Attempting to teach (tag Gwen) on Quidditch Pitch

Jennifer

June 09, 2005 9:01 PM

Attempting to teach (tag Gwen) by Jennifer

During one of her free periods during the week after she decided to teach Gwen how to play quidditch, Jennifer informed Gwen that it was time for their first lesson, and dragged her down to the quidditch pitch. She first walked into the broom shed to get two brooms. A broom for herself was no problem; she had had the same one since she was eight. Deciding what would would work for Gwen, however, took a while. She had honestly never tried to figure out if broom type made a difference when starting out, and she didn't want Gwen to be scarred for life because of having some horrible broom that wouldn't fly right. Finally, she simply picked the nearest broom, a Cleansweep, and decided to hope for the best.

She handed the broom to Gwen, and then took a step back, alternating her gaze between the sky above them and the girl standing across from here. Where to begin?

"So, first off, I need to know if you know anything about quidditch at all. If you do, then I can hopefully skip the boring lecture about the positions and rules. If not, you should probably learn that stuff first. Also, I need to know if you've ever flied before. I think Cooper might have covered that in the first lesson, at least, I think she did last year, but I still need to make sure.

"Also, Liz Lavine may be joining us later. I talked to her about it, but she wasn't sure if she'd have the time or not. It's probably for the best if she does, but I should be able to do it on my own. So, any questions?"

She grinned at Gwen, and tried to hide her nervousness. Gwen seemed a good enough sort, but things did occasionally get ugly in quidditch, and, on top of that, Jennifer really didn't want to deal with Gwen's dad if he got upset. SHe would if she had to, but it would be better for everyone involved if he never found out about this. She knew Gwen wouldn't tell if it would become a problem, but people always had a funny tendency to find out precisely what they shouldn't.\n\n

0 Jennifer Attempting to teach (tag Gwen) 0 Jennifer 1 5

Gwen

June 10, 2005 10:37 PM

Attempting to learn by Gwen

Gwen had borrowed some jeans from Anne for her Quidditch lessons. Although she felt odd in them, there was no doubt that it would be easier to play a game involving broomsticks in pants than it would be in skirts. Anne had found the idea of Gwen learning to play Quidditch hilarious, for some reason. If not for the deal, Gwen would have been tempted to slap the chortling Aladren, but she had contented herself with kicking the leg of a table.

She took the broom Jennifer handed her and managed not to run her hand up and down it nervously. She could do this, no problem. She knew a little about the game, due to her Magical History lessons. Magical History had always been one of her favorite lessons. There was so many things in it that were useful in the real world that she would never have learned otherwise. She realized she was babbling even if it was only in her head and stopped.

"I know some from History," she said in answer to Jennifer's question. "The Snitch moves like a Snidget and the one who catches it gets his team a hundred and fifty points. The Bludgers fly around trying to knock players out of the game and there are people who try to make them hit people from the other team. There's another ball-not sure what it's called-and it scores." She shrugged. "That's about it. And she did cover flying in the lesson. I can control the broom, at least."

She gave Jennifer a slightly rueful look when she asked if she had any questions. "Where to begin..." she said, trying to articulate what was going on in her head. She was drawing blanks right and left with questions hovering on the edges of thought. "Well, what's the scoring ball and where do you throw it?" she said, grasping on to one that surfaced for a moment.

She returned the grin, wondering what would happen if anyone related to her-well, except Anne-found out about this little escapede. She wasn't particuarly worried. Since her initial paranoia had worn off, she realized that she was as close to free as she would ever be. No one would care what she did, so long as she kept it decently out of sight.

If she didn't keep it out of sight, well, she would deal with it. If push came to shove, she'd take all the blame on herself. She knew her father very well, well enough to know that she would never be quite expendable as long as she was eldest. Therefore, nothing he would do to her would end with her dead or crazy. To repay Jennifer for agreeing to teach her, she would try to keep her out of any of the trouble the families might cause.

She tugged at her hairband to make sure it was still holding her hair back-she really did need to think about getting it cut-and glanced around the pitch. No matter what came of it, this was going to be interesting, and probably much more fun than the constant scheming and manipulating she had to put up with from day to day. Anything to escape from the suffocating atmosphere of Crotalus, even for a little while.\n\n

0 Gwen Attempting to learn 63 Gwen 0 5

Jennifer

June 11, 2005 3:36 AM

Attempting to explain by Jennifer

Jennifer nodded thoughtfully. Well, at least Gwen knew something. It wasn't much, not when you considered everything that was to know about the sport, but it was a start.

