Just keep flying. on Cascade Hall

The Coach

May 16, 2020 1:43 PM

Quidditch Sign Ups by The Coach

To probably everyone's surprise, Sonora's luck with Quidditch had boomed over the past few years. There had been a time when every House had a team, but that hadn't been feasible for a while now. Then the school joined a circuit competing a circuit competing with other schools, which helped as they only needed one team, but sometimes it had been difficult even to find that many people. Finally, it seemed like they would maybe have enough interest for two full teams if they wanted. That was ideal because then every position would have a second string player and there were always enough folks to get some good practices in. Of course, that meant that the best players of their school were competing against the best of the best players at other schools, but that was just as well. It was unlikely that anyone joined Sonora's Quidditch team for their competitive reputation anyway.

After last year's trip to tumbleweed and the flying exhibition that had taken place there, it was possible that students who hadn't previously been interested in the sport would be now, and there was always the exciting chance of new players with incoming first years. Of course, they had also lost Eden Manger to graduation, and there were always losses with the gains. In any case, the team was ready to begin existing and a post about tryouts greeted students in Cascade Hall for breakfast the first morning of classes.

Quidditch Sign Ups!

Our school-wide team is looking for enthusiastic players. No prior experience is necessary.
The team travels throughout the year for friendly play offs and coaching sessions with other small school sides.
Try outs will be held on Saturday on the pitch.
Please sign up with your name, year, house and preferred position or positions (if known) below.

Since not everyone knew about Quidditch before arriving at Sonora (and honestly a fair number of them graduated with about as little knowledge, too), there was an explanation of each of the positions, how many players were in each position, and some information about opportunities for both first and second string teams, as well as an assurance that players could tryout for multiple positions or come and decide what they wanted to tryout for after they got there. There were still a fair number of players from the previous year who were at the school and the coach was excited to see what happened with new blood joining the mix. The best way to do that was to give everyone a chance to find their place and find what they enjoyed.

OOC - Thank you to Selina's author because I copied your notice and based this post on yours from last year.

Subthreads:

Is too much even possible? by Parker Fitzgerald

Woo! Quidditch! by Valentine Duell

Quidditch für zwei by Hilda Hexenmeister

Just keep flying. by Evelyn Stones

I'm In!! See me Soar! by Anya Delachene

I'm in! by Ness McLeod

This year, I'll shine! Maybe. by Morgan Garrett

I guess I've got nothing to lose. by Graham Osbrook

Here I am, I guess. by Bonabelle Row with Felipe De Matteo, Jeremy Mordue

List analysis. by Nathaniel Mordue

One more time. by Tatiana Vorontsova

22 The Coach Quidditch Sign Ups 0 The Coach 1 5

Parker Fitzgerald

May 18, 2020 10:48 AM

Is too much even possible? by Parker Fitzgerald

Excitement still raced through him as he saw the sign go up. He’d been waiting all summer. Practicing when he could and where he could, working out, doing balance tricks on his broom with hobby horses when he couldn’t fly it around outside. He did practice in the heart carrying the ball under his arm and throwing through hoops. Someone had asked him if he was playing Rugby. Parker had mumbled a response that was neither affirmative or negative. Sometimes, when being a Muggle, you couldn’t win.

Despite that, Parker felt he was good. Not great and not so good he could get a scholarship to a school, but you never knew right? Parker could feel his heart racing as he walked up to the sign-up sheet.

He sat and looked at the sign-up sheet. He had Dueling club, which he had been president for a few years. He was, as of the moment, doing the Gardening Club by himself, though he was hoping that Evelyn would help with that. Added to that, this was his last year here. He had to figure out what was next. He also wanted to help Cleo with her... whatever her project was turning into.

Furthermore, he wanted to continue gaming with Gary and the merry band, if that was still happening. Reading the body language of Gary and Ness at the opening feast, though, Parker figured it might be canceled or perhaps postponed. Either way, these activities didn’t even take into account his classes or being a Prefect.

