Captain Jose Hernandez
January 27, 2011 11:29 AM
Pecari Try-Outs/Practice by Captain Jose Hernandez
After a few days passed and no additional names were put up onto the sign-up sheet, Jose arranged for Pecari to have the Pitch the next Sunday afternoon and put up a notice on the bulletin board saying as much. That would give enough time for people to rearrange their schedules if necessary (though it probably wasn't this early in the year) or for anyone who missed the first notice but saw the second to get their name up (he wasn't really expecting that either, though - he already had eight names and the new Pecari class wasn't very big).So as the hour of 2pm rolled around, Jose was waiting out on the Pitch for his new team to arrive. He'd brought out a few extra school brooms when he picked up one for himself, and he had the box of Quidditch balls beside him as well.
Once everyone had arrived, he clapped his hands to get their attention, and said with a grin, "Hello, Pecari Team. Congratulations, you all made it on. I am Captain Jose Hernandez, for those who don't know me, and Demelza Eagle is our Assistant Captain," he pointed out Mel.
"We've got eight players but Dana," he nodded at the only person on the pitch older than he was, "just wants to be an alternate, so that's what she is. Thanks, Dana." He grinned gratefully at the sixth year girl, because it was good to know he had a back-up player if anyone got sick. Crotalus had needed to pull a completely untrained person onto their team for the final when that happened to them. Jose had gotten lucky that he hadn't run into that problem when he'd only had a seven person team.
"Starbuck Gregory," he continued around with the introductions, since Demetra certainly didn't and Dana might not know everybody, "is our Keeper. For Beaters, we're going to have Demetra and Mel," he nodded first to the new first year (recognizable by being the only person Jose didn't know already), and then back at the assistant captain.
"Unfortunately, we've got four people signed up for Chaser and nobody for Seeker, so for Chasers we'll keep last year's line-up," he pointed at each person as he named them, "Delilah Kerrigan, Neal Padrig, and Sophie Jamison. I'll take Seeker this year," he'd tried Beater last year when they were down one of those, and he was kind of looking forward to trying out Elly's old spot for a year until someone else laid claim to it, "unless anybody else really wants it." He looked mostly at the three Chasers as he made that offer, since that was his primary position and he knew Starbuck and Mel definitely didn't want it.
Once that was settled, he nodded up toward the sky. "I guess now were just in a normal practice. It's been a summer for some of us since we got to really fly much," he certainly didn't have an opportunity to do so over break and he knew Starbuck hadn't either, "so we'll start with just a few laps." It would give him a chance to see how well Detmetra handled a broom as well. He picked up the Quaffle and threw it toward the nearest player. "Just for fun and practice, we'll throw around a Quaffle while we fly, too. Okay, everybody in the air. Fly that way!" He gestured in a clockwise circle to demonstrate which way around the pitch they were going to be flying.
He mounted his own broom and headed up into the sky.
OOC: Walk-ons are welcome. Just give a call out that you're here during the 'Anybody want to be Seeker?' pause and I'll retrofit the try-out as necessary. Anyone who wants the seeker spot, speak up, and Jose will trade with you. Otherwise, post and have fun.
Subthreads: I was born for this! by Demelza Eagle with Sophie Jamison, Delilah Kerrigan
Hey Jose! I have a proposition to make! by Neal Padrig with Cap'n Jose, Neal
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Captain Jose Hernandez
Pecari Try-Outs/Practice
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Captain Jose Hernandez
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Demelza Eagle
February 03, 2011 11:07 PM
I was born for this! by Demelza Eagle
All Sunday morning Demelza had to resist the temptation to run down to the Quidditch pitch and start flying. She was so excited for practice! She tried sleeping in, doing homework, playing her guitar, and running around the school to see if she could do it in under 5 minutes, but none of it helped pass time like she wanted it to. Her ADD made her get bored of doing one thing too long and get distracted from it easily. However, her ADHD was making her want to jump up and down. The combination was not good.When it was 1:30, Demelza just couldn't stand to wait any longer. She put down her half-eaten hamburger and then left the Cascade hall to grab her broom, bat and gloves, and then skipped down to the Quidditch Pitch. She went up to Jose and gave him a high-five when she saw him, grinning widely. She looked around at everyone else who came and was glad to see that she knew most of them except the first year and a girl who she recognized as a sixth year.
"Hello, Pecari Team. Congratulations, you all made it on. I am Captain Jose Hernandez, for those who don't know me, and Demelza Eagle is our Assistant Captain," Jose introduced her to everyone, and Mel waved, mainly to the first year she didn't know. Starbuck and Delilah were her roommates, so of course she knew them, and Neal and Sophie were on the team last year. Mel was a bit surprised and disappointed when he announced that Demetra would play the beater position along with Mel. Jose had done a pretty good ob as beater last year. Besides that, who would play seeker? Shouldn't the smallest and lightest player have the honor to play that position? She shrugged. When she was captain, she would check first to see if the newcomer could actually play the position they signed up for.
"I'll take seeker this year, unless anyone else wants it." Mel didn't say anything. She just crossed her muscular arms across her body and kept her mouth shut. It wasn't like she was going to volunteer for that spot. She couldn't play seeker! She was too tall (5'9") and weighed too much. Far from graceful, she could barely even focus on finding the little golden ball for such a long time anyway. No, beater was her position and she wouldn't change that. The fifteen-year-old was impressed by how flexible Jose was with what position he wanted to play. Still…she preferred to have him by her side as beater. At least then she knew that she would be with someone dependable.
With her brown tee-shirt and yellow short-shorts on and long, chocolate brown hair in a high ponytail, the Pecari mounted her broom and kicked off the ground, breathing in deeply. She loved the feeling right when she was ascending into the air and a gust of wind knocked gently into her face, especially on a hot day. She opened her green eyes and then started to take laps around the pitch, moving as fast as she could on her two-year-old broom that she got as a present from her dad. Not the best broom in speed, but Demelza was pretty good at controlling her broom. After all, she had to be the very best if she wanted to make it as a professional one day. Her body jolted slightly forward as she tried to make the broom obey her and move faster.
About 2 or 3 years ago, Demelza wouldn’t have cared about how fast she was moving. She would probably have thrown her hands into the air and ride her broom with no hands. But she had learned that being reckless on a broom led to injuries, and sometimes injuries lead to serious damage, like amnesia. Mel couldn’t afford to have any more injuries. She had to be safer, even if she didn’t like it, so both her hands were gripping her broom.
After she finished three laps, she glided through the air and caught the quaffle when Jose passed it to her. Admittedly, she wanted to whack a few bludgers (which did a whole lotta good for Mel than just train her), but she wasn’t going to start defying Jose’s orders. He was captain and all. She supposed she would have to smack a few bludgers with Demetra later to determine how well she could play. For now, however, she turned to the person flying on her right and threw the quaffle to them with probably more force than necessary and passed it to them with her left hand. Demelza had good accuracy and could take some really nasty shorts on goal, but she couldn’t regulate her strength. This was why she wasn’t a chaser. Sure, she could aim it directly toward someone, but it’d probably go flying over them because she wasn’t used to regulating her force applied to her throws. When she was a beater she just hit the ball with as much force as possible every time. The same didn’t apply for chaser, which was a bummer because thy usually got the most credit for winning the game, right next to the seeker. Defense got nowhere near as much recognition, not that Demelza cared a whole lot. Quidditch wasn’t something she did for attention; Quidditch was a hobby, her favorite activity. Mel hoped that whoever she passed the ballot knew that she tended to throw harder than necessary so that they wouldn’t be mad at her or something when it jammed their finger.
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Demelza Eagle
I was born for this!