Jen decided she should probably finish explaining the basics to Gwen before they actually started flying. It would probably also be better if they could figure out what position Gwen would be good at, so that she could focus on teaching her the details of one thing. However, if they couldn't figure it out, Jennifer thought she knew enough to teach Gwen as much as was needed.

"Well, then," she replied brightly. "That's a good start. I won't bore you with the entire history of the game now. You seem to have a pretty good grasp of some of it, and we should probably focus on the actual flying while we're down here. You seem to know most of the positions, but I'm going to go into a bit more detail on them, if that's okay.

"Since you asked the question about the scoring ball, it's called a quaffle. The quaffle is a red ball that's been enchanted with Gripping Charms, and some charm that makes it fall slowly when dropped. The chasers and the keepers are the only ones who have to deal with it, really. Chasers score by throwing the quaffle through one of the opposing teams hoops." She pointed out the six hoops on opposite ends of the field.

"Now, the positions. First are the chasers. There are three of them on each team, and their job is to pass the ball and, as I said, attempt to shoot it through the opposing teams hoops. Chasers need to be able to work well with each other, and should probably have good hand-eye coordination and pretty good aim.

"The keeper is the player responsible for keeping the chasers from scoring. There is one for each team, and they usually keep close to the hoops. Keepers need good broom skills, pretty good reflexes, and be able to think on their feet pretty well, since a lot of the time keepers have to make split second decisions about what to do.

"Next, there are the beaters. They're the players with the enchanted bats who get to play with the bludgers. There's two for each side, and they're the only players on the field not concerned with scoring. They merely try to force the bludgers at as many opponents as possible. Beaters need to be pretty fearless and/or crazy, have pretty strong arms, since you are hitting a ball with bats, and be able to think fast on their feet also.

"THe last position is the seeker, which I personally think is the most important position, since they're the ones who usually win or lose the match. Of course, I'm biased, as that's my position, but who catches the snitch usually determines who wins, although there have been examples of one side's seeker catching the snitch, but the other team winning. Seekers are usually rather small and scrawny like me, since they have to be able to get around quickly, so I don't know if that's the position for you," she grinned again at the taller girl.

"In reality, all the positions are important. So, let's get flying. Is there any position that you think you'd be best at, or do you want to try them all? There are balls and stuff in the shed, so I'll go get them while you decide."
\n\n

0 Jennifer Attempting to explain 0 Jennifer 0 5

Elizabeth

June 12, 2005 2:07 PM

Why is everyone "attempting"? by Elizabeth

The bright sunshine shone in Elizabeth's eyes as she exited her common room with her broom in hand. The positioning of their entranceway was perfectly fine for Lizzie, especially since she enjoyed just being outside. After a few moment's time, she had reached the quidditch pitch. Jennifer had slipped her a note earlier that she was going to be teaching quidditch over at the pitch in the afternoon, so, being eager to play as much quidditch as possible, Elizabeth had jumped at the offer.

She had gotten back from class not that long ago and slipped on a pair of jeans and a tee. It was pretty casual for her, since she usually wore the uniform skirt/robes, but skirts were no good for playing quidditch in. Elizabeth even sometimes wore the tight fitting practice pants that she'd bought the summer before at the new Quidditch Supply in magical New Orleans. She and Javon had goen insane buying all new equipment, including the broom she was holding. That beauty, however, had been a surprise from her seventeen-year-old brother.

Upon reaching the massive field, she spotted Jennifer and the girl she assumed that Jen was trying to teach how to play. It seemed odd to her that the girl, who, she was informed, was pureblood, didn't know how to play quidditch. A lot of people, like her extended family, didn't approve of anyone less than half-blood playing quidditch, so they taught their sons to play. It was by her brothers own will that Lizzie learned, and she thought it was high time she relayed the favor.

"So," she said with a grin as she jogged over to the supply shed, "This is your student, Jen?"

\n\n

0 Elizabeth Why is everyone "attempting"? 0 Elizabeth 0 5

Gwen

June 16, 2005 6:12 PM

I wondered when someone was going to ask that... by Gwen

Gwen nodded for lack of anything more expressive to do when Jennifer finished adding some details to her sketchy knowledge of the game. She had a feeling that it was probably much more elaborate once you got into rules and specifics and such, but she had the basics and that was enough for the meantime. If she had any skill, then she would worry about details of the game.