Not for the first time, Parker smiled. He was glad he had not been the Head Boy, or tried to run for it. Dorian was a much better Head Boy. Still, would Parker be able to do everything he needed to do? Parker picked up his wand and held it as if he was going to write his name for a few seconds before shrugging his shoulders. Why worry about something that wasn’t real yet. Everything would come together and happen one way or another.

Parker Fitzgerald. 7th. Pecari. Chaser.

Welp, thought Parker, what’s the worst that could happen?
His mind raced. Two horses were in the lead. The one with the most steam seemed to be that he wouldn’t even make the team. The second? That he would become the captain. Neither would be terrible… right?

41 Parker Fitzgerald Is too much even possible? 1402 0 5

Valentine Duell

May 19, 2020 4:58 PM

Woo! Quidditch! by Valentine Duell

There was a notice on the board. Valentine's eyes found it immediately upon entering the hall. This was what she had been waiting for! Clubs and people! Upon closer inspection she saw that it was the sign up sheet for Quidditch try-outs! That one was a must, Mama and Papa were both Quidditch players here and it was up to her to continue their legacy!

She fumbled around with her books and supplies for a moment until she found something to write with and then quickly wrote her name on the sheet as neatly as she was able.

Valentine Duell, 1st year, Teppenpaw, Seeker or Chaser

Mama had been a seeker and Papa had been a chaser and they had trained her for both of those roles. Well, trained might be a bit strong of a term. She was a pretty good flyer though and could move pretty fast on her broom. She'd get to use her new broom at school! They'd gotten it for her as a send-off present, and she hadn't gotten a chance to use it more than a few test flights around the yard. This was going to be great! She wandered off to find some breakfast, and maybe Bonny. She smiled, maybe she could talk Bonny into trying out as well.

2 Valentine Duell Woo! Quidditch! 1490 0 5

Hilda Hexenmeister

May 21, 2020 6:57 AM

Quidditch für zwei by Hilda Hexenmeister

Hilda had learned her lesson last year. She had made Heinrich mad for not talking to him first about signing him up for Quidditch. So this year she asked first. He made sounds about quitting but didn't sound convincing. She pointed out the great benefits to him being on the team: Evelyn was there, Ness was there, Hilda was there, and didn't he love his sister and want to spend time together? He'd had fun last year Chasing with his friends, right? He got outside the Library and breathed fresh air and got exercise. Oh, and her English was getting better but it was a lot easier with him around to help her out. And his sounds of protest quieted and disappeared, and he'd given his okay for her to sign him up again.

So she was doing that. Signing them up. Approximately three minutes after he said "fine, go ahead," because that was how long it had taken her to run here from the Gardens where she'd been talking to him.

Hilda Hexenmeister, she wrote first, because that was what her hand wrote by instinct when it was holding a quill and she saw the word 'Name' and an empty space. Then she continued with the rest of her information, 4, Pecari, Beater.

On the next line, she more carefully wrote her brother's information, taking care not only to write Heinrich's details instead of her own, but also to be neater because Heinrich was generally neater person than her and he'd appreciate that. She didn't want to start the year off with him mad at her again. Fourth year was going to be hard enough without him in her classes anymore.

Heinrich Hexenmeister, 6, Aladren, Chaser

1 Hilda Hexenmeister Quidditch für zwei 1433 0 5

Evelyn Stones

May 21, 2020 10:24 AM

Just keep flying. by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn probably should have stopped signing up for things at some point, but the distraction was nice and she didn't really mind so much. What else was she going to do while at school? Particularly when Ness and/or Heinrich were also involved in most of the things she was doing. Garden Club was the only thing that she really did on her own, and now that she was actually going to be co-leading that, then she wasn't really doing that on her own either. She thought about it for a long time before finally deciding that yes, she did still want to play Quidditch. The sport had been a major factor in her working out the previous summer and she'd discovