, have to save and close the story and just walk away for a little bit before coming back to it. In this case, I hunkered down and before I knew it, had my story before me. The only trouble for me, in this case, was having so much information and fun stories, and having to cut down the story to a reasonable length.

With stories of this length, I like to bounce around ideas. In this case I went with Issaquah/Sammamish sports reporter Kevin Endejan, a colleague and someone I trust to take a look at my stuff and offer honest suggestions. Once I had the story in a place where I thought it looked pretty polished, I went to my toughest critic: my wife. Since I’m not a huge racing fan or overly knowledgeable in the sport, I asked her to take a look at it and see if I explained things clearly enough for anyone to understand. Apparently I passed the test.

From that point, it moves on to design. Since this was a large story, I needed a large space to drop it into in the newspaper. Last week, we had a bit smaller of a section so I decided to hold it a week and hope for more room. This week I had plenty of space for the story and two photos, so we ran it. You’ll be able to see it in the paper tomorrow.

So that’s the process from start to finish for anyone who was curious. Every reporter does things a little bit different, but that’s the way I tackle feature assignments.

Also, take a look at these pictures by Chad Coleman. We couldn’t fit them all in the paper, so here’s a look at his best shots

Bellevue’s Nick Moyer has accepted a baseball scholarship to Gonzaga University.

His father, former Seahawks defensive back Paul Moyer, passed on the news to me this week.

Nick Moyer was a three-year letter winner for the Wolverines in baseball and was a three-time All-Kingco League selection. He also won three state football championships with Bellevue, lettering three years, starting for two and served as a captain his senior year.

Paul Moyer also passed on some information to me regarding Bellevue’s Legion baseball team that draws from Bellevue, Sammamish, Overlake, Eastside Catholic and Liberty. The team currently has seven players committed to play or playing baseball in college. They are: Jeff Melby (Bellevue, University of Portland), Nick Moyer (Bellevue, Gonzaga University), Alex Bielaski (Bellevue, Saint Martin’s University), Timmy Stanaway (Bellevue, Whitworth University), Brett Berkey (Sammamish, Azusa Pacific University), Seth Bensussen (Overlake, Washington University in St. Louis) and Conner Sjolander (Liberty, Yakima Valley College).

The Crossfire Premier Boy’s U-18 team lost to Vardar, a Michigan team, 3-1 in the National Championship of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Playoffs last week in California.

Bellevue’s Liam Kelly scored the only goal for CrossFire.

The team made it to the championship game after advancing out of group 1 of the playoffs, held in Carson, Calif., with a 2-1 record.

The team opened up play by losing to FC Dallas but then rallied to beat CASL Chelsea of North Carolina 1-0 and the Derby County Wolves from Michigan 2-0.

Here’s a note I wanted to pass along from Bellevue basketball coach Chris O’Connor.

The Bellevue boys basketball team placed second at the Gonzaga team camp, defeating teams from Bozeman, Kentridge and Ferris on the final day, before losing to Gonzaga Prep by two in the championship game.

Former Bellevue College reliever Evan Meek – an Inglemoor High School graduate – didn’t get to see any action last night as the National League All-Stars snapped a 13-year winless drought by beating the American League 3-1 in Anaheim.

Meek – who attended junior college in Texas before returning to Washington and playing at Bellevue College – is having a terrific year for the Pirates, sporting a 1.11 ERA in 48.2 innings pitched.

Larry Stone detailed the whirlwind careers of three local products – including Meek – in this nice column for the Seattle Times.

The Lakeside Recovery Senior Legion baseball club kicked off the opening day of the annual Brandy Pugh tournament with a 4-2 victory over Honda of Bellevue.

Lakeside struck first in the second inning when Sean Penberthy singled home Shane Yarnell. The team took a 2-0 lead the following inning after UW-signee Spencer Rogers singled in Mike Smith.

Honda of Bellevue tied the game in the sixth inning JJ Wilford singled in Chris Moore and Rickie Jin took a bases loaded walk.

Lakeside took the lead right back in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single by Newport’s Dan Altchech. Lakeside added another run after Victor King scored on Honda of Bellevue shortstop Ben Circeo’s throwing error.

