THE FINAL. is an independent digital sports publication dedicated to giving high school athletes the deeper, more consistent coverage they have always deserved.
We publish original game reports, player features, team stories, photography, rankings, interviews, and commentary — built by a paid student press corps of high school writers and photographers earning real bylines and building real portfolios.
Where We're Starting
THE FINAL. is starting small: right now, that means covering Indiana high school hockey. It's the first market we're building out in full — teams, players, rankings, and a real student press corps — before we expand. From here, we're looking to grow into other sports and other states, bringing the same level of dedicated coverage to more athletes and more communities.
From the Founder
I got my start the way a lot of local journalists do: writing for my hometown newspaper and covering everything — school board meetings, Friday night football, whatever needed a byline. That's where I learned a game story matters just as much to the people living it as anything running in a bigger paper. Maybe more.
I led my high school newspaper in Wylie, Texas, then kept going at Texas Tech University, writing for The Daily Toreador and covering Mike Leach's football program and Bob Knight's basketball team — two of the most talked-about coaches in the country, at the same school, at the same time. From there I freelanced for The Dallas Morning News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the San Antonio Express-News, the Houston Chronicle, the Austin American-Statesman, Sports Illustrated on Campus, and others, chasing bylines across Texas and beyond.
Along the way I worked closely with athletes to help build their personal brands, and with sports agents to build their presence — work that showed me how much of an athlete's story never makes it into print. I moved into sports design at The Arizona Republic, then into digital at the Tribune Company, and have spent the years since building products.
I've also taught high school classes in web and graphic design, worked as an adjunct professor, and found I genuinely love mentorship — helping the next person figure out how to tell a story well. THE FINAL. is where all of that comes together. I loved writing about sports and being at the games more than almost anything else, and I built this so high school athletes — and the students covering them — get the same shot I did.
— Joey Kirk, Founder
Student Press Corps
See Press Corps for details.
Advertise
See Advertise for the full sponsorship lineup.