SOCCER SCRIMMAGE [tag: Everyone and Anyone!] on Labyrinth Gardens

Brett Hodges (with Echo Elms)

June 19, 2008 12:50 PM

SOCCER SCRIMMAGE [tag: Everyone and Anyone!] by Brett Hodges (with Echo Elms)

Brett Hodges had placed the cones on the corners of their goals and ran back and forth lining them up while Echo, who was suddenly convinced he could make field lines that would last 2 hours, worked his magic. Now, with their makeshift field ready to go (and those field lines almost visible in places, creating a splotchy dotted line effect that was messy but effective), the players were starting to arrive. Brett was hoping for a big turnout. Some of their previous games, which had been going on all year with something approaching regularit, had even attracted students outside of their usual Pecari-centric group.

First Brett divided them into two teams. He more or less let them pick who was where, but he tried to make sure they were even.

"Hey! You two can't be on the same team!" he'd admonished at least one when Echo and another decent goalie tried to be on the same team. Echo shrugged and switched teams.

Brett also made sure he himself wasn't on Echo's team and took a position as the right half-back on his team. Later, he planned to switch to a forward when someone upfront got tired so he could shoot up Echo's goal.

Everyone found their starting positions, whoever volunteered to play ref blew the whistle, and the game began!

[OOC: In your post, be sure to mention if you're on Echo's team or Brett's team and the position you are playing. If you are not familiar, these are the positions. There are a few variations on the position names and configurations depending on where you're from. That's the one I'm using, but feel free to use whatever your character is familiar with. Brett's not a control freak, though he might try to wave your character into a position he's more familiar with].

0 Brett Hodges (with Echo Elms) SOCCER SCRIMMAGE [tag: Everyone and Anyone!] 0 Brett Hodges (with Echo Elms) 1 5

Ian Grimm

June 20, 2008 12:53 PM

Team Brett, Left Forward by Ian Grimm

OOC- I tried to keep with the same terminology, hopefully. Please forgive some slight godmodding, but I wasn't sure how the game would play out. Feel free to godmodd back on my position a bit as well.

IC-

When Ian heard the words 'scrimmage' and 'soccer,' his day immediately brightened. The games had been recurring since the start of the term, and by this time, Ian had almost fallen in the habit of looking forward to it. There was a small list of athletic activities he enjoyed: swimming, water polo, lacrosse, cross country, and soccer. Anything beyond that and it meant having to deal with brain sludges. No amount of physical exuberance could overpower the drudgery of dealing with incompetents. There was a big difference between a pick-up game of neighborhood regulars and the Y's summer league. The summer league meant anyone with twenty dollars to spare could join. The neighborhood pick-up- now that meant passing muster. Not just anyone could pass.

Still though, Ian liked the game, the sport. The most exercise he'd been subjected to since his arrival at Sonora had come in the form of flying lessons, which, while calming, did little to draw a sweat. Plus, he had needed to wear his glasses, something he loathed. A scrimmage in the gardens wouldn't require the attendance of his glasses. It would just be good, old fashioned passing, blocking, kicking, and blissful running. Sprinting, running- one of the few talents he had been gifted that required little upkeep.

That Saturday morning, he indulged in a breakfast heavy in carbohydrates and protein. He dug out his pair of cleats from the back of his wardrobe, located the proper apparel (read as breathable shorts and striped jersey), tucked on his regular tennis shoes, and then took down the stairs in a well paced jog. It was perhaps the most bustle he'd undertaken the entire year. He continued his jog to the Gardens, pausing only to stretch at the occasional window seat or ridge in the wall. The usual suspects were waiting in the Gardens.

He tossed a nod toward the game's organizers, traded his sneakers for his cleats, and threw in his lots with Brett this time, having been with Echo's team last time. He took his usual position as a left forward, preferring the position as it tended to favor his left leg. The volunteer ref whistled, and the ball was in play. Echo's center took possession almost immediately, and Ian sprinted forward, leaving the re-clamation to the half-backs. The sweeper managed an interception and made a long pass toward deep left. Ian dodged a half-back, back-heeled the ball and spun around and passed to his right toward his team's center. It was a tricky pass and would go by the opposition's own center. Not waiting to see the outcome, he dashed forward, keeping the blurr that was the ball in the corner of his gaze.

