The weather outside couldn’t have been more perfect as I sat at my desk typing up myriad sports articles at the Bellevue Reporter and Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter office on Richards Road in Factoria on April 9.

The weather conditions outside during the early afternoon hours were absolutely impeccable. According to Google, it was 64 degrees and mostly sunny skies.

My first thought was, “I need to find a sporting event during the afternoon to cover.”

There was one problem. It was spring break for all of the schools in my coverage area, which meant the amount of varsity games/events taking place were slim. I searched and searched, but couldn’t locate one single event to attend. There were plenty of events to choose from on April 10 (Friday) and on April 13 (Monday) though, so it wasn’t like I was completely devoid of games to cover for the next edition of the newspaper.

One of the biggest challenges of being a sportswriter is Mother Nature’s wrath. This is especially true early in the spring and in the late fall, when inclement weather conditions can wreak havoc on the sports schedule. On at least three occasions so far this spring, I planned on covering a baseball or softball game that ended up being cancelled. Spring time in the Pacific Northwest is as unpredictable as it gets weather-wise. One thing I have learned over the past 10 years as a sportswriter is that you can have a perfect plan for coverage in place and in the blink of an eye it’s erased faster than you can snap your fingers.

In May of 2013, while I was writing sports for the Puyallup Herald, I was slated to cover the final day of the district softball tournament taking place in Parkland on a Saturday. I figured there would be at least three to four stories written about the tourney, considering I had three teams competing in my coverage area. It was going to fill the bulk of the sports section that following Wednesday, which was the day the paper was printed.

Unfortunately there was a downpour of rain and the entire tournament was cancelled. My plan was derailed, but I still had to find content. I ended up writing a few baseball and water polo stories — courtesy of phone interviews on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon — to fill the sports section. Being a sports journalist is similar to being the quarterback of a football team. You can have a play called in the huddle but at the line of scrimmage a slew of audibles and last-second adjustments are sometimes necessary. It’s just the nature of the business.

Shaun Scott: 425-453-5045; sscott@bellevuereporter.com