Sports Alitteration Poems

Just as sports are fun for both boys and girls, poetry can be fun also. Both boys and girls can enjoy the following alliteration poem examples, Cheerleading by Barbara Johnson, Foul Shot by Edwin A. Hoey, and The Base Stealer by Robert Francis, describing those who bring supporting spirit and two often exciting game moments in two of the most popular sports in the USA. Grandparents, parents, and teachers, after explaining the definition of alliteration (the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables) and reading the following alliteration poem examples, ask your grandchild, child, or student to find the examples of alliteration and to explain how alliteration adds to the mood and visual impression created by each poem.

Cheerleading by Barbara Johnson

Sport, show
Squad, strive
Smile, stand straight
Silence simmers
Step, stomp
Shout, sing
Solid stunts
Synchronized sounds
Supporting spirit…
Score!

Foul Shot by Edwin A. Hoey

With two 60s stuck on the scoreboard
And two seconds hangin on the clock,
The solemn boy in the center of eyes,
Squeezed by silence,
Seeks out the line with his feet,
Soothes his hands along his uniform,
Gently drums the ball against the floor,
Then measures the waiting net,
Raises the ball on his right hand,
Balances it with his left,
Calms it with fingertips,
Breathes,
Crouches,
Waits,
And then through a stretching of stillness,
Nudges it upward.

The ball
Slides up and out.
Lands,
Leans,
Wobbles,
Wavers,
Hesitates,
Exasperates,
Plays it coy
Until every face begs with unsounding screams–
And then
And then
And then,
Right before ROAR-UP,
Dives down and through.

The Base Stealer by Robert Francis

Poised between going on and back, pulled
Both ways taut like a tightrope-walker,
Fingertips pointing the opposites,
Now bouncing tiptoe like a dropped ball
Or a kid skipping rope, come on, come on,
Running a scattering of steps sidewise,
How he teeters, skitters, tingles, teases,
Taunts them, hovers like an ecstatic bird,
He’s only flirting, crowd him, crowd him,
Delicate, delicate, delicate, delicate – now!