0 Ian Grimm Team Brett, Left Forward 110 Ian Grimm 0 5

Saul Pierce

June 20, 2008 4:41 PM

Team Echo, Center Forward by Saul Pierce

OOC: I tried to keep to Ian's play as much as possible. I assume the second 'center' he cited was the half-back, since the center forward had two kicks between him and the ball at the end of action. BIC:

Saul arrived at the field wearing a pair of brown shorts that looked like they had begun life as a pair of renaissance-era trousers (which, in fact, they had), a blue t-shirt that claimed "I'm with the band," and a pair of tie-dyed canvas shoes that he thought might have once belonged to his cousin Maria until someone packed them into his bag by mistake (or maybe Maria was trying to get rid of them). Not caring in the least that he was representing at least three different and irreconcilable fashion eras, Saul greeted the others that had arrived before him just as Brett started urging them to form teams.

He stuck near Echo and when Echo was directed to the other team, Saul followed because he thought he had a better chance against getting goals on the other keeper - er, goalie, especially if Brett switched to a forward position later like he sometimes did. And because, you know, the teams weren't quite evenly distributed yet. Yeah, that was it.

While he was by no means the best soccer player on the field (Saul's understanding of the game was limited to 'it's like the chaser part of Quidditch; you get the ball into the other team's goal - oh, and you can't use your hands'), he was approaching sixteen and that made him one of the oldest, tallest, and fastest players that had shown up for the game. He felt little guilt about claiming the center forward position for himself.

Using those advantages to get control of the ball right off the whistle, Saul cut past the other center player and headed deeper into the other team's territory. He was intercepted halfway there, though, and the ball went flying back toward Echo's end before Saul could do anything about it. He turned to watch it go right to a little first year who did some fancy footwork and kicked it on to one of his teammates.

Too far away to hope to have any effect, Saul stayed more-or-less where he was, trotting only a few feet closer to where the action was as he shouted encouragement to his own team's half-back defenders.

1 Saul Pierce Team Echo, Center Forward 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

Irene Liddowe

June 22, 2008 2:37 PM

Team Echo, Left Forward by Irene Liddowe

Irene jogged onto the field, smiling to herself at the prospect of another Soccer Scrimage. These things were always so much fun. Okay, so the rules were still little fuzzy for her and she might not be especially skilled, but she loved it nevertheless. Irene had chosen a green shirt, the words "Free Hugs" evinced in white across the front, the hem even at the start of her favorite shorts. The teams began dividing shortly after Irene reached the field. She gave a wave to Brett and was suddenly stuck with a tempting idea. The teams divided and Irene joined Echo's team sending a playful smile Brett's way, hoping to inspire a bit of competition. This should be fun...

"Hey guys," she greeted the team with a grin. She took the spot at left forward and readied for the kick off.

The ball was put into play and Irene took off at a decent speed towards the ball, her eyes following the first year on Brett's team that had passed the ball. She put her focus on taking on the Right Forward of the other team (that was what she was suppose to do, right?). To her surprise, the ball came close enough to her that she could stick her foot out to steal it. Irene bumped the ball over, turning so she was dribbling the ball towards the other end. With a quick turn of her foot, she passed the ball over to Saul and running forward so she was nearer the goal.

Irene participated in the soccer games for a number of reasons. One, she couldn't deny that soccer was fun with the constant action. Two, she wanted to show her support for Brett's group. Three, it helped keep her in shape for Quidditch. The running wasn't something that she opposed. The energy-taxing action was something of a fun challenge to her. Her ponytail trailed behind her as she kept up with the game, trying to stay open should Saul pass it back.

0 Irene Liddowe Team Echo, Left Forward 106 Irene Liddowe 0 5

Meredith Lail

June 25, 2008 10:55 AM

Referee by Meredith Lail

After another half sleepless night, Meredith was up, breakfasted, and ready to go join her friends in the Labyrinth Gardens. She fully participated the previous year when the soccer games started. Mere was up for trying anything new, even strange muggle games. She had to keep that up this year. She wanted to. She wanted to act like everything was exactly the same as it had always been and maybe it would be. So once again a typical Meredith-like smile that left her eyes squinted from her cheeks rising was what met everyone in the Gardens where a field had been set up for them to play on. She wore a tee-shirt with a white tank top layered over it and a pair of denim shorts. Her hair was tied back in two low pig tails tied with her ever favorite beater hair ties.

When Mere felt up to it, she played defense for whichever team she ended up on so she could still be part of the action. She decided to stick to refereeing that day because her knee and elbow were throbbing more than usual. It happened sometimes when she got sick of the nasty potion. She took the whistle from Brett, calling to be the referee. That was the biggest perk. She got to blow the whistle. Mere learned the basic rules of the game. Don't touch the ball with your hands unless you're goalie. Don't purposely kick other players. And so on. Mere stood back as teams were picked and waited until everyone was finished and in their starting positions. She put the ball in the center and backed up.

"Ready?" She held the whistle up to her mouth. Mere grinned and blew the whistle with all of her breath so that it blasted loudly. She stepped outside the boundary line to stay out of the way of the game and watched the players start kicking the ball. Saul got it first and Mere cheered. She wasn't exactly rooting for one team over the other. Her friends were on both. So she settled for cheering for both as she regularly did when refereeing. Then a first year from another house got the ball and Mere gave support to him too. And why not? Admittedly it was a little louder as Irene stole the ball back for Echo's team.

Meredith inched along the side of the field keeping a close eye on the ball and the players and was ready (and excited) to blow the whistle as a signal for whatever she saw that needed to pause the game. As blue eyes carefully watched, Mere's fingers settled on the stone ring on the middle finger of her right hand and she began twisting it steadily or rapidly depending on the action of the game.

0 Meredith Lail Referee 0 Meredith Lail 0 5

Elly Eriksson

June 29, 2008 4:55 PM

Team Brett, Center Forward by Elly Eriksson

Elly had come to love the soccer scrimmages. Her knowledge of the exact rules had never been very firm, but luckily Brett's games were infrmal enough for that not to matter. And if anyone did anything very wrong, Brett would be sure to call them on it, anyway. All in all, it was just a good excuse to run around, burn off some excess energy and have some fun. Plus it was good for making friends - Elly had met several new people through the scrimmages, so that was yet another bonus.

Heading down to the game with Meredith and Iren, Elly had on a pair of very short lilac shorts. She did own one pair of longer shorts, but she found they tnded to get in the way of sports, so she invariably opted for the pairs that showed the greatest amount of her ridiculously long and white legs. She wore a long-sleeved purple cotton v-neck and her still-fairly-new trainers, with her hair (how did it get that long again?) tied back in a messy plait.

When they were splitting into teams, Elly drifted towards her closest friends (except Mere, who was rfereing this game, anyway), but then Saul and Echo moseyed on over to the other side, anyway. Elly shrugged and stayed put; she's played on Brett's team before. Somehow, it just flt more like she had to win if she was playing for Brett - he had so much passion in the game it seemed almost cruel to let him down.

Saul stuck himself in the center forward position for Echo's team, and, seeing as Brett had left the position open on his own team, at least for now, Elly took center frward for herself. She and Saul were the tallest, and the oldest, so it felt fitting that they took the center position on each opposing team. Elly winked playfully at Saul before they began.

At kick off, Saul got the ball, and managed to take it up field a bit before that first year kid who'd played with them a few times (Elly thought his name might be Ian, but she wasn't certain) managed to steal the ball and headed it back again. Elly readied herself to receive the ball, but at the last moment Irene came out of nowhere and intercepted the pass. Sparing a moment of disbelief, Elly followed Irene the other way, and, with the advantage of her longer legs, she caught the ball back as Irene passed to Saul. Now she had the ball, Elly began heading back up from whence she'd just come, towards Echo's goals. Steering over to her left, Elly looked til she saw Ian back in her line of sight, and executed a neat right footed kick, passing it back to the firstie, and praying that Saul wouldn't manage to sneak back in.

OCC: Is it just me, or is this already really hard to keep up with what's going on? *grins*

0 Elly Eriksson Team Brett, Center Forward 92 Elly Eriksson 0 5

Ian Grimm

July 04, 2008 3:34 PM

Team Brett, Left Forward by Ian Grimm

Ian felt his breath beginning to catch and his muscles ache in that warming burn that signified stress; he smiled crookedly, enjoying the effort necessary to keep up. His eyes continued to squint after the ball, the combination of his poor vision and its constant motion turning the object into a grey blur of occasionally stationary positioning. The only real trouble his stubborn refusal to wear his glasses gave to the game was recognizing who was on his team, and who wasn't.

He was thankful that he had that redhead, Elly, from Pecari on his team; while her facial features were blurred, her head of hair stood out just fine, and he was able to match her movements easily enough. When his pass was intercepted, he first moved to re-position himself for an interception of his own, but then quickly re-calculated as he saw Elly steal through a pass of their own. He sprinted forward, feinted a line for the goal, and then backed over to his right, setting himself up to receive.

Elly saw him and the play was made. Her pass caught some air, which he folded into a stop with his chest, continuing forward to not lose the ball's momentum. He saw Elly still to his right, and he knew that Saul and that third year girl were somewhere near. He managed to bypass a sliding interception from his left; he didn't recognize the blur. He didn't trust his distance to attempt a goal, and there was too much coverage for him to try and feint his way out of the pocket.

He drew to an angled stop, toed the ball into the air, and used his left foot again to pass back to his right. He saw the blur of red hair in that area and thought he recognized the striped jersey of another of his teammate's as well. The ball veered slightly off from his intended path, but he hoped that the difference was not too much to disrupt the pass.

OOC- And no, you're not the only one. Which is what makes this fun.

0 Ian Grimm Team Brett, Left Forward 110 Ian Grimm 0 5

Elly

July 06, 2008 8:26 AM

Team Brett, Center Forward by Elly

Just as well the picth was a great deal smaller than a standard football pitch, because there was no way that Elly was fit enough to keep sprinting on up that far. As it was, their smaller make-shift field was a decent size for casual game play. Elly was greatful fo this as she sprinted up towards Echo's goal. Ian had the ball, but he wasn't going to be able to shoot from where he was headed.

As Elly predicted, Ian passed the ball back her way. She fumbled her footwork a bit trying to regain possession, and when she looked up to pass to another forward, Echo's team had already entered the fray, leaving her with few options. The ground between her and the goal was clear, but Elly wasn't renowned for good aim (on the ground, at least). But if she tried to pass to a teammate, the ball would certainly be intercepted, and they were so close to the goals.

Making her mind up, Elly gave a brief, hard sprint forward, and made a rather messy left-footed shoot for the goal. The ball didn't have as much speed as she'd liked, and looked like it would only just go past the post, perhaps even clippping it, at worst.

0 Elly Team Brett, Center Forward 0 Elly 0 5

Echo Elms

August 04, 2008 11:18 AM

Team Echo, Goalie: Deflected! by Echo Elms

Echo crouched as the ball came up the field and readied himself to pounce if anyone got a shot on. It wasn't likely. His fullbacks had jumped into the fray and Elly had the ball. It wasn't that Elly had never made a shot on him, she certainly had, even gotten it in a few times, but the fullback coming up on her side was angled just right. Echo grinned, bouncing his weight between the ball of his feet as he waited.

Elly pulled forward just enough to make her shot. It went off her foot wrong, which could have made it miss the goal entirely, but instead, it popped toward the left side. Echo launched himself at it, fingertips extended to their full length and wishing they were a little longer. They tipped the ball's pleathery surface just before the ground reached up to slam him in the side.

As Echo scrambled to find his feet again, the ball rebounded back out in front of the goal towards a waiting pair: one offense, one defense.

OOC: Oh, yes, very confused. But improving. :-)

21 Echo Elms Team Echo, Goalie: Deflected! 93 Echo Elms 0 5