I wanna save the world one soccer ball at a time! on Quidditch Pitch

Daniel Nash II

July 06, 2010 3:44 PM

Soccer Practice (walk-ons welcome) by Daniel Nash II

There was, Daniel supposed, a potential downside to all the leadership roles he'd been volunteering for; too many of them were taking him up on it. At this rate, he wasn't going to have time to be a prefect next year. At least the soccer team was - he assumed - a one time thing.

He wasn't entirely sure how many other people had signed up to lead the soccer team, or how the coach picked him from that group, but she'd met with him earlier in the week and told him he was the captain/coach of the team, and handed him the list of people who would be competing with him against RMI. Like with Quidditch, he could check with her to reserve the Pitch for practices (she seemed to assume this applied to him, and he wondered if she knew something he didn't about next year's Aladren Assistant Captaincy).

Beyond that, and offering to get notices up in all of the common rooms that he didn't have access to, he was pretty much the lead guy on the team. Coach Pierce, evidently, had watched a soccer game on TV once, but that was the extent of her practical knowledge of the muggle game. That was, in some ways, mildly terrifying. When he'd volunteered for the 'coach' position, he'd kind of assumed it was a misprint and they'd actually meant 'captain' and he'd have an adult coach around to sort of peek in and tell him if he was doing things all wrong.

Not that she seemed to do a lot of coaching for the Quidditch teams, either, but he assumed she was there as a reference, if any of the captains needed to ask her about an obscure point of the game or something. From what she said, Daniel was under the impression she'd be checking the same books he would if he had a question on the rules.

So after he'd arranged for the pitch today, he'd spent the intervening two days reading every book the library had on soccer, its rules, and its strategies. Admittedly, that was a very Aladren way of handling the sport, but Coach Pierce had picked an Aladren to lead the team, so he felt that the approach was justified. It was as good as he could do under the circumstances, given that his previous elementary school gym class experience didn't exactly strike him as fully qualified prerequisites for both coaching and captaining what was essentially Sonora's varsity soccer team.

Armed with the information in those books, a soccer ball, and a pile of shin guards that the Coach had dug up from some back corner of the school, Daniel faced his team for the first time.

"Hello, everyone," he said, sounding far more confident than he actually was. He was a top rate actor, after all. Confidence was easy to fake. "For those that don't know me, I'm Daniel Nash," he introduced himself, since some of the kids were too young share classes with him (he took a moment to hope none of them watched Street Beat, since a group of kids who wanted to play soccer had a far higher probability than the Sonora average of having seen his muggle television show, but figured his character Nate Bealer was sporty enough that he was probably more inspiring to those who were familiar with the show than those who just knew him as an Aladren).

"We're here to play soccer and determine our positions in the game against RMI. So the first question is going to have to be how much experience you all have with the sport, and what positions you want to play. For those who haven't played before, there's one Goalie position - it's a lot like the Keeper position in Quidditch, only you're guarding a net like this one," he pointed at the soccer goal net behind him, "instead of the three hoops. Goalies are the only players allowed to touch the ball with their hands. Backing up the Goalie are the full backs, the defensive players. Most teams have two of those, but soccer is a little flexible in how players are positioned."

"More offensively, there's the forwards. These players are the ones trying to score goals. Mid-fielders, or half-backs, support both the forwards and the defense, going wherever they're needed most. If you like running a lot, I'd recommend trying for a mid-fielder position because they're always in the thick of things."

Daniel took a deep breath, and hoped that gave at least a basic idea of what to expect from each position. The sign-up sheet had not required a position preference, so a lot of the names he had gave him no further idea of what they'd contribute to the team than what their year could suggest in terms of relative size. "So, let's go around in a circle, introduce yourself, and let us know what kind of position you'd like, if you have a preference. Then we'll get to the try-outs, if they're necessary, otherwise, we'll get right into practice. I'll start as an example."

He looked around to make sure everyone was paying attention, then re-introduced himself. They did have a right to know his experience as well. "I'm Daniel Nash. I played soccer in my muggle elementary school, and read a lot of books on the subject. I'm planning to play either full-back or goalie." If he was a proper coach, he wouldn't play at all, but they didn't quite have the numbers to let him do that. From what he could tell, a traditional soccer team had eleven players on the field at once (his gym class had just divided the 24 or so kids in half and put everyone on the field, so he'd discovered this fact through his research). He currently had ten people signed up, including himself. So he would be playing, too.

Subthreads:

I wanna save the world one soccer ball at a time! by Brad Hayman [Aladren] with Samantha Hamilton (Aladren), Jose Hernandez, Neal Padrig, Pecari, Starbuck Gregory, Tobar Brishen

Goalie Try-outs by Daniel Nash II with Brad Hayman, Starbuck

GeneralTry-outs by Daniel Nash II

1 Daniel Nash II Soccer Practice (walk-ons welcome) 130 Daniel Nash II 1 5

Brad Hayman [Aladren]

July 07, 2010 12:23 AM

I wanna save the world one soccer ball at a time! by Brad Hayman [Aladren]

Brad’s eyes glowed as he walked across the Pitch. He was extremely excited for the first soccer practice of the year. He was dying to play goalie for the team, and he really, really, really hoped he’d get to do it. When he’d played it in school and at home with all his brothers, it was so much fun to stop the ball from getting into the net. It was like saving a man who’d jumped off a building, or a woman a giant mutant had tossed away!

When Daniel introduced himself to everyone and started explaining the game, Brad couldn’t withhold a grin. He only paid attention to the goalie description since it was the only position he cared about; the other ones just couldn’t compare!

Brad’s grin faded a little when Daniel said he was interested in playing goalie. The older boy had said full-back first, though, so he’d probably let Brad have the position he wanted...right? Right.

“Hi!” the redhead greeted his fellow students eagerly. “I’m Brad Hayman. I played soccer at my elementary school too, and I also play at home a lot with my brothers. I really wanna be goalie.” His grin returned in full force. He hoped he got his way. Normally, he wouldn’t be so selfish, but when it came to matters of superhero-dom, he could get pretty touchy. There was a chance that things might not work out, but he tried not to think about that.

He would get to be goalie and save the day just like he wanted—yeah! He looked on with renewed confidence as he waited for the rest of the students to contribute.

0 Brad Hayman [Aladren] I wanna save the world one soccer ball at a time! 0 Brad Hayman [Aladren] 0 5

Samantha Hamilton (Aladren)

July 07, 2010 4:35 AM

I'm just out to have some fun by Samantha Hamilton (Aladren)

As she was potentially the most competetive person on the planet, it was no surprise that Samantha had signed up for both Quidditch and soccer in her first year at Sonora. It was also useful, because when she heard that the soccer team would be captained/coached (she wasn't sure which was more appropriate) by Daniel Nash, who was older but also in her House and her Quidditch team, she was pleased that she wouldn't be showing up with a bunch of strangers. As it happened, most of the players seemed to be in the lower years, so she recognised a lot of them from class, anyway.

Samantha was kitted out in her navy tracksuit (because she was still an Aladren, even if this team represented the whole school) with cleanish white sneakers - they'd only gotten a little muddy by pushing off from the ground in Quidditch, and the jogging she'd recently started in prep for playing soccer. Her light brown hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and her demeanour was a mix of excitement at a new challenge, and determination that she was going to do her very best. Also, she was really looking forward to going to another school - she'd heard it was going to be an away game, and she just couldn't wait to see what other magic schools were like - how they were the same and different from Sonora.

Daniel explained the game to those who might not have grown up with it, then they started to give basic introductions that included what position they'd like to play. After the first two both said they wanted goalie, Samantha was disappointed to realize she'd probably have to let that position go, even though it would have been her first choice, too. "I'm Samantha Hamilton," she said, "and, well, I've usually played goalie. But I don't mind trying anything else out. I don't mind running," she smiled. She wasn't sure what her shooting was like because it had been ages since she gave it a go, but she guessed that would be a part of the practise today. She'd just have to remember to keep her hands away from the ball if she wasn't in goal.

0 Samantha Hamilton (Aladren) I'm just out to have some fun 0 Samantha Hamilton (Aladren) 0 5

Jose Hernandez

July 07, 2010 3:27 PM

Having a ball by Jose Hernandez

Looking around at the other soccer hopefuls, Jose was more than a little surprised to find out that he was - like on the Pecari Quidditch team - still the second oldest person after a fourth year. In Pecari, he almost got it. There were a grand total of five people older than fourth year, and most of those were decidedly non-athletic; or at least failed to show even the remotest interest in Quidditch. But the soccer team was from the whole school. A third year should not be the second most senior person there.

It was seriously disappointing, really. Not that younger kids weren't great - his Quidditch team was fantastic, and a good half of them were here - but the sixth and seventh years were all party-poopers in his book. This was soccer! Hadn't it been an ex-seventh year who ran the school pick-up soccer games a few years back? What happened to all the people who used to do that? Surely, they couldn't have all graduated or left the school.

But maybe they had. That had been before Jose's time. He only knew about because of his older (now graduated) cousin had been one of the regulars. Maybe this Daniel guy was the last of them left and that was why the club had died. Jose took a moment to be sorry for Daniel. That was a sad sad story.

After the pair of young Aladrens had finished their introductions, Jose took his turn. "I'm Jose Hernandez. I played soccer in elementary school, too, and with my Mexican cousins." The national qualifier, he felt, made his family games a rather different monster entirely from Brad's play with his brothers, but maybe he was wrong. Maybe the Haymans were as obsessive as the Hernandez cousins who, so far as Jose could tell, lived and breathed soccer. Jose, admittedly, couldn't really understand much of what his Mexican cousins said, and kicking around a soccer ball didn't require a lot of common language.

All he knew was that they could kick his butt blind-folded.

He wasn't horrible himself, and he did share a quarter of that soccer kicking Mexican blood, so he figured he was in a pretty good position among the Sonorans.

"I play forward, mostly, but I can play half-back if you need me there."

1 Jose Hernandez Having a ball 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Neal Padrig, Pecari

July 08, 2010 2:34 AM

Moving right along... by Neal Padrig, Pecari

Of all the quirks Neal had – the bloodshot eyes, the whole being-colorblind thing, the insomnia, the general lack of concern for his appearance – nothing irked him more than his issues with paying attention. His focus has been faithfully on soccer as he wondered over from his common room to the pitch and sat down somewhere in the middle of the other soccer-hopefuls. But as soon as Daniel Nash introduced himself, he got distracted. He couldn’t help it, the guy looked really familiar, and Neal was determined to figure out how.

Every so often when he did tune back in, Neal felt safe enough with the topics being discussed to go back to brainstorming just as quickly. Unlike Quidditch, which was something he was familiar with watching but hadn’t ever really played, he had been played in countless soccer games. It was one of his gym teachers’ favorite things to make his class do back when he had gym class.

Neal had enough luck to pick up on the part where Daniel (seriously, why did he look so familiar?) started to talk about introductions. Even though he was older, he seemed to have Neal’s experience level, something the Pecari thought was interesting but didn’t really feel disheartened over. They could all improve together, surely.

The next person to give an introduction was a really excited red-head named Brad, who was in some of Neal’s classes though Neal himself didn’t really know him. The next girl, Samantha, was also someone he never talked to in class. He hoped he’d get to know them better since they’d be on the same team, kind of like how he got to know people in his House through Quidditch.

Then Jose (who Neal actually knew) introduced himself. It made Neal glad to get to be on a team with some of his teammates from Quidditch, since he already knew he liked to work with them. They were all fun and exciting – the way he thought sports should be.

Neal paused a beat between Jose’s last comment before he started to speak up. “I’m Neal Padrig, and I’ve only ever played soccer in school, too. I’d like to play Mid-fielder, if it works out.” He always liked to keep group introductions short and to the point, so not feeling like he had anything else to really contribute he shut his mouth and looked to the next person to introduce themselves.

0 Neal Padrig, Pecari Moving right along... 0 Neal Padrig, Pecari 0 5

Starbuck Gregory

July 09, 2010 10:20 PM

Ugg by Starbuck Gregory

Starbuck awoke the day of soccer practice feeling a cold coming on. This was not what she needed right now! She groaned as she flipped off her covers and sighed as she sat at the edge of the bed. She had been psyched when she had first saw the Soccer sign ups because she missed her muggle sports. But right now she was just not in the mood to play, especially after the Pecari loss, again. For a second year in a row they had made it to the Finals, and for a second year in a row they had lost.

She sighed as she dragged herself out of bed. She had made a commitment to the Sonora Soccer team and even feeling like she did she would go to the damn practice. Starbuck dressed slowly in a pair of black mesh basketball shorts, and a red match mesh tank top. She groaned as she looked over herself, her normal paleness was a gray pallor, and there were bags under her eyes, all in all she looked like death run over. She sighed as she pulled her long red hair into a pony tail, it was getting way too long and she wanted to chop it all off. Maybe she would do it later when she was feeling a bit better.

Finally she exited the dorm and slowly made her way down to the Quidditch Pitch to see a couple of kids already there much like she had done the first day of Quidditch practices with Pecari her first year here. When everyone began to introduce themselves she glared at the kids who wanted goalie. That was her job. Finally it was her turn to introduce herself. “Hey I’m Starbuck Gregory, I’ve played goalie for five years since I was seven in my pee-wee league. I’d prefer goalie but any defense player wouldn’t be bad I guess.” She said her voice sounding raspy with the cold. Ugg could this day get any worse?

0 Starbuck Gregory Ugg 0 Starbuck Gregory 0 5

Tobar Brishen

July 10, 2010 12:20 PM

Let's get this going!! by Tobar Brishen

Tobar was excited about Football practice. He was refusing to call it soccer, and whenever he heard that word he had the urge to correct the speaker. Yet he didn’t because he didn’t want to be known as a know it all. The morning of the soccer practice he woke up early enough to braid his long hair. As he braided he intertwined some hawk feathers and beads. He was trying to keep his gypsy side alive and well as he felt that side of him beginning to go dormant. He sighed and shook his head and pulled on a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt.

He was feeling on top of the world with sports, having won the Quidditch Final he knew Sonora could beat the other school, RMI. He left his dorm room and skipped down to the Pitch happily. When he saw the group of students gathered on the Pitch he smiled and nodded. This was going to be a great team, and his confidence rose yes they were going to beat RMI into the ground! He chuckled to himself as everyone began to introduce themselves.

After Starbuck, who looked really sick, went Tobar waved at his new teammates. “Hello!” He said with a smile. “I’m Tobar Brishen, I’ve only played pick up games with muggle caravans, and I’d prefer to be a forward or midfielder.” He smiled and nodded at the next person.

0 Tobar Brishen Let's get this going!! 152 Tobar Brishen 0 5

Daniel Nash II

July 12, 2010 9:20 AM

Goalie Try-outs by Daniel Nash II

It become very obvious very quickly that his team wasn't going to happily and coincidentally fall into standard line up. It seemed like half the team wanted to be goalie. Given that Aladren had Grayson as a Keeper, he was more than a little surprised by the spot's popularity. He'd come to think of the Keeper/Goalie spot as the position where you put the person who couldn't do anything else.

But there were a lot of goalie hopefuls here, so he had two real options. He could decline the spot himself (he didn't really care enough to fight for it, and had only said he wanted it because it would let him have a good spot to watch everything else going on in the game) and give everyone a fair shot at it. Or he could claim it for himself and distribute everybody else to other positions, and draw the rest of the team together with their shared hard feelings against Daniel himself, who was clearly a selfish bastard and didn't give any of them a chance to prove themselves.

Of course, despite its efficiency, making half your team hate you in the first ten minutes of the first practice didn't seem like a great way to impress upon the school faculty that he was an excellent leader and a shoo-in for the Prefect position next year.

So there were going to be try-outs then, and he'd half to try the hard way to hold the team together despite the inevitable jealousy that came from too many people wanting the same thing that only one person could have. Or maybe he could split it up. Let one person be goalie for the first half, and then switch them out for another person during halftime. He'd decide when he saw them play.

"Okay," he said, when everyone was done introducing themselves. "We've got a bunch of people who want to be the goalie, so we're going to start there for our try-outs. I'll concede. If anyone else wants to as well, just say so when I call your name for your turn."

He looked over the list of names he'd jotted down as people interested in the goalkeeper position. "What we're going to do is a pretty standard drill. I'll call a name, and you'll go in the goalie box. Everyone else will try to kick the ball in and you'll try to stop it."

"Okay," he looked at his list and picked one at random. He read the name and nodded at the net. "You're up first. Jose, you start the kick-off. Everyone ready? Okay, go."

OOC:
Okay, goalie hopefuls, in the interest of saving time, each of you can write a post in which you may assume everyone else kicks a ball toward the net that you need to keep from going in. So that's eight shots. (Ten people, but you and Daniel aren't trying to score on you.) You can either write out each save/miss, or just give me a summary of how well you did overall. Keep in mind that writing quality counts at least as much as how well your character did, so don't think missing a few will automatically disqualify you.

1 Daniel Nash II Goalie Try-outs 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5

Daniel Nash II

July 12, 2010 9:48 AM

GeneralTry-outs by Daniel Nash II

"Okay," Daniel said once all of the goalies had taken their turns trying to block straight on kicks. "We're going to take a brief break from the goalie try-outs to just run a general fitness test." He pointed to the far end of the Pitch, where another net was set up. "I want everyone to run over to that side, tag the net, run back here, tag this net, run back over there, tag that net, run back here, and tag this one again. That's two laps. Four lengths of the field. It's not a race; it's to see how good your endurance is, so pace yourselves."

This was an efficiency he could allow himself, as it was something any coach might ask. If he ran it with them, he might prevent a few grumbles, but he already knew his own endurance, and he needed to be able to analyze the other players as they finished, not gasping for air like a beached fish in the middle of the field from trying too hard to be at the finish line before anyone else.

It would help place his outfielders, decide who could handle the midfielder positions, get an idea for what his team's speed looked like, and give him one more data point in the goalie decision. It would definitely tell him who had to be stuck in defense and who could possibly be moved to a more active outfield position.

OOC:
You can drop a line here on whether or not you scored any kicks in the goalie try-outs. Realizing we're attempting some consistency, try not to outright contradict any of the Goalie Try-out posts, so a little vagueness may be necessary if none of the goalie posts have openings yet for goals. Goalies, you may want to check in here to see who might have managed to score on you, if you haven't written you post below yet.

Beyond that, please give a description of how hard it is for your character to finish the two laps and how quickly they manage to do it.

1 Daniel Nash II GeneralTry-outs 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5

Brad Hayman

July 12, 2010 7:11 PM

Little soccer balls are no match for Brad! by Brad Hayman

Brad cracked his knuckles and then did the same to his neck as he prepared for his moment to show the world what he was made of. He was a true superhero in the making, and playing the position of goalie would be the perfect way to train for his future of daily crime-fighting. Of course, the villains he would encounter would be more intimidating than soccer balls, but it would be good practice regardless.

The Aladren’s ears perked up at the sound of his name. “All right!” he exclaimed in excitement, his eyes wide and ready for action, just like the rest of his body. He ran over to the goalie box with a grin. I get to prove myself! he thought ecstatically. I get to show them what it’s like to go up against a hero!

Once he reached the box, the grin disappeared from his face. Though butterflies still raced back and forth inside his stomach, he had to get completely focused on the goal—literally. “Everyone ready?” Brad didn’t respond, not even with a nod. A simple act like that could mean disaster if it took his attention away from his job. Before he knew it, the balls could pile up behind him and he wouldn’t know what had hit him. He couldn’t let that happen!

Brad waited in his ready position. His red-gloved hands were extended in front of him as he half-squatted, his body in the center of the box. Daniel’s word served as a signal to Brad’s body, pumping adrenaline through his veins. All he could see was the ball and the foot rearing behind it and preparing to let loose. A second later, the sound of the impact resounded and the ball traveled toward the right corner of the goal. Brad dove to get it; once it reached his territory, he violently bumped it away with his head, sending it flying back to its source. A smile briefly lit up his face, but the redhead couldn’t celebrate just yet. There were many more balls where that had come from, and he had to keep up his game if he wanted to earn himself the most glorious spot on the team.

Six more kicks later, Brad was feeling pretty darn good. He’d managed to defend each and every shot. One of the players had thrown him slightly off-balance when they'd positioned themselves in the direction of the left corner of the goal only to kick it straight to the center. However, Brad had adjusted his reaction in the mere milliseconds of time available to him, completing yet another successful defensive move.

Goalie was so close—he could taste it! His green eyes were wild now. He was on top of the world, and no one could stop him and they all knew it! He suddenly lost himself in his mental rejoicing; he let the final ball slide right between his legs and into the net.

He shook himself, realizing his mistake in breaking his attention but not realizing that it was over. He remained in his ready position in anticipation of the last shot. After a while, he noticed that people seemed to be looking at him funny. His jaw dropped a little. No! he thought. He whipped his head around to the net behind him to find what he'd dreaded most—a ball he’d failed to conquer. A villain who’d gotten away with his dirty work!

Brad’s victory was no longer secure. He slowly stepped out of the goalie box and watched his opponents, scratching his head nervously all the while. He couldn’t believe it...He was so stupid!

0 Brad Hayman Little soccer balls are no match for Brad! 0 Brad Hayman 0 5

Starbuck

July 14, 2010 1:14 PM

Ouch by Starbuck

Starbuck shivered in the cool air, the basketball shorts and tank top had been such a bad idea. She wished she could run up to the dorm and change quickly into sweats but knew there was no time, especially if she wanted to keep her goalie hopes alive. The red head had sighed when she found out she had to tryout for both goalie and for a kicking position. Why couldn’t Daniel just give her the job? She was the only one with long term goalie experience and today’s tryout wouldn’t be her best. She was feeling like death warmed over and Daniel only had this tryout to judge her skills.

She shook her head to clear it a bit. C’mon Star your better then this whining stuff, you know you’re the best goalie on this field and you’ll get the position no matter what.” She thought to herself as Brad was the first goalie up. He cracked his knuckles and neck like he was a hardcore kid and Starbuck scoffed. He was a wimp and a first year he wouldn’t know how to react against seventh years. They would intimidate him, but Star knew how to react to them her experiences as a Keeper would help with that.

When she kicked the ball at the first year he caught it easily. Of course he did she wasn’t a kicker and that just proved it. She sighed as she went and sat down on the edge of the field till it was her turn to goal keep. The few moments of rest weren’t enough to make the second year feel better but it was enough to restore some of her energy. She shuffled over to the goal taking Brad’s spot. That was exactly what she was doing she was going to take Brad’s spot and make it hers. He could be the defender to her goalie.

She bounced around a bit and swung her arms getting loose in the box. She tightened her ponytail and sighed feeling as ready as she could with how she was feeling at the moment. Finally she nodded and called out. “Ready!” The first kicker came up as Starbuck squatted and was ready to save the goal. The first kick came right at her and thankfully she caught it easily and tossed it back to the next kicker.

The next three were also caught easily and she smiled. These kids were pretty bad at this game, or were they just taking it easy on the goalies? She tightened her ponytail again between shots and began to feel good even with the cold. The fifth kicker was up and that’s when Starbuck felt it coming. The itch was building in the back of her nose, and throat. She was going to sneeze no matter what and the ball was flying right at her. So she had the choice to try and catch the ball or move out of the way and sneeze.

She was other thinking it and suddenly the ball hit her hard in the head. “Ouch.” She said shook her head and counted that one as a miss. With a shake of her head again she squatted back down ready to catch another one. That would prove to Daniel she was the best goalie because she could take a hit like that while sick and she was still ready to go.

The last three shots she saved thankfully. She was feeling great when she left the field and flopped down at the side. She really wanted to look at Brad and say “That’s how it’s done.” But figured that would be in poor taste and show that she was less of a team player. Instead she smiled at him and said. “Good job.”

0 Starbuck Ouch 0 Starbuck 0 5