Help from someone with newspaper journalism experience? Or someone whos a good writer?

Both sound fine (not stupid!), but you should attribute quotes to their speakers.

Sports has three aspects;

First of all the display feature. If it doesn't look good, people will watch something else. Taking that to the line, the team have to look over their uniform, maybe tweak a few features, also if somebody has to wear something it ought to be useful and comfortable on the inside.

For instance avoid the colour black, at all, if the team will be outdoors as black transmits heat from sunlight.

Secondly the score feature. You get a lot of people doing stuff but it is not all score. Now doing only the things that score will lead to some trouble, and during practice all the parts of the body that are not useful in the act of scoring have to be thoroughly exercised in order to promote something like rest during the actual goal related sequences, as otherwise you get the urge to do something unrelated to the goal process and basically goof up on the field. The actual score related activity only comes into play when the body is fit and the mind to a degree tuned in but not driven and not phased out. Keeping the mind in the right performance waveband between over keen and not motivated is an art needing constant practice.

Thirdly the motivation to participate. Well connected to the whole thing the vanity issue is important you all want to feel great guys in a great team and one goof up pulls the rest down to being part of a collection of goof ups. The fitness thing has to be in there as you want to feel great not only on the field in front of other people but later in the more combative and nastier games people play to win promotion. You need to overscore and gain a promotion in work. In some way the condition of fitness by exercise both mentally and physically involved in the game makes you constantly a better person. Finally keeping a keen but not overdone level of activity in your mind is essential in other matters, going one more day on the job with your best effort instead of waning out can carry you over more than one line. A strong motive in sport is not so much the action of the sport but the uses of activity in general, so motive is made up of the gain in character and fitness plus a sense of honour and commitment. Winning is one more highlighter of the process of developing your confidence in the team and their trust and pride in the company of one another. If you step back a bit all sport is silly, it does not make anything. The gain is not from the output of the rather artificial task of a managed contest, it is in sustaining and resetting and managing performance goals in the individual sportspersons, with a flow on effect to staying healthy and successful. To this I might add one more point, you hear a lot about smoking cigarettes as bad for you as it can give you lung cancer. I was recently diagnosed with cardiovascular disease and a shortened lifespan. No I did not smoke but I was made to be in rooms where a lot of people smoked muchly against my will. When you smoke cigarettes you are poisoning other people although they might not be aware of it and not even complain about it. You are permanently damaging them in a way that will cause heart attacks later in life. You might as well stab them in the back it will be quicker and in a way kinder.

It is not a personal habit any more than firing guns in a crowd is a personal habit it is a crime. You are injuring people. If you like injuring people maybe join the Army.

Your best lead is a quote from one of the boys. You aren't writing an editorial, so your point of view should not intrude at all. It should be all about the guys and their season.

i think they're good