Lakeside plays the Twin City Titans today at 5 p.m. at Bannerwood. Honda of Bellevue plays the Kennewick Bandits at 5 p.m. at Bellevue College.

Interlake’s Andy Fordyce was named to the second team All-State boys soccer team, as voted on by sportswriters across the state.

Fordyce, a senior forward, scored 16 goals and adde six assists for 38 points for the Saints this season.

Teammate Alex Quintana was named an honorable mention keeper. Quintana, a junior, had six shutouts on the season.

The Saints lost 2-0 to Cheney in the first round of state playoffs.

Newport’s Trace Tam Sing was named to the baseball All-State second team as an infielder.

Tam Sing, who was drafted in the 22nd round by the Boston Red Sox in June, hit .435 in 22 games for the Knights this season.

Jamal Crawford, a Rainier Beach graduate and current Atlanta Hawk, will hold a basketball camp for boys and girls ages 6-16 at Bellevue College July 13-16.

The camp, which runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, costs $275 per camper.

Campers will be grouped by age and/or skill level and will experience a low coach-to-player ratio. Crawford will be on hand each day to provide instruction.

There will also be prizes and daily raffles, guest speakers and daily giveaways.

To register, visit www.jamalcrawford.org.

Bellevue’s Will Fields is an athlete that I have had the privilege of covering since nearly my first week on the job with the Bellevue Reporter. Back in 2007, I wrote an article on Fields’ life and some of the hardships he’s had to endure along the way. This goes back far enough where I can’t even find the article online (we’ve upgraded our Web site a few times).

Anyway, Will is one of those kids who always had a smile on his face whenever I asked to talk to him and always took the time to speak with me through his various sports – whether it was football, wrestling or track. Athletes (and kids in general) like Will make my job easier and infinitely more enjoyable.

So it was nice to see him get some recognition as Bellevue’s Male Athlete of the Year at the school’s year-end assembly. Will’s mom Susan was kind enough to pass along a picture from the assembly (that’s Will with longtime Bellevue track assistant coach Cliff Nixon), as well as a nice little highlight sheet for Will’s high school career.

His senior year alone was filled with success. He was a key member of the Wolverines state championship football team, made it to the state tournament in wrestling and was a four-event state qualifier in track for Bellevue.

Over the years I’ve always enjoyed catching up with Will and it will be great to follow his progress the next four years when he plays football at the University of Montana-Western.

It looks like KingCo has finally released all of its All-League teams. Here are All-League selections for 4A softball, 4A soccer, 4A baseball and 3A baseball.

KingCo 4A Softball
Player of year — Maria Gau, Woodinville
Coach of year — Jeff Skelly, Inglemoor
Sportsmanship — Redmond

First Team
P Maria Gau, Sr., Woodinville; P Rosie Matsumoto, Jr., Inglemoor; C Katie Engelbrecht, Jr., Woodinville; 1B Lindsay Porter, Sr., Inglemoor; 2B Lacie McGadry, Sr., Bothell; 3B Taylor Peacocke, So., Inglemoor; SS Makenna Weir, So., Woodinville; OF Ann McGowan, Jr., Roosevelt; OF Sara Anderson, So., Woodinville; OF Sammi Stavig, Sr., Eastlake; OF Michaela Dunn-Blad, Jr., Skyline; DP Nicole Guptil, Sr., Eastlake; DP Kaylee Hardin, Sr., Inglemoor; UTIL Lindsi Augenstein, Sr., Eastlake.

Second Team
P Sara Aasness, Sr., Lake Washington; P Mikenzie Voves, Sr., Issaquah; C Diana Hermanson, Sr., Roosevelt; 1B Brielle Bray, Sr., Issaquah; 2B Katie Walvatne, Sr., Inglemoor; 3B Elsa Moyer, Sr., Lake Washington; SS Isabelle Batayola, Sr., Roosevelt; OF Kealey McMullen, Sr., Lake Washington; OF Sophie Overlock-Pauley, Sr., Ballard; OF Lindsay Cristobol, Sr., Redmond; OF Shelby Johnston, Sr., Inglemoor; UTIL Lauren Richards, Sr., Skyline.

