Advanced Class: Sports Room: Batter up! on Magical Arts Room and Sports

Professor Chambers

June 14, 2013 12:06 PM

Advanced Class: Sports Room: Batter up! by Professor Chambers

Lydia was ecstatic when she received the invitation to teach at Sonora. She had just gotten her teaching degree from San Francisco State University the year before and was eager to start working. She thought that by applying to Sonora she would be making both herself and her parents happy at the same time. They wanted her to come back home and be amongst her own kind again and she wanted to start her teaching career. Sonora Academy gave her the best possible compromise as far as she saw it. She would be amongst some of her own kind again and she would get to teach. Seemed perfect to her. Lydia had applied for the Muggle Studies position mostly because it allowed her to share her curiosity of the Muggle world with others who were just as curious.

Lydia debated on what lesson she would start with for her first class. Since her first class would consist of advanced students she decided that a practical lesson was in order. How better for her students to learn about Muggle life than to do a few things on their own as Muggles must. She decided that she would teach the kids how to play a muggle game called “Baseball”. She had studied the game of baseball while she was in college. She knew of no other way to get the children involved in something both physical and fun than a good game. She left notices for the students attending her class that they were to meet in the MARS sports room for the lesson. She also instructed them to dress comfortably. She arrived early and set up a mock baseball diamond complete with bases and pitching mound. The room seemed to know what she wanted and set it up accordingly complete with extra equipment. She also brought with her a few baseball bats in a large burlap bag, a couple of batting helmets, and about 15 gloves for both right and left hands. She also made sure to bring out the bucket of baseballs she had brought for the lesson.

She set out one of each piece of equipment and set them down next to the bucket of balls. She just finished setting everything up when the first of the students arrived. She waited until the rest of them arrived before she began the lesson. “Good morning class,” she greeted them all, gesturing for them to have a seat on the grassy field. “Let me be the first to welcome you all to Muggle Studies. My name, as you all heard at the opening feast, is Professor Chambers. You may call me Professor or Professor Chambers,” she told them. “For today’s lesson we are going to play a game that muggles play. It involves NO magic whatsoever and is one of the more entertaining past times for muggles.” She walked over to the items she had lying on the ground and picked them up one at a time. “The game I’m going to teach you is called Baseball. As you can see behind me it involves what called a Diamond, bases and a Pitcher’s Mound.” She indicated with her free hand to the objects behind her. She then turned to the ones in her hand. “This first object here in my hands is called a Helmet. It is worn on the head to protect it should any accidents take place.” She placed the helmet upon her head and snapped the chin strap in place.

She was glad she had left her short brown hair down for this exercise. She unsnapped the chin strap and pulled the helmet off, handing it to one of the students to try on. She then picked up the next item and held it up for everyone. “This item is called a Bat. It is used to hit a ball which will be thrown towards you. You swing at said ball with the bat trying to hit it. If the ball hits you, then whomever is pitching isn’t very good at it. You swing the bat like this and within the Batting Box I have drawn for you to stand in.” She took up a batting stance to demonstrate what it should look like. “The batting stance should look like this,” she told them. She planted her feet on the ground spreading her legs only slightly, her left foot ahead of her right. She bent over slightly holding the bat at its base one hand over the other. She took a couple of practice swings to show them how it was done. She handed the bat to another student to study and test out. “Make sure when you swing that item that you’re standing away from other people,” she advised moving on to the next two items. “These next two items are called a Baseball and a catching glove,” she explained holding both items up for the class to see. She slipped the glove onto her left hand and held the ball in her right. “This is used to catch the ball whenever it is thrown or hit by the bat,” she explained. She tossed the ball straight up into the air and caught it in the glove. She took off the glove and handed it with the ball still inside it to another student to look at.

“Now that we’ve gone over what the items are and what they do…we will now cover the bases on the diamond. Those are first, second and third base. The spot where you hit the ball from is called the Home Plate. Once the ball is thrown to home plate your job is to swing the bat and hit the ball as hard as possible across the field. Once you hit the ball, you run to first base. For this first part of the class we’re only going to go over the rules for the game and I’m going to have you all take a turn at trying to hit the ball. The second part of this exercise will be an actual game where you will try batting and running the bases. Now for the rules…if you fail to hit the ball its called a STRIKE and if you get three strikes you are OUT and its someone else’s turn to try to hit the ball. The other two ways you can get out we will cover when we actually play the game. For now you only have to worry about the strikes.”

“Alright everyone let’s get started,” she told them. “Everyone line up over there,” she indicated where they were to stand. When everyone was in place she began their game. The first student stepped up to bat and she picked up one of the balls from the bucket. “Okay…here we go. Make sure you put the helmet on before you take your place to bat,” she called setting up the first pitch. She tossed the ball as fast and far underhanded as she could aiming for the spot above home plate once she saw the student had the helmet on and was in position. She hoped that the students were paying attention on where she told them to stand. “Ready and swing!” she instructed the first student after letting the ball fly from her hands. She just had to hope that her instructions had been clear enough and that she didn’t just bean her first student with the ball. She’d just have to wait and see what happened.

OOC: Participation in these exercises is not entirely mandatory, however, it is greatly encouraged. Have fun with your posts and be as creative as possible with them. The usual posting rules apply and the posts should be no fewer than 200 words. The teacher will be keeping a sharp eye on all activity, however, it should be noted that it is not uncommon for someone to get hit with a bat or ball while playing this sort of game (I.e. the pitcher misses the plate and throws it too close to the batter or the batter after hitting the ball throws the bat down instead of dropping it on the ground, thus whacking a couple of ankles). This lesson will also be taking place in two parts so please be sure to post in the first part of the lesson before moving on to the second unless you are planning on solely being one of the 4 catchers and not batting, then posting in the second half of the lesson only is completely acceptable. I have no problem with the assumption being made that I have thrown a pitch to you and have given you a simple instruction following said pitch if you wish to write it as such, however, no other god-moding will be allowed so please watch your postings carefully. If there are any questions, comments or problems please feel free to tag me in your post and I will be happy to be of any assistance.

Subthreads:

At Bat by Derry Pierce, Seventh Year Teppenpaw

0 Professor Chambers Advanced Class: Sports Room: Batter up! 0 Professor Chambers 1 5

Derry Pierce, Seventh Year Teppenpaw

June 27, 2013 1:02 PM

At Bat by Derry Pierce, Seventh Year Teppenpaw

Derry had enjoyed Muggle Studies when he'd been in fourth and fifth Year, with Mr. Reddington, but then it hadn't been offered last year, which was sad. He had been excited to hear it had come back this year. Living in Boston now, he was familiar with a good number of muggle things, but his neighborhood friends still sometimes said things that he could not comprehend, so he felt it was important to continue the class now that it was available once more.

As he walked into the Sports room of MARS, he couldn't help a bright grin forming on his face as he recognized the baseball field. He'd been playing in the city's summer league for the last several years and it was one of the things he missed most when he came back to Sonora every school year.

He listened to the new Professor introduce herself and the game, and took the helmet when she passed it to him. He tried it on, just to see if it fit, then passed it on to the next student to check out.

When it came time for batting practice, he took the lead, figuring he had some experience so he could show the other students how it was done properly. He made a great show of putting on the batting helmet again, setting his stance, gripping the bat, and nodding for the Professor to throw her pitch.

The first one he swung a little too early for, as he was used to faster overhand throws, but on the second pitch, he swung, hit the ball on the sweet spot and sent the ball out into left field. He tossed the bat behind him and was halfway to first before he remembered they weren't playing a real game yet, and trotted back to the rest of the class, feeling a little sheepish.

"I'll be your catcher for everyone else!" he called out to Professor Chambers, and asked for someone to pass him the baseball mitt. Once he had that, he squatted down behind home base, held up his gloved hand and waited for the next strike or ball.

1 Derry Pierce, Seventh Year Teppenpaw At Bat 189 Derry Pierce, Seventh Year Teppenpaw 0 5

Sullivan Quincy, Sixth Year Pecari

June 27, 2013 1:21 PM

Who's on First? by Sullivan Quincy, Sixth Year Pecari

Sullivan took Muggle Studies with Professor Reddington as a third and fourth year, and he was kind of relieved for it to come back now in his sixth. He was dropping a great many of his core classes after poor-to-mediocre performances in his CATS exams - though, to be honest, he was more proud of his A in Transfiguration than he was of his E in Care of Magical Creatures - and he felt the school's administration would really like to see their students taking more than just Charms and CoMC. So he added Muggle Studies to his schedule as well, figuring, as a muggleborn, it would be an easy E or even an O, even at the RATS level.

Walking into the MARS' sports room, though, he groaned aloud began to doubt that assumption. He'd always hated watching baseball, and playing it in gym had been nothing short of torture.

At least, he thought to himself in reassurance, with everyone here being wizards and witches, nobody else will be any good at either.

This happy illusion was shattered as soon as the first student went up to bat. Derry Pierce was one of them pureblood guys who probably couldn't tell a microwave from a television, but he swung his bat like a pro and, on only his second try, made the baseball fly out into the field like Sully had never managed in his life. Okay, yes, the guy was a Beater, so maybe that helped, but still. It just wasn't fair.

With a heavy sigh of defeat, he collected the bat next, put himself next to home, and nodded his readiness, even though he wouldn't ever really be ready for this.

Three times he swung his bat, the first going too late, the second going under the ball, and the last, well, he wasn't quite sure if the last one was too early or to high or both, but the bat whistled through the air without meeting any more resistance than it had the first two times.

Struck out. Like he always did.

0 Sullivan Quincy, Sixth Year Pecari Who's on First? 0 Sullivan Quincy, Sixth Year Pecari 0 5

Michael Grosvenor

June 30, 2013 2:06 PM

I failed to notice the capital and thus that made no sense by Michael Grosvenor

Although Muggle Studies had been offered during his time at Sonora, Michael hadn't taken it before. He hadn't really seen the need, being Muggleborn, and when he'd had a full compliment of core classes, the thought of adding to his workload hadn't seemed like a bright idea. However, he was now a sixth year. And even people unprepared for being a grown up as him had to admit that was quite near to being a seventh year, and needing to know what to do with your life. He knew that he vaguely wanted to do something with Muggles. Like, helping people who were Muggleborn deal with it. Like the guy who'd come to tell him he was a wizard and take him shopping, or the guy who'd made up versions of his hearing aids that would work in the magical world. He figured that doing Muggle Studies would, at the very least, show the right kind of enthusiasm. He had also been under the impression that it might teach him something relevant to the latter job (like, how the Muggle version of stuff worked in the first place). However, his belief that this was the case was dented as he entered the first lesson.

Michael hated sports. Always had, probably always would. No one had wanted the 'stupid deaf kid' on their team. He'd always been picked last. No one ever passed him the ball. People always laughed if he fumbled stuff. Logic said that he might have been a decent player at a number of things. There was nothing wrong with his eyesight – on the contrary, it was more acute than most people's, having always had to compensate for what his ears were missing – and he had great hand-eye co-ordination. But in his head, sports were something that he was no good at, and which meant humiliation.

He only half listened to Professor Chambers, seeing as he knew what the rules were and also didn't care. He found it weird that she needed to explain what a helmet and a bat were for, like they were a group of three year olds. He glanced around, looking for expressions of intrigue or astonishment on the non-Muggleborns faces. All of them would have seen a bat in Quidditch anyway. The main thing that would be a shock was that the balls weren't going to come back of their own accord and try to kill anyone. He passed both items on as soon as he got them, without bothering to really look or try the helmet on.

He took his place in the line, feeling worse as Derry hit the ball perfectly. Sully fluffed it though. Michael was glad to see that he had an ally in more ways than one. When it came to his own turn, he missed the first ball, more from flinching than anything else. It had been a long time since he'd been in a situation where stuff was getting thrown at him. Steeling himself, he swung for the second one. His timing wasn't perfect and the ball only dropped a few yards away but at least it was a hit.

After his turn, he flopped down next to Sully.

“Glad I'm not the only Muggleborn in the class,” he smiled at him. He was also glad not to be the only one who sucked at sport but he couldn't think how to say that without telling Sully he sucked. Which, even if it was true, and even if he was saying it about himself as well, still wasn't very nice.

13 Michael Grosvenor I failed to notice the capital and thus that made no sense 199 Michael Grosvenor 0 5

Addison Thornton

July 05, 2013 3:05 PM

Does ‘What’s on Second’ make any sense to you? by Addison Thornton

Addison had told Medic Bailey that she was planning on going to Muggle Studies class, she’d gotten her inhaler checked and there was extra medicine for both her nebulizer and a second inhaler. One inhaler was tucked safely into her pocket, the second was in her bag she carried and the nebulizer was there as well. The medic had been notified about the start and end time of the class and Addi only hoped that she wouldn’t need him.

Addi was wearing a pair of Capri pants (with pockets, of course, for her inhaler), a t-shirt, a pair of sneakers and her school robes. Comfortable things, yes, but also short (ish) so that the heat wouldn’t make anything worse than it already could be.

Walking into the sports room in MARS, Addi’s eyes opened wide. “Baseball?” she thought aloud. She was a half blood so she knew full well what baseball was and that she wasn’t going to be able to play it easily. Professor Chambers introduced herself and Addison smiled and listened as best she could to what she said. Addi had sent an owl to the Muggle Studies professor to let her know of her asthma and the fact that she had an inhaler in her pocket and one in her bag along with her nebulizer, and that Medic Bailey was made aware that she would be at the class just in case. Addi hoped the professor got the owl she’d sent. When Professor Chambers explained the items in the game, Addi watched the others in the class as well as the professor, hoping beyond all hopes that she wouldn’t have to run!

Professor Chambers handed off the helmet and the students passed it around as the young lady explained the bat to the group before the baseball and the catching glove were introduced too. Addison glanced around the MARS room towards Derry, Sully and Michael before searching for both Amira and Josephine to try to catch their attention too. When she couldn’t catch either her best friend or sister’s attention, she sighed and guessed she’d not really have a choice but to see what she could do on her own. It worried her, but even though she had sent an owl to the professor, she didn’t know for sure if she’d gotten it. I have inhalers and my nebulizer with me if I need them. I can do anything I put my mind to. Anything. Anything. She repeated to herself over and over again as Professor Chambers explained each base, and the rest of the rules of the game.

When the time came for the practical part of class, Derry headed up the line. Derry hit the ball almost perfectly. She’d been hoping that she could actually be the catcher so she didn’t have to run around anywhere, but when Derry said that he’d be the catcher for everyone else, she stood stock still. I’m going to have to bat… she thought as Sully and Michael went up to bat. Addi had been standing behind Michael in the line and so when his turn ended, she knew it was now her own turn.

She took herself over to the batter’s box and the Professor Chambers pitched the little white and red sphere made it’s way towards her. Addison Thornton half closed her eyes and half clentched up with a tenseness that she hadn’t felt in a long time. She couldn’t even swing at the first pitch, it sailed right by her making her first strike. The second one, Addi swung at, but missed entirely when her nerves caused her to swing well before the ball even got to her. Strike two. The third ball, she actually connected with herself. She had moved into the pitch to try to hit it, but it hit her left arm instead. Strike three.

Addi moved away from home plate, trying to hold back tears from the ball hitting her arm as the next person came up to bat behind her.

OOC: Both Professor Chambers’ author and Medic Bailey’s authors have given me permission to say what has been said about and with them.

0 Addison Thornton Does ‘What’s on Second’ make any sense to you? 190 Addison Thornton 0 5