Coach Amelia Pierce
June 21, 2010 12:03 PM
Quidditch Final: Pecari vs. Teppenpaw by Coach Amelia Pierce
The Quidditch finals were scheduled about a month into the new term. It gave both teams time to get back into practice after midterm, but was early enough to allow the soccer team plenty of time to practice for the meet against Rocky Mountain International. Sonora's Quidditch coach imagined the House teams would continue to practice for the remainder of the year, but without any more games planned until next year, any overlapping players could concentrate most of their effort on the inter-school competition.Since it was still February, the air was definitely chilly the morning of the Finals (people from climates more temperate than her native New England would probably even deem in 'cold'). There was no snow, even on the ground, but Amelia was glad for her heaviest robes. The sun was bright and seemed to make everything stand out more crisply than normal, as it only seemed able to do in winter. At least the ground and stands weren't blindingly white, else the glare might have made her eyes already begin to ache.
She waited patiently for the teams to assemble on the field, and for their captains to offer their pre-game pep talks. Once it seemed those were wound down, she called the two over to her.
"Congratulations on making the Quidditch Finals this year," she said, with the assistance of a Sonorus charm, so the whole of the audience could hear as well. "We're here to see Pecari and Teppenpaw play for Sonora's Quidditch Championship. Would the captains, Hannah Laurent of Teppenpaw and Jose Hernandez of Pecari please shake hands." Once the two had done so, she waved them back to their respective teams. "Game begins at my whistle."
She released the snitch from the chest of balls sitting open beside her, and then freed the bludgers into the air. She finally picked up the Quaffle, held it in one hand, her whistle in the other, and counted down, "Three, two, one." She blew the whistle shrilly, and threw the final red ball high into the air.
The Finals had begun.
Subthreads: On your pitch, snatching your Quaffle by <font color="brown">Captain Jose Hernandez</font> with <font color="yellow"> Tobar Brishen Chaser</font>, Neal Padrig, Chaser, <font color="Brown">Demelza Eagle, Beater</font>, Tristan Volkmann, Pecari Chaser, <font color=yellow>Dmitri Petrovskii Beater</font>, Kirstenna, Keeper
Slightly nervous by Kirstenna Melcher,Teppenpaw Keeper
Obviously Seeking by <font color=yellow>Hannah Laurent, Seeker</font> with Dorian Talsky, Coach Amelia Pierce
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Coach Amelia Pierce
Quidditch Final: Pecari vs. Teppenpaw
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Coach Amelia Pierce
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<font color="brown">Captain Jose Hernandez</font>
June 23, 2010 2:35 PM
On your pitch, snatching your Quaffle by <font color="brown">Captain Jose Hernandez</font>
Three years ago, Jose had been attending muggle school. His idea of a sporting finals had been his school's end of year field day, with potato sack races and a tug-of-war. Quidditch games were something he heard about sometime from Uncle Bo and some of the other grown-ups who earned money at the gambling halls. Saul talked about it sometimes, too, but at that time, Jose hadn't talked to Saul much, since Saul was about six years older than him and they both had other cousins closer in age. He'd never touched a broom for any purpose other than sweeping dirt. He'd laughed at Saul when he suggested Jose should play Quidditch at Sonora the next year.Two years ago, Jose had been Pecari's alternate. He sat on the bench, keeping it nice and toasty warm on days like this. He'd joined the team because his cousin was the captain, but a fear of heights and a lack of experience with both flying and the game kept him being anything more than an emergency back-up. If someone had told him he'd be captaining the team two years later, he'd have laughed at them. If he'd been told he would led them to victory against Crotalus and bring Pecari into another Finals match, he'd've asked who let Uncle Bo and his 'good stuff' onto school grounds.
One year ago, he'd learned to control the fear of heights enough to be able to play the game effectively, though he'd still been nervous when he took both hands off his broom or when a bludger got too close. If he'd been told that a year later, he could swoop up to the goal heights without so much as an anxious downward glance, he'd have scoffed in disbelief. If he'd been told he'd be the only person still on the team from Saul's captaincy, he'd have been horrified, and not just because that meant he'd probably be the leader. If he'd been told that a team whose most senior member was Jose could possibly win a victory against Crotalus to reach another Finals match, he'd've asked who let Uncle Bo and his 'good stuff' onto school grounds.
Right now, he wasn't just proud of his team's showing against Crotalus, he was absolutely positive they could do the same to Teppenpaw. Right now, he was positive that his fear of heights had never been a fear of heights at all, and now that his broom had earned his trust, his only source of nerves this morning involved his winter hat staying on his head for the whole game. Right now, he stood in front of his team, encouraging them to play their best, and he felt like it was the only place in the world he could or should be.
"Okay, guys, we beat Crotalus, and they're one of the toughest teams in the school. Teppenpaw's got Hannah," a seventh year, the school's oldest Captain versus the youngest, the school's oldest Seeker versus the youngest, "and Lucie," a sixth year, and Teppenpaw's best Chaser, "but the rest of the team is as new to Teppenpaw's team as we are to Pecari's. Beaters, those two are probably your best targets, though Tobar did a lot of damage against Aladren last term. Those are the big three.
"Dorian, Hannah's tough, but she's beatable. You're quick and you've been doing well in practice. Starbuck, watch out for Lucie and Tobar, they're the two most likely to take goal shots. Chasers, don't let those two work together too much, keep between them." Jose took a deep breath and (barely) managed not to choke on how freezing cold it was. "Okay, that's it. We can do this. Go get 'em, team!"
Then the Coach called him over to shake Hannah's hand, which he did with a friendly smile and the good sportsmanship to say, "Good luck!" as he did so. She probably needed this win a lot more than he did, but he figured that just meant his team was a whole lot less stressed out than hers was.
Once he returned to his team, he mounted his broom, readjusted his brown woolen hat to better cover his ears, and readied himself for takeoff when he heard the whistle. It blew and he was off. He must have been standing a little closer than any of the Teppenpaw Chasers, because the Quaffle fell into his hands easily.
Jose rose up into the air, feeling exhilaration and adrenaline fill his veins as the Pecari cheering section realized their team had the ball first. He flew up and toward the Teppenpaw goals until he spotted an opening to pass to one of his teammates. Without calling their name out, so as to hopefully take the opposing Chasers by surprise, he threw the Quaffle toward other brown clad Chaser and hoped they were paying attention to him.
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<font color="brown">Captain Jose Hernandez</font>
On your pitch, snatching your Quaffle
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<font color="brown">Captain Jose Hernandez</font>
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<font color="yellow"> Tobar Brishen Chaser</font>
June 24, 2010 12:35 AM
Taking control of the Quaffle by <font color="yellow"> Tobar Brishen Chaser</font>
Tobar was excited today was the day Teppenpaw was going to win the Quidditch Finals! He knew in his heart as he donned his Quidditch robes that Hannah would accept nothing less today of all days. Tobar liked Hannah, she was a great captain the last two years and he wanted to help Teppenpaw win for her. Okay it wasn’t all for her, it was partially because Tobar himself was after the captaincy and now was the time to claim it. Hannah was leaving after this year allowing Lucie to step into the position, leaving the assistant captaincy open.The only logical person for the job was himself, next to Lucie he had been on the team the longest. Sure Andrew was a year ahead of him but he had only been on the team this year, and he didn’t seem as into Quidditch as Tobar was. Yet the rest of the team were only first years. He sighed and grabbed his broom as he made his way down to the Pitch with a grin on his face. They were defiantly going to win today no matter what.
He didn’t know if Hannah gave her usually speech because he was watching the other team. He knew Starbuck was a good Keeper but not a great one, and the new seeker had caught the snitch pretty quickly, and Jose was their captain and he was their top scorer. He would have to be faster then all three but he knew he could, yes he could. When he saw everyone get on the brooms he got his own and rose with his team.
He smiled when he saw Jose had taken the Quaffle and took off after him. He lowered his altitude till he was flying just below his radar and to the side of him, Tobar prayed Jose would pass it off on his side and thankfully it happened just the way he thought it would. Jose passed it to one of his teammates and Tobar rose quickly grasped the red ball as tightly as he could. With one swift movement he was already turned towards the other goals the Quaffle tucked under his arm.
There was one thing he had learned about being a Chaser, it was never a good idea to hold onto the ball, no matter what. Once he was sure he was far enough away Jose and his teammates and he could see the matching uniforms he passed the Quaffle, glad to be rid of it.
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<font color="yellow"> Tobar Brishen Chaser</font>
Taking control of the Quaffle
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<font color="yellow"> Tobar Brishen Chaser</font>
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Neal Padrig, Chaser
June 25, 2010 2:49 PM
Taking back possession of the Quaffle by Neal Padrig, Chaser
Beating Crotalus had been one lucky break, and Neal wasn’t too confident they’d get another. This meant he had to get his act together if he wanted to be any sort of help to his teammates. Being the least experienced member shouldn’t be an excuse for him not playing as well as anyone else on the pitch. At least, he didn’t want it to be. So he tried harder at practices, worked on his focusing issues, all in hopes of getting his skill level and confidence up. This wasn’t going to be another game where he touched the Quaffle once and felt sorry for himself. At the very least he wanted to be flying around and looking for openings instead of dwelling on his very own private pity party.Those aspirations of being any sort of asset to winning the game had, to some extent, dissipated from his mindset as he listened to Jose talk. Even if the third-year hadn’t said it, Neal felt that this wasn’t entirely about winning anymore. It was about progress. It was about showing how hard work can match up a team from lower years to a team with a captain who will be graduating soon. They made it this far and win or lose they just had to try their best – all of them – and show anyone watching or playing with them that they cared about what they did. Silly game or not, to-the-point speech or supposed to be something that made you think, regardless of all that Neal was thinking a lot now and suddenly wanted to make everyone realize how great it was that they all practiced hard and ended up here at the finals.
… Though Neal was pretty sure no one would really think anything was too great unless they won, so he’d still try his best to help out with that, too.
Once they were in the air, Neal kept to his goal of following the Quaffle to be open at any time for Jose or Tristan to pass off to him. He thought it was working when Jose passed it off in his direction and he leaned in to make the catch. He noticed Tobar following closely, but hadn’t anticipated the Teppenpaw’s acceleration to be so great at the last second. Tobar had risen up and turned away quickly, sending the game towards their side of the field. Not good.
Luckily Tobar hadn’t seemed to notice the first year trailing behind him, so when he tossed the Quaffle away from him Neal had been ready and waiting. He came up and latched onto the ball and swung around, using all the speed he could manage to get the ball back towards the hoops for his team to score in. When he thought (hoped) he had managed to get close enough to one of his teammates to pass it off without it being repossessed, he threw it towards his fellow Chaser. He hoped they had been able to notice he was passing it to them and would catch it quick enough.
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Neal Padrig, Chaser
Taking back possession of the Quaffle
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Neal Padrig, Chaser
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<font color="Brown">Demelza Eagle, Beater</font>
June 26, 2010 9:29 AM
Let's keep it that way! by <font color="Brown">Demelza Eagle, Beater</font>
The confidence level of the Pecari's wasn't quiet as high with the chasers. Even Demelza had to admit that their last win belonged solely to Dorian. He really had pulled through for Pecari by catching the snitch. Demelza saw much potential in him. However, he was being matched up against Hannah, a seventh year, and probably the best seeker in the school, especially from what Demelza had heard. So, that meant that the chasers would have to step it up. Demelza wished that Delilah hadn't put studies before Quidditch. She was a really good chaser! But then again, Neal, Jose, and Tristan were all excelling greatly with each practice in their skills. Demelza smiled as she thought of the day just her and Tristan practiced: she didn't think of his as some egotistical first year anymore. Yes, he still was one, but he had a bit of a soft side to him she supposed. And then there was Starbuck, their Keeper, and she truly had the talent. The only thing holding her back was the bludgers. In fact, when Demelza really put some thought into it, the only thing holding everyone back was the bludgers. All of their problems pointed to her...That was why Demelza was actually nervous the morning before the final game of the year. She wished that they had gotten more time to practice, but the people who signed up for soccer had to practice for their game against Rocky Mountain International. Demelza was one of those people, but she only did it because she knew that he cousin Paul signed up for it and she thought it would be fun to play against him. Still, didn't Sonora's Headmistress realize that Quidditch was much more important? Demelza wished she could practice more, but since she wasn't going to get her wish, she decided to she would just deal with the turnout. Besides, she wasn't even sure if her team could get any better.
The chocolate brown haired second walked into the locker room with butterflies in her stomach. To try and erase that, Demelza sang lightly under her breath a random tune that she was positive she had heard on the Wizarding Wireless Network before. Some people may have thought that she was crazy for doing that, but that was just normal for Demelza. The only thing abnormal going on in her right now was the nervousness she was feeling. Demelza was usually pretty laid back about Quidditch, but she really wanted Pecari to do awesome because this was her first final as assistant captain, and Jose's first one as captain. The desire to win was burning greatly in Demelza, and she would most certainly try her best to reach that victory.
After Jose's speech, in her brown robes with her new Cleansweep 20 and bat in hand, the Beater walked onto the pitch, as it was time for the game to start. She mounted her broom and kicked off when the whistle blew, keeping a close eye on the quaffle and the bluders. Pecari, Teppenpaw, Pecari, was the order in which the quaffle was passed. Ooh, a pass to a Pecari. Noo, a bluder coming his way. Demelza knew what she had to do, but she had only a split second to com up with the plan. Leaning forward, she zoomed as fast as she could (yay for new broomstick!) over to the Pecari chaser that the ball was passed to, and changed the direction of the bludger that was coming his way. Since they were close to the goal hoops, Demelza had the brilliant idea of sending the quaffle in the direction of the first year Teppenpaw keeper. Oh yes, and Demelza would hit it as hard as she could without shattering her elbow again, because even she had to admit that Theo's action of taking out Starbuck last game was a smart one. Grinning, she swung her left arm, with her bat, back and brought it forward with all of the force and strength she could muster, and that was a lot for the strong, second year girl. She was built strong and had pretty muscly arms for a 13 year old girl.
Amused by her smart move, she watched the metal bludger as it made it's way (probably 12 feet away) in a matter of seconds over to the keeper. If it hit the keeper, the Chaser who had the ball better have been smart enough to toss the quaffle in. Demelza hoped that she gave them a great opportunity. If this worked, Demelza just might have the confidence to try and takeout their seeker. Maybe, however, Cassy was already on that! The beaters totally made this game more interesting!
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<font color="Brown">Demelza Eagle, Beater</font>
Let's keep it that way!
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<font color="Brown">Demelza Eagle, Beater</font>
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Tristan Volkmann, Pecari Chaser
June 27, 2010 2:04 AM
Make sure nothing changes except the score by Tristan Volkmann, Pecari Chaser
The only bad thing about this game was that it was the last one of the year. Why they couldn’t have more Quidditch instead of stupid soccer made no sense to Tristan. When he saw the sign-up sheet, he just rolled his eyes and kept on walking by it. The only sport that mattered was Quidditch, so trying to fit other ones in was just a dumb idea. A sport with one ball couldn’t be that much fun anyway. But if people wanted to play, fine, what did he care? He’d just have more space in the air to get in his practicing for next year’s games. And he’d heard of RMI, but he didn’t think they could beat Sonora at anything, so even competing against them when they were obviously going to lose also was stupid. The whole thing had him in a bad mood for a while.But now that he was in the air, taking in the crispness of the cool weather, he was in complete game-mode and could care less about anything else. Soccer-what? Today was about winning this thing. With all the practice the team got in, plus that extra work with Demelza (he had been getting better with names the more he was around his team in class and at practice), he was confident they’d do great. Maybe they could even do better than they had in their first match, but it was too soon to tell.
He hung back as Cap’n Jose got the Quaffle first and watched as some weird looking kid he saw in class a few times took and went the other way. Tristan had his eyes narrowed and ready to go in and take it back when Neal intercepted it. Nice! In case Jose wasn’t around, Tristan flew off after Neal and tried to get ahead of him so he could be ready for any last second passes. And it was a good thing he did, because Neal passed it off to him and Tristan was close enough and ready enough to go in for a goal.
He grinned wickedly as he saw a Bludger come at the Keeper. Great timing on that one, whoever hit it to the girl. He noticed Mel was pretty close and figured it was her, but didn’t have much of a chance to say thanks or anything so he figured he’d try to get the Quaffle in and take advantage of the help, maybe if they won this thing that’d be enough thanks. Without wasting time, Tristan brought the Quaffle back and sent it hurtling in towards the middle of the goal. With any luck, the Keeper would either be distracted by the Bludger or just not quick enough to block it from going into the hoop.
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Tristan Volkmann, Pecari Chaser
Make sure nothing changes except the score
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Tristan Volkmann, Pecari Chaser
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<font color=yellow>Dmitri Petrovskii Beater</font>
June 28, 2010 3:18 PM
How about we change everything? by <font color=yellow>Dmitri Petrovskii Beater</font>
Even though Dmitri had lacked two weeks of practice deemed to be midterm, he felt coming back like he hadn’t missed a beat. Training for the month they were given before the Finals had been more intense than ever. If they weren’t ready by this point, they never would be. Of course, being sure of that didn’t mean that he wasn’t anxious. Only a crazy person would be feeling entirely calm going into the Finals. Sure, they had beaten Aladren, but by the same note, Pecari had beaten Crotalus. Yes, they were better than Aladren. That was a given, but what if they were actually worse than Crotalus? If they were, then Pecari would have no trouble beating them.Nervously, he looked over to the other team. The majority (by a slight margin) of the team was older than him. And it was definitely saying a lot that their team captain was only a third year. Though, he supposed it was as much of an advantage as it was a disadvantage. Yes, Jose was younger and must be good to be named captain at such a young age, but they had Hannah, who had been Captain for quite a bit longer. Unfortunately, it stood to reason that maybe Jose was named Captain, because he was some sort of brilliant strategist and would be able to counter any possible play they had in their arsenal. So, maybe the experience didn’t matter at all.
Okay, enough of thinking of all the possibilities. There was only one thing to do and that was to concentrate on what he could do to help his team. His green eyes focused on the two beaters. Both female. Both older. Both had the obvious advantage over his roommate and himself. The only way they would survive was to look for weaknesses. Did they even have any? He supposed the only way they would find out was once they were up in the air. Thankfully, both speeches were short, which was surprising for the normally long-winded, advice-given captain, but Dmitri supposed that she was feeling the electricity in the air just as they all were. They were all just waiting to start, waiting to finish, waiting to find out who truly was the best.
Adjusting his gloves, Dmitri took off into the air. Disappointment washed through him that Pecari, their Captain, no less, had possession of the quaffle. Oh, well. He didn’t have time to worry about it now. He had to find a bludger. It was his best option to send one flying towards the other boy. But could he find one before a pass was made? Catching sight of one he made his way towards it just as Jose threw it. No! Oh, no, wait. That was good. He pumped his free fist in the air in support of Tobar intercepting the quaffle. Yah! Though, his happiness was short-lived as Pecari took control once more. He ran a frustrated hand through his brown hair. Teppenpaw really need to get its game together.
Sigh. Double sigh. He really needed to get his game together. So many things happened at once. A Pecari beater got a hold of a bludger he had been aiming for and one of their chasers was going after a score. Worse yet was the bludger was aimed right towards their keeper. There was no time to think, only to react. He had to protect the girl. Racing up, he jumped a few feet in front of Kirstenna. There was nothing he could do about the quaffle, but that bludger was definitely going to be making its way back to the moon. Well, at least, as far away from their keeper as he could manage. Pulling back his arm, he whacked the metal ball with his bat as hard as he possibly could. A satisfied grin spread across his face at the sound. There was nothing better in the world than to be a defender, a protector.
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<font color=yellow>Dmitri Petrovskii Beater</font>
How about we change everything?
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<font color=yellow>Dmitri Petrovskii Beater</font>
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Kirstenna, Keeper
June 28, 2010 4:05 PM
I like that idea. by Kirstenna, Keeper
Kirstenna cheered. She was extremely happy to see that, indeed, Tobar did intercept the Quaffle that the Pecari Captain had passed off.Unfortunately, that happiness was short lived as Tobar's pass was intercepted by one of the Pecari Chasers, Neal Padrig who Kirstenna recognized from class. She groaned inwardly. It might not have been the end of the world for her if they lost and she'd get over it if they did, but that didn't mean she wanted to lose. Or be responsible for it.
To make matters worse, Neal soon passed the Quaffle of to Tristan Volkmann, the boy Kirstenna remembered as having started a fire in Transfiguration. Other than that, she thought he really seemed very arrogant and obsessed with Quidditch. He was a true Quidditch-bot.
That itself was not the issue, the issue was that he was going for a goal.
Now it was the moment when Kirstenna really had to test her keeping skills, something she had not really had to do previously outside of practice.
That wasn't really the main problem though either. The main problem was that one of the beaters, a second year girl named Demelza Eagle that had classes with Kirstenna as well and who she mostly knew as being extremely hyperactive, had just sent a bludger towards her.
What was she supposed to do now? She bit her lip in anxiety. If Kirstenna went for the quaffle, she might get hit by the bludger and be taken out. She remembered what had happened to Pecari's keeper the last time, when they had played Crotalus.
On the other hand, if she avoided the bludger, Pecari would score and Kirstenna really did not want that to happen. While she knew that she would get over losing, she was sure it was important to others on her team to win especially Hannah, as it was the captain's last game at Sonora. Plus, Kirstenna didn't want anyone to get mad at her. She had just made peace with Brian-who it turned out had never been angry with her to begin with-and Kirstenna didn't want to worry about anyone else being mad at her.
She looked around nervously, feeling a bit like she might throw up. What Kirstenna really needed right now was for one of the Teppenpaw beaters to step in. She knew Brian was not overly fond of the position of Beater, but right now, if he knocked the bludger away from her, he would be a hero-well, except to the Pecaris-rather than a bloodthirsty monster like Beaters had a reputation for being.
That's when Dmitri swooped in and smacked the bludger away from her. Kirstenna felt so relieved and grateful that she could have hugged her classmate but there was no way she could do that at the moment and not time to really enjoy the relieved feeling either. The blonde haired first year flew to the Quaffle that was currently speeding towards her...
And caught it! It hadn't been the most graceful catch ever, in fact Kirstenna pretty much grabbed on to it just as it was hitting her chest, but still she had blocked the goal. She had blocked the goal!
Her excitement was short-lived though. While Kirstenna's keeping skills had been just proven in a game situation, it was now time for her to throw the Quaffle back out and she couldn't throw well at all. What if Teppenpaw didn't get the ball? Maybe she would even be better off aiming for one of the Pecaris, because her aim was terrible, and stuff that the first year girl threw never went where she wanted it.
Kirstenna gritted her teeth, closed her eyes and threw hard-probably too hard, her throws were either too weak or too hard, there was no in between with them- in the hopes that she would get lucky once again and the Quaffle would miraculously actually reach a Tepp Chaser.
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Kirstenna, Keeper
I like that idea.
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Kirstenna, Keeper
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Tristan Volkmann, Pecari Chaser
June 28, 2010 5:04 PM
Can't say I do by Tristan Volkmann, Pecari Chaser
Tristan could’ve killed that Beater guy. It was the first time in a while he’d wanted to be a Beater – if he could just have that bat for two seconds… well, no use worrying over it now. The Beater was good and had spotted a chance to save the Keeer and that was all there was to it. Tristan held his breath as he easily dodged the Bludger which came at him. If it came at him on purpose of by accident didn’t matter much, it was a straightforward never-gonna-hit-him kinda shot anyways. What Tristan now cared more about was the Quaffle. The Quaffle that the Keeper had caught.Tristan groaned in annoyance. Then he smiled to himself at her expression. She didn’t look like she really knew what she was doing, which couldn’t mean anything bad for the Pecari team. To make him feel better about the whole situation, she threw the Quaffle. That is if he could call her dropped the Quaffle in the air a throw but whatever he wouldn’t complain.
Tristan flew up and took advantage of the lame throw to catch the Quaffle. Now Tristan was confident he knew how to throw a ball. He’d been trained how to throw Quaffles ever since before he started attending Sonora at any rate. He took the red ball in his hand and whipped it back into the center of the goal. “That’s how it’s done,” he thought to himself, not letting himself say it to the girl. That wasn’t good sportsmanship, was it?
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Tristan Volkmann, Pecari Chaser
Can't say I do
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Tristan Volkmann, Pecari Chaser
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