She thought Jennifer might have a point about her not being quite cut out for Jennifer's job. The other girl was older, but Gwen was a good bit taller. She considered the other three possibilities, thinking. What would she be good at? It was the sort of question she had no real talent for answering. She was still puzzling it over when she noticed another girl there who hadn't been when she started thinking. "Oh," she said, surprised and annoyed with herself. "You must be Elizabeth." She had only heard Jennifer refer to her as 'Liz', but Gwen knew how much it annoyed her when people took liberties with her name. "I'm Gwenhwyfar Carey, but call me Gwen." She extended a hand and tried not to wonder how long Elizabeth had been standing there before she pulled her head out of the clouds.\n\n

0 Gwen I wondered when someone was going to ask that... 63 Gwen 0 5

Elizabeth

June 16, 2005 7:48 PM

Yeah, me too, so I did by Elizabeth

"You must be Elizabeth." the girl said, then introduced herself, "I'm Gwenhwyfar Carey, but call me Gwen."

Ah, just as she had suspected, a pureblood girl. Not to mention one from a fairly illustrious family. It made sense, then, that she didn't know how to play quidditch: most girls in old, rich, pureblood families weren't allowed to play because it wasn't "proper". Elizabeth didn't particularly care for all the proper madness, but there were some points on which she would concede to follow her Aunt and Uncle's wishes like attending those parties everyone they knew threw. In other instances, however, like the forbidding of female quidditch players, Liz flat-out refused to follow protocol.

Returning back to the present moment, Elizabeth extended her hand to meet Gwens. "Yes, I'm Elizabeth Lavine, but you need not call me that, feel free to call me Liz, or Lizzie: everyone else does. Pleasure to meet you, Gwen." she added with a pearly white smile.

Her characteristic grin slowly made its way on her semi-tan face. Elizabeth mounted her broom, lightly pushing off the ground to hover slightly next to Gwen. It was nearly second nature to her to be in the air, so instead of standing uncomfortably around, she opted to take a more casual stance in the air. Elizabeth tried to refrain from circling absent-mindedly by shifting to sit side-saddle on the level broom.

After a few moments of silence, she started messing with the wisps of hair that had fallen from her bun. The occasional jet-black sections fell from the rest of the shoulder-length hair updo and framed her face and sapphire blue eyes. Playing with those wisps was a bad habit Lizzie had started doing during the summer when her Aunt Rose had made her to cut it from it's previous elbow-length state. Not that that really mattered to her- her hair was always getting in the way anyway, and no matter what length, it seemed to get loose and cover her eyes.

"So," she finally said, remembering that she'd have to act at least a little proper around Gwen, afterall, she did belong to a pretty important family. If her aunt got wind of her being anything less than perfect, her broom would get incinerated and she'd have to be locked up without sports of any kind to play. That was not good. "You want to learn how to play quidditch? It's a relatively simple game, depending on what position you'd want to play. Keeper and seeker are pretty tough, but chaser and beater are learnable in a short period of time."

\n\n

0 Elizabeth Yeah, me too, so I did 0 Elizabeth 0 5

Gwen

June 17, 2005 12:52 PM

Don't know the answer, though. by Gwen

Gwen took quick stock of Liz as the other girl introduced herself. The Louisiana Careys and the Lavines had been in a sort of truce for years, at least on the Carey side of the issue. Alexander, the half-French head of the Louisiana Careys, referred to them as worthy opponents for New Orleans, which translated to mean that they were above his branch of the family in social standing.Gwen couldn't say with any honesty that she knew much about them. Which was just as well.

There was a silence that seemed slightly awkward to Gwen. She knew why she was keeping her mouth shut. She wasn't sure if she should attempt to make her way through the elaborate maze of Southern manners or not. On one hand, she was dealing with someone more or less from her own world, a Southern pureblood. On the other, Liz couldn't be that devoted to the said world's standards of propriety if she played Quidditch. Elizabeth started playing with her hair. If this had been a party, she would have shut off her brain and struck up some dazzling, witty conversation, but that would seem out of place, here and now. She was grateful when Liz finally said something.

"Well, yes," she said. Apparently, the formal route was to be bypassed. She decided against mentioning that she was taking on this program of study just to see if she could a) actually do something and b)get away with it. She was going to retain some political correctness until she was more sure of just where she and Elizabeth stood. She considered what Liz said about positions. "I suppose I'll work with Chasing," she said after a moment. "With all that's going on,I don't think any of us have tons of time to work on this, and fearless and crazy don't really describe me, either." Well, crazy might, she thought bitterly, remembering her mother. And her great-aunt. And all the other nutty women the Vaughn family had produced. She wasn't going to think about that, though. She didn't believe that ignoring something made it go away, but dwelling on it got in the way. \n\n

0 Gwen Don't know the answer, though. 63 Gwen 0 5

Elizabeth

June 17, 2005 1:25 PM

Oh well, it was a rhetorical question, really. by Elizabeth

So she wants to be a chaser? Excellent. she thought to herself, glad that she'd taken up Jen's offer to help teach quidditch.

Elizabeth herself had been playing chaser for as long as she could remember, which probably meant from around the age of four or five. The playing of quidditch by women in the Lavine family was sparse, the only real enthusiasts among them being Elizabeth and her cousin Hermia Terpsichore. That was just as well for Liz; it sort of allowed for her to have her own rebellious moments. Her aunt was never pleased with the fact that sports was what her daughter and niece loved, but some people just can't be changed, and Elizabeth was one of those kind of people about quidditch.

"Great, I bet you'd be a wonderful chaser. And you don't have to be either of those to play quidditch well, even though my Aunt Rose would strongly disagree." she said congenially, "I play chaser, the best position, if you ask me. If you want, I can help teach you. Jen plays seeker, if she hasn't already told you, so I guess I know alot about chaser training. Now, you do know how to fly and everything, right?"

Liz was fairly certain that Gwen knew how to fly, afterall, almost everyone, no matter what kind of hertiage knew at least how to navigate a broom. She shifted back to a standard straddling position on the broom and flew at the low level over to where a quaffle was sitting next to the quidditch storage shack. She scooped it up in her arms and made her way up higher into the air.

"Enough idle chit-chat, let's start working. Ready?" she asked, gaining a still relatively low altitude of around five to six feet.

(ooc: I'm not forgetting Jen, her author's out of town, so if you want, we can wait for her, or you can keep going, I'm sure she wouldn't mind.) \n\n

0 Elizabeth Oh well, it was a rhetorical question, really. 0 Elizabeth 0 5

Jennifer

June 21, 2005 4:41 PM

Hypothetically, at least by Jennifer

Jennifer nodded. Gwen's choice made sense, and actually was probably the best thing that could have happened. If she remembered correctly, the only spot left on the the Crotalus quidditch team was chaser, and Gwen looked like she'd be good at it.

She had to roll her eyes at Liz, though. Her best friend seemed to be seeing just how much of her new quidditch stuff she could use at the same time. Jennifer had been gone when Javon and Liz had gone on their shopping spree, but she remembered hearing about it. Personally, she thought that Javon was trying to make it up to himself that his family was probably never going to let him actually join a quidditch team, and Liz, whether she realized it or not, appeared now to be silently supporting him in what he wanted. Of course, Jennifer did often read far too much into things.

"Liz is right," she agreed. "I do know some about the position, but there are few here who would be as good a teacher for chaser as Liz would. So, you two can do that, and I'll watch, and figure out if there's anything she's not teaching you, or just be there for a second opinion, or something, alright?" She grinned, and hopped onto her own broom. It had been forever since she had flown, and she had forgotten how addicting it really was.\n\n

0 Jennifer Hypothetically, at least 0 Jennifer 0 5

Elizabeth

June 22, 2005 3:53 PM

well, whatever by Elizabeth

She couldn't help but to let a soft crimson blush surface on her face as Jen commented on her skills. Liz knew that she was a formidable player, afterall, it was her passion, but when it came to teaching, she'd never really tried. It would make for an interesting experience, that was for sure. The first thing she reckoned she should start teaching was quaffle work, since that was more or less the most important thing to learn. You could fly like you were born to, but if you had butterfingers and no throwing and catching skills, you'd be doomed as a player.

"Great, let's go." she said, placing the red quaffle securely in the crook of her arm and taking off into the clear skies. "Follow me!"

After climbing to a substantial height of around maybe 15 or 20 feet, she stopped and looked down just to make sure that the other two were coming. She just floated there, tossing and catching the ball to herself, waiting for the others to catch up... \n\n

0 Elizabeth well, whatever 0 Elizabeth 0 5

Gwen

June 23, 2005 12:13 PM

Re: well, whatever by Gwen

Gwen only hesitated a second or so before beginning to follow Liz up in the air, allowing her rarely seen impulsive side to become predominant. The Gwen who mustered up the nerve to fly twenty feet in the air was the same one who had wandered around passages under the school barefoot with a wand she didn't know how to use and the one who had agreed to these lessons in the first place. The sensation of flight went straight to her head, leaving her momentarily giddy and lightheaded, but she got a grip quickly. Now the trick was to keep one.

She risked a glance downward and found that it wasn't as dizzying as she had expected. Out of memory came the voice of her first dancing master, instructing her in how to maintain her balance and poise no matter how horrible her dance partner was. Find a center point of the universe and imagine you are suspended from it, Gwenhwyfar. You float, light and weightless, unaware of anything but your partner... The basic principle could be applied, only with scoring and not getting hit by a Bludger being what she was aware of instead of a potential husband. It was the work of a moment to "suspend" herself, jointly making it easier to control the broom and ignore the twenty feet of empty space below her.

So far, so good.\n\n

0 Gwen Re: well, whatever 63 Gwen 0 5

Elizabeth

June 26, 2005 9:03 PM

Alright, drill time! by Elizabeth

Perfect, she thought to herself as Gwen made it safely up to her level. Elizabeth quickly did a hand diagnosis of her hair's status before they got started with all the drills that she was going to teach Gwen. Nothing was as annoying as being right in the middle of a nearly perfectly excecuted drill only to be interrupted by the stray patch of hair that decided it would be fun to fly in her face. One flick of the wand bound her black hair in a super-tight pony tail, the hairstyle that would keep her hair out of her way the best.

"Alright, now, chasing is pretty easy once you've got the hang of it. All it involves is catching, tossing, and play action." she said to Gwen as she let a laugh escape with a grin, "I'm sorry, I'm making it seem more difficult than it really is. It's one of those 'you have to try before it makes sense'. Do you know what Im talking about?"

(ooc: sry it's not long, but I'm short on time right now... trust me, the actual lesson will be more detailed and stuff...) \n\n

0 Elizabeth Alright, drill time! 0 Elizabeth 0 5

Gwen

June 30, 2005 9:25 AM

Let's get on with it, then! by Gwen

Gwen studied the wand movement Liz used to secure her hair. She'd have to see if she could duplicate the trick sometime; her hair was too long to be practical for anything unless one counted elaborate party hairdos as something practical. 'Sometime' wouldn't be anytime soon, though, for fear of setting her hair on fire. Annoying it might have been, but she'd rather put up with it than have it all burned off.

She was still holding her center of balance and was finding it surprisingly easy to control the broom. It had been more of a struggle the first time, but that could have had something to do with her confounded skirt, stupid thing. That and witnessing someone falling off a broom and almost getting into an aerial catfight. It seemed vaguely funny in hindsight, but it had been stressful at the time. Another lesson from her dancing coach was that stress always leads to the loss of coordination and like qualities.

"Yeah,I get it," she said, trying to keep from laughing herself at Elizabeth's Chasing in a nutshell. "I'm trying to explain the wizarding world to someone right now, so I get it. Catching and tossing, though, I can do."

OOC: Sorry about the wait, there's utility people replacing every kind of line in the county and the phones are down more often than they're working. Hopefully they'll move on by the end of the week.

\n\n

0 Gwen Let's get on with it, then! 63 Gwen 0 5

Elizabeth

June 30, 2005 12:13 PM

Okay! by Elizabeth

OOC: yeah, I hate when stuff like that happens :( but it's okay, I just hope yall get that all fixed, it's such a pain to be disconnected...

BIC:

"Good," she said with a slight laugh, "It's best if you know how to do those kind of things before you decide you want to play quidditch."

Lizzie pocketed her wand and began to take a moment to think of which drill she should start out teaching. She had a few, but most of them were three-man drills, like the "Up and Over Weave", but those all needed a team of chasers in order to work properly. Another moment's pause brought the perfect drill to light: the "Ohio" drill. Elizabeth had no idea why it was called "Ohio", it certainly had nothing to do with the state itself, but perhaps the original creators had been in Ohio at the time. Who knew? But, it was the perfect drill for someone who was just starting out, so she decided it would work well in this situation.

"Okay, well, I've given it some thought, and I think that we should start out with "Ohio". It's a one man drill, which is the best since we're not looking to train a pack of chasers," Liz said as she smiled lightly, "So, the purpose of this drill is to work on ball handling. Alright, so what's going to happen, is you're going to start off with the quaffle, so here ya go."

She tossed the red ball the short distance that lie between the two of them.

"Okay, so you'll start about here or so, and I'll be defending you. Move wherever you want, but remember that this is just about defensive offense, if you know what I'm trying to say. Your goal right now is to maintain possession of the ball, and that involves a bit of defensive work. We'll start out just trying drills and stuff, and when I see something, or Jen sees something we need to work on then we'll stop and work on that. Okay, so whenever you're ready!" Liz grinned and waited for Gwen to make a move before she shot off after her. \n\n

0 Elizabeth Okay! 0 Elizabeth 0 5

Gwen

July 07, 2005 10:52 AM

Making an attempt... by Gwen

Gwen caught the Quaffle and turned it over in her hands a few times, trying to get a feel for the ball. It had a shape unlike any she had ever seen before, but it wasn't overly hard to get ahold of. She supposed she had gripping charms to thank for that. Charms was a decidedly useful branch of magic.

She listened to the explination of the Ohio Drill and considered the wisdom of asking if defensive offense was the same thing as hitting back. It sounded like it would be along the same lines, but Anne had said something about players not being able to hit, kick, hex, elbow, or otherwise go out of their way to injure the opponents. That was the job of the Beaters and their Bludgers. Gwen had decided to take her word for it. If she couldn't kick anyone, though, then how was she supposed to defend the ball?

Come now,Gwen, I'm sure you can do better than that, she berated herself with a voice that sounded scarily like her father's, only he wouldn't have called her Gwen. To him, she was always Gwenhwyfar. Use your head for a change. Hitting and kicking to defend yourself is too simplistic. Think.

"Here goes nothing," she muttered under her breath, wrapping one arm around the Quaffle and using the other to control the broom. She thought she might be able to fly without holding on, but that was a theory to test either when it became necessary or when she had the actual drill part down. Leaning forward slightly, she both partially shielded the ball and started going forward and left. The point was to keep possession of the Quaffle, so it stood to reason that if this was an actual game, someone would be trying to get it away from her. To avoid this imaginary opponent, she changed directions and went side and right, hoping that she wasn't doing anything drastically wrong.\n\n

0 Gwen Making an attempt... 63 Gwen 0 5

Elizabeth

July 10, 2005 1:12 PM

... nice job! by Elizabeth

Liz watched Gwen as she sort of ducked down, sheltering the quaffle with the rest of her body. That was good, she had the basic concept, which was protect the ball with any means necessary. Calculating every movement, Elizabeth shot off after her, trying her best to not knock her off her broom. Afterall, good defense on a chaser's part was ramming sideways into the ballholder until he or she dropped the ball. On this occasion, however, she stopped herself from doing so, and went easy on defending her.

"Okay," she said, after a minute of fairly good defensive and offensive manuevering. "Now, let's see you shoot... Okay, so what we're going to do it just see whatever you've got; fly fairly fast at the goals, aim, and throw. Whenever you're ready." \n\n

0 Elizabeth ... nice job! 0 Elizabeth 0 5

Gwen

July 19, 2005 1:06 PM

Thanks! by Gwen

As I am still alive, I must be doing all right, Gwen thought to herself when the duck-and-weave routine seemed to be reaching its end. The thing she had really been worried about was her inability to control the broom and not hit someone or something with bad results. So far, so good.

She listened to Liz's instructions about shooting and eyed the poles warily. She had to fly at it pretty quickly, throw the Quaffle through one of the hoops, and not crash into the pole. She tried to convince herself that she could. She had a very firm faith in the powers of self-conviction; it was practically a form of magic in and of itself. It was also her gift, her natural area she had honed over time.

Satisfied that she was convinced enough to avoid panicking at the worst possible moment, she leaned forward to make her broom go again and managed to gain some speed. This is going to go right, this is going to go right, I'm not going to let it not go right- She swerved instictively as she became equally convinced she was getting too close to the hoops, aimed for the one on the right, and was slightly disappointed when it hit the very edge of the hoop and didn't go through. Momentarily forgetting that she had never done anything like this before, she went after it. Daisy Pennifold really was a great woman, to come up with a spell to make things, specifically Quaffles, fall more slowly. \n\n

0 Gwen Thanks! 63 Gwen 0 5

Elizabeth

July 22, 2005 9:41 AM

Hm... by Elizabeth

Lizzie watched as Gwen took her stance, seeming to mentally prepare herself for a shot. She had a good fly at the goals, but the quaffle just missed the inner of the right hoop. It was formidable for a first try, but it needed desperately some fine-tuning. The thought suddenly struck Liz. If she was training a Crotalus student, was she adversely affecting her team's ability to beat the other houses by helping out another player? She shook the idea out of her head, thinking it quite selfish. Gwen needed to learn the sport in order to play, and Elizabeth was the perfect girl to teach her.

"Good try," she shouted to the younger girl as Gwen swooped down to catch the falling quaffle, "Have another go at it! You can do it!"

Elizabeth flew quickly over to Gwen as she was on her way coming back up with the ball. She only had a few tips and pointers for her, but Liz figured she might as well give them now so she could use them in her next attempt.

"Hey Gwen," she started off, "Try to accererate faster before you shoot, and also, you might try throwing with both hands to make sure you get it squarely in the goals. Okay, that's all I have to say, off you go. Try it again!" \n\n

0 Elizabeth Hm... 0 Elizabeth 0 5

Gwen

August 13, 2005 5:29 PM

Re: Hm... by Gwen

Gwen was almost laughing with triumph when she managed to catch the Quaffle. Minor victories were important to her; they symbolized the possibility of future major victories. She rose back through the air, nervousness nearly forgotten. This was...wonderful. It was going to be hard not to get attached to flying.

Liz flew over and began giving her advice. Gwen nodded when she finished. "Thanks," she said, running through the pointers in her head again before she made her second attempt. It wouldn't do to make a mistake she had been told how to avoid, especially if it was a repeat of an earlier mistake.

Accelerate faster. She could do that. She had just gone slow the first time because she had been, though she wouldn't admit it, half-afraid of the broom. She had proven, at least to herself, that she could manipulate the thing, so it was no longer a problem. This time, she didn't panic at the last minute and swerve off-course, and she remembered Elizabeth's second tip, to throw the Quaffle with both hands. All that required was letting go of the broom. She could do that. It was all a question of balance, and she was balanced. She lifted her left hand off the broom, placed it on the Quaffle with the other, and shot. To her amazement, it went through the center hoop.

"I did it!" The exclamation had escaped her before she realized it. The logical part of her brain told her that it was only a little thing, but the logic did little to conquer the pride of accomplishement. Her face had relaxed into the least common of its expressions: the completely genuine smile. She didn't pause to relish the moment for long, though, but went for the Quaffle again and flew back to Liz once she had it, waiting for further instructions. \n\n

0 Gwen Re: Hm... 63 Gwen 0 5

Elizabeth

August 15, 2005 9:06 PM

You're really getting the hang of this! by Elizabeth

Lizzie couldn't help but let a grin escape her lips as Gwen's shot clearly the goals flawlessly. She really was a good player, and it was a shame that many pureblood families didn't allow their women to even touch brooms. It really was sad how so many people who had the potential to be incredible just were never given the chance to try. In fact, some of the best quidditch players of their day were women. So there, all you stuck up male superiorists, women are just as good she thought defiantly.

"That was swell, just swell!" she said as the younger girl made her way back to where Elizabeth was hovering about, "You've really got a good handle on this! I actually don't have anything else for you to do at the moment, maybe Jen has something..."

Lizzie threw a gaze over her shoulder to the other end of the pitch where her best friend continued to fly around, practicing, or whatever it was that she was doing. Being a seeker and all, maybe Jen had some ideas as to what else she should teach Gwen about dodging drills and whatnot. Liz knew of a few, but she felt a bit of regret for completely taking over the little quidditch lesson that was supposed to be Jen's.

"Hey Jen!" she shouted, guesturing for her friend to come over, "Come over here for a sec!" \n\n

0 Elizabeth You're really getting the hang of this! 0 Elizabeth 0 5