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Demelza Eagle
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Sophie Jamison
February 04, 2011 9:30 PM
Ditto! by Sophie Jamison
Today’s the day! Today’s the day! These were the words that shot threw Sophie’s mind as she awoke, the letters that appeared in her head as her blue eyes snapped open. Quidditch practice was today, and so the blonde was eager to get her day going. She discovered the time; unfortunately, it was still only six in the morning, and practice wasn’t until two in the afternoon!A groan escaped her. What was she supposed to do for six hours?! Her homework? Feh! Instead, she popped out of bed--as quiet as she could, not wanting to disturb her possibly-sleeping roommate, although she still wasn’t all that quiet--and shuffled through her clothes. What should she wear for practice? Digging through, she settled on a silver skirt--trimmed with pink and reading brightly on her left hip Jamison--with shorts attached underneath. Quidditch plus regular skirt would equal bad. On top she donned a nice pink tee-shirt that said in bold grey letters on the back her last name, just like the skirt did. After lacing up her black high tops, Sophie was ready for practice.
But it had only been twenty minutes. Again, the twelve year old groaned. Glancing around, she found nothing to keep herself entertained, so she went down for breakfast. Food was consumed, and then it was seven. I’ll just die! she thought bitterly.
Sophie was nearly bored to tears, and, having nothing else to do, she headed off to the Quidditch pitch. So what practice wasn’t for five hours? She could wait.
That was just what she did. Her breakfast had been large--larger than usual, in any case--so hunger around lunchtime did not disturb her. In fact, around eight-thirty, she fell asleep in the grass. The next thing she knew, she pried her eyelids open and saw her team beginning to gather. Hastily, she ran over.
Captain Jose spoke for a while, giving virtually the same information as the try-outs the term before but with minor alterations. Sophie didn’t really listen that well, still somewhat asleep. Eventually it was flight time, and the second year hopped on her broom and was off.
Flying around, she watched Jose toss the Quaffle to Mel. The Quaffle was then coming to her via Mel, and she caught it, but not without some degree of difficulty. Mel was a strong girl, so she had of coursed braced herself, but it had not been enough to ease the catch. Grinning, Sophie passed the Quaffle off to a near flyer. She wasn’t that big, but her arms were stronger than they looked, so she hoped the person was on their guard.
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Sophie Jamison
Ditto!
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Sophie Jamison
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Delilah Kerrigan
February 04, 2011 9:35 PM
I was born. by Delilah Kerrigan
Another year, another tryout. This would be her fourth tryout. Though, in her second year, she had served as just an alternate due to academic discipline from her father. Seriously, was she already a fourth year? It was hard to believe that so much time had passed so quickly. She remembered when she had been the eager first year, wanting so much to prove how well she could play. Now, she didn’t have to prove that she could play well just prove that she was still the best person for the job and she knew she was. She might never be a professional Quidditch player, and now she was questioning what she wanted to do at all, but she knew she was still strong enough to help Pecari and hopefully, this year, they would win.Of course, that all started here with the tryout. She leaned on her broom while Captain Jose made his speech to introduce everyone, which was mainly for the first year’s benefit. She was a little surprise when he decided to put the girl into the beater spot. It wasn’t like they had never had first years in the spot before. Heck, Demelza had been in that spot right off the bat, but it was more concern for the girl. Mel could be harsh. It’s what made her good at the job, but would the younger girl be able to keep up? She supposed they would find out today and Jose would make any necessary adjustments. After all, it was about the good of the team, not the individual. The brunette always tried to remember that.
Though, she was more surprised by the fact that Jose was willing to take the Seeker spot. She wondered if he was sacrificing himself since he looked at the Chasers when he asked about it. Honestly, she had considered it. She had nearly opened her mouth to volunteer for the position. She had the build for it. She was thin and on the smaller side. Unfortunately, she would never be able to see the blasted thing and really she didn’t want that much responsibility resting on her shoulders. She would feel horrible if she let her team down by not catching the golden ball. No, it was just too much. So, she let it go. Jose would be much better at it anyhow. He never seemed to let anything get to him the way she did.
When it was time to do laps, Delilah kicked off the ground and joined the group. Mel’s throw was hard. She guessed part of the territory that came with being a Beater. Thankfully, she had dealt with her fellow quidditch player long enough to know her and could adjust for it. Still smarted though. She flew a quarter lap before passing it along to the next in line. Hers was an easy pass. She wasn’t trying to maim anyone. As a chaser, she wanted her teammates to be able to catch and maintain the quaffle.
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Delilah Kerrigan
I was born.
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Delilah Kerrigan
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