Sample Permission Letter for Sports Practice (Writing Tips)

It is an official letter written and addressed to the senior authorities in a school, requesting permission to be exempted from the regular schedule to participate in sports practice. Permission letters help you attain the approval of authorized personnel to your request, either at school or a workplace.Students who actively participate in extracurricular activities like sports need these letters for sports practice commonly.

To get such permission, the permission letter must be compelling and perfectly crafted. Every aspect of the it matters, including essential elements like diction, tone, and emotional appeal.This article contains the standard method of writing a permission letter for sports practice, including proven tips, samples, and templates to help you write an excellent letter yourself.

The permission letter should follow the universally accepted guidelines of other formal letters. Hence, given below is the recommended format for writing it:

Address the letter

This is the first part of your letter, and like every other formal letter, it should contain two addresses — yours and the recipient. This section of the letter should start with your details which include your name, state, city, & zip code (address), telephone number, and mail. The recipient’s name, the title of authority, name of school/institution, and address are the necessary recipient’s details to mention.  You must also include the date the letter is written on in this section of the letter. If any of these details are missing, your letter’s address section is incomplete.

Salutation

The salutation comes after the address section of the letter. It can be as generic as ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ or as specific as ‘Dear Mr./Mrs. (Include the last name)’. Other forms may include Respected Sir/Madam, Distinguished Sir/Madam, etc. As basic as it may seem, this section is an essential part of any letter.

Subject

The subject or title of your letter introduces the purpose of the letter to the recipient. It’s meant to be concise but greater than 6-7 words. The subject of a permission letter is usually ‘Permission Letter For XXX Sports Practice.’

Introduction

This is the foremost part of the letter. It’s the section of the letter where you introduce yourself by providing your name, grade, name of the school, and any other relevant information.You should utilize the second paragraph of your introduction to state the purpose of writing before elaborating the subsequent parts of the letter.

Main body

The main body of the letter is where you provide detailed information about your purpose of writing the letter. It should contain four important points that can help you persuade the recipient.

These points include:

Details of the sports activity

Your letter’s main body should contain necessary details like the name of the sport, the kind of tournament you are practicing for, the date and timing of the tournament, and other details that can add to the tournament’s credibility.

Reasons for participation

You should also include why participating in the sports practice and the tournament is essential. You can give a brief overview of your achievements and development so far and how strong your passion is for the sport.

Highlight your expectations

It’s necessary to state the results you expect your letter to bring clearly. Your purpose of writing is to get permission to skip classes.  Hence, highlight that you require an exemption from academic duties during the time periods of sports practice.

Assure your recipient

This is another necessary point to include in the main body. You can either give assurance of success in the competition that will improve the school’s reputation further, or an assurance that you will make up for missed classes with a personal tuition.  

Whatever assurance appeals to you, ensure to add it to your letter. This proves that you are aware of your responsibility as a student, and you are ready to bear whatever may result from actions.

Closure

This section of the letter should express how much getting positive response would mean to you and indicate how prompt you want a response.

You should add the following things to make your closure more effective:

Details of your coach

Providing details of your coach for follow-up makes your request more credible and increases the chances of getting a favorable response.

Appreciation for the recipient

Thanking the recipient is an acknowledgment of their effort for taking out time to read your permission letter. It’s also a sign of optimism for getting a favorable response. It usually has a positive effect when written effectively.

Sign off

The last part of the closure part of the letter is where you sign off. For example with the words “Sincerely”, “Respectfully”, or “Regards”. For handwritten letters, you can include your name and append your signature. 

In case the format mentioned above seems confusing to you, you can use templates as a guide. Permission letter for sports practice templates can help you write an excellent letter quickly. It saves time and reduces stress. You can download customized templates from here for free. They are unique and contain everything you need to write for an effective letter.

With everything mentioned above, you should be able to structure your permission letter excellently. Therefore, here are tips you should keep in mind when writing a permission letter for sports practice to ensure your letter remains as effective as possible.

They include:

Avoid ambiguous words

The beauty and effectiveness of your letter lie in it being understandable by the recipient. Hence, ensure you write in plain language. Too much of complex vocabulary or figurative expressions will make your letter tiresome to read.

Remember, it’s a letter of request, not an essay competition. Use the simplest synonyms for a word, and ensure you avoid using compound sentences.

Apply K.I.S.S

You must have come across the K.I.S.S rule in writing a lot of times. It simply means Keep It Short and Simple. Ensuring that your letter is concise and straight to the point helps you make the most of the little time the recipient has to spare for reading it.

However, while ensuring it’s concise, be sure that it covers your main reason for writing. It should highlight the core things about the sports practice and how important it is. This makes your letter effective enough to get you permission.

Utilize appropriate tone

This is the most vital aspect to consider. The tone of your permission letter can make or mark your request. Ensure that you sound as persuasive as possible without making it seem all about yourself. You don’t want to sound authoritative, as this is one of the reason for rejected requests. Instead, be as polite as possible using words like “Can you, may I, I’ll be glad if…” etc.  The second person professional tone, which requires extensive use of ‘You,’ has been famously regarded as the most effective tone for writing a permission letter.

Use a Formal Format

Irrespective of your relationship with the recipient, your letter should remain formal. Permission letters are official, and the format provided in this article is the only acceptable standard.

Provide accurate information

Some recipients of permission letters make sure to inquire about your acclaimed sports practices to verify the information you provided. Ensure that every detail you provided in the letter turns out the same after fact-checking to avoid a more severe ordeal than being rejected.

Highlight Major Aspects of Your Sporting Activity

The recipient needs to get a good understanding of the sport you are involved in, what it entails, and how it benefits the school. Utilize the main body section of your letter to highlight the important details of the sport.

Mistakes to Avoid

Permission letter for sports practice is like every other formal letter, so you should follow every rule regarding writing formal letters. One of the vital things to avoid is using the wrong tone. This may have a negative effect on the outcome of your letter.

Below are the writing mistakes that you should avoid while writing your letter:

Addressing your letter to the wrong recipient

Your letter should be addressed directly to the person with authority to give you permission for the request. Addressing your letter to your school’s Principal when it’s meant for the Head Teacher can leave your letter unread or unattended to.

Overlooking proofreading and editing

Your first draft can never be your final draft, which is why it’s vital to proofread and edit to avoid obvious errors and make your letter more appealing to read. With proofreading and editing, you can break complex sentences into easy-to-read ones, replace ambiguous words with simpler terms, and improve the quality of your piece.

Also, don’t wait until the last minute when you have to start rushing the writing process of your draft to submit it. Ensuring you’ve submitted your letter as early as possible increases your chance of getting permission and also of having a great letter.

Below are the template and sample letters that you can use to write your own letter:

By following the format provided in this article and applying the highlighted tips, you should face no challenge in writing a permission letter for sports practice. The free templates provided along with the samples will also aid in writing the letter.