Honorable Mention
Ballard — Bernie Cardon, Jamie Thelen, Brittany Blocker, Julia Boone, Andrea Jewett. Bothell — Britta McOmber, Arista Honey, Kendra Heyer. Eastlake — Mercedes Bass. Garfield — Olivia Turner. Inglemoor — Amy Taylor, Jenna Rutherford. Issaquah — Amanda Marqus, Christian McKone, Tracy Castonguay, Heather Benjamin. Lake Washington — Audrey Sundene, Haley Andrews, Bethany Bacon. Newport — Natsumi Veda, Jessica Barry. Redmond — Christine Ho, Riley Flynn, Jenny Eisenmann, Stephanie Gero, Ashley Mitchell, Joanna French. Roosevelt — Casey Bouldin, Katherine Woodworth, Megan Murray. Skyline — Lauren Wolfe, Lindsay Nicholson, Anya Kamber. Woodinville — Madi Schreyer, Cat Williams, Lauren Burchak.

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All-KingCo 4A Boys Soccer
Player of year — Junpei Tsuji, Issaquah
Coach of year — Don Bramen, Skyline
Sportsmanship — Lake Washington

First Team
MF Junpei Tsuji, Sr., Issaquah; GK Shane Lervold, Sr., Bothell; GK Logan Richards, Sr., Woodinville; D Conor Duggan, Jr., Newport; D Chris Perkins, Sr., Garfield; D Ryan Schroeder, Sr., Bothell; D Reid Shaw, Sr., Garfield; D David Surdyk, Sr., Woodinville; D Cameron Veres, Sr., Lake Washington; D Brian Whitney, Sr., Newport; MF Quinn Grisham, Sr., Issaquah; MF Corneliu Ieremie, Sr., Newport; MF Yordan Rivera, Sr., Bothell; MF Travis Strawn, Jr., Skyline; MF Alan Villavicencio, Sr., Bothell; F Renato Bandeira, Sr., Eastlake; F Tolga Dilek, Jr., Roosevelt; F Thomas Jacob, Jr., Inglemoor; F Balin Larson, Sr., Ballard.

Second Team
GK Nathan King, Jr., Issaquah; GK Sam Watkins, Sr., Roosevelt; D Josh Bear, Sr., Bothell; D Conner Holmes, Sr., Issaquah; D Russell Kilgannon, Sr., Bothell; D Ben Molyneux Elliot, Sr., Skyline; D Lucas Sconyers, Sr., Roosevelt; D Bryan Williams, Sr., Redmond; MF Marcus Bircher, Fr., Redmond; MF Vinicius Gomes, Sr., Inglemoor; MF Leifur Gunnarsson, Sr., Roosevelt; MF Mitchell Kim, Sr., Skyline; MF James Pulse, Sr., Woodinville; MF Kyle Savette, Jr., Newport; MF Taylor Stapf, Jr., Lake Washington; F Brent Campbell, Jr., Ballard; F Giancarlo Santoro, Sr., Skyline; F Braxton Griffin, Jr., Skyline; F Preston Hale, Jr., Garfield; F Nick Rudella, Sr., Eastlake; F Jordan Zogg, Sr., Lake Washington.

Honorable Mention
Ballard — Jeff Collings, Sofien El-Mehrik, Conner Jarvie, Matthew Law-Phipps. Bothell — Mauricio Aguilar, Brandon Rise, Jeff Smith. Eastlake — Thomas Cools, Michael Gallagher, Gerald Galvin, Stephen King, Sawyer Preston. Garfield — David Ayala-Lindeman, Ben Feldman, Leo Friedman, Sam Kierstead, Aaron Kovar, Sean Russell, Jackson White. Inglemoor — Graham Humphries, Andy Townsend, Jacob Vaughn. Issaquah — Brandon Bergfalk, Carter Mitchell, Michael Roberts. Lake Washington — Kyle Gillam, George Howard. Newport — Perry Nunes, Vlad Strava Sirbu, Taketo Suzuki, Ross Taylor. Redmond — Tyler Bennett, Shawn Cooley, Preston Horner, Jose Ocampo, Mauricio Romano. Roosevelt — Nicholas Drummond, Mikko Keranen, Nolan Woodle. Skyline — Jake Bechtel, Pedro Miola, Steven Pankiewicz, Michael Stoddard. Woodinville — Krishna Balasubramanian, Joe Bellefeuille, Callan Burrell, Axel Paco.

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All-KingCo 4A Baseball
Player of year — Spencer Rogers, Issaquah
Coach of year — Dan Pudwill, Redmond

First Team
P/OF Spencer Rogers, Sr., Issaquah; P/1B Zach Abbruzza, Jr., Redmond; P/DH Shane Yarnell, Sr., Issaquah; C Ethan Yeo, Sr., Inglemoor; 2B Nate Litka, Jr., Skyline; 3B Peter Meusui, Jr., Inglemoor; SS Michael Conforto, Jr., Redmond; SS Trace Tam Sing, Sr., Newport; OF Dylan Davis, Jr., Redmond; OF Anthony DeMatteo, Sr., Skyline; DH Brian McAfee, Jr., Bothell; UT Mitchell Gunsolus, Jr., Inglemoor.

Second Team
P Jeff Gonzalez, Sr., Newport; C Devin O’Donnell, Sr., Issaquah; 1B Luke Taylor, Sr., Woodinville; 2B Josh Bircher, Sr., Redmond; 3B Sean Sellers, Jr., Woodinville; OF Marc Dickerson, Sr., Inglemoor; OF Kevin Knapp, Sr., Bothell; OF Scott Meyers, Sr. Inglemoor; OF Mike Paulson, Sr., Issaquah; UT Billy Sahlinger, So., Newport.

Honorable Mention
Bothell — Evan Hudson, Jon Mercer, Ryan Morgan. Eastlake — Kelby McCorkle, Sam Nasci. Garfield — Jack Jajewski, Joseph Lucia, Peter Summerville. Inglemoor — Craig Jacobson, Dustin Doucette, Obi Taylor. Issaquah — Marcus Gaan, Grant Gellatly, Ben Rosellini. Lake Washington — Theo Alexander, Bob Cruikshank, Alex Donnelly, Trevor Dunlap. Newport — Jared Fisher, Joey Gale, Cole Wiper. Redmond — Ryan Beliel, Matt Kimmel, T.J. Whidby. Roosevelt — Reid Martinez, Zach Naon. Skyline — Peyton Harrod, Connor Lawhead, Jayce Nelson, Sean Penberthy, Mike Smith. Woodinville — Spencer Brueske, Jake Dammrose, Connor Jones, Matt Stefansson.

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All-KingCo 3A/2A Baseball
Player of year — Willy Reel, Mercer Island

First Team
P/SS Willy Reel, Sr., Mercer Island; P Josh Kimborowicz, Sr., Mount Si; 1B Alex Bielaski, Sr., Bellevue; DH Trevor Lane, So., Mount Si; 2B Aaron Lawrenson, Jr., Sammamish; 2B Jordan Padilla, Sr., Juanita; 3B Kris Otterholt, Sr., Juanita; UT Troy Colyer, Sr., Liberty; C Danny Cavanaugh, Sr., Mount Si; OF Rossco Castagno, Sr., Mount Si; OF Jordan Richartz, Jr., Mercer Island; OF Weston Railton, Sr., Juanita.

Second Team
P Conner Sjolander, Sr., Liberty; P/1B John McLeod, Sr., Liberty; DH Cameron Ogard, So., Mercer Island; 2B Dustin Breshears, Jr., Mount Si; 3B Evan Thompson, Jr., Mercer Island; SS Tim Proudfoot, Jr., Mount Si; UT Reid Wagner, Jr., Bellevue; C Cameron Tally, Sr., Liberty; OF Troy Askins, Sr., Liberty; OF Nick Moyer, Sr., Bellevue; OF Brett Berkey, Sr., Sammamish.

Honorable Mention
Bellevue — Charlie Kemp, Jack Meggs, Justin Patrick. Interlake — Sam Finfer, Shawn Romero, Austin Strother, Griffin Sutich. Juanita — Zac Brandon, J.J. Caldwell, Joey Garcia. Liberty — Ian Davies, Dan Eck, Nick Hart, Ryan Maio, Peter Wiggum. Mercer Island — Max Dammeier, Ben Emanuels, Kirby Ingram, George Jiranek, Mike Potoshnik. Mount Si — Matt Bankston, Max Brown, Cooper Help, Reece Karalus, Rob Lane, Frank Tassara. Sammamish — Paul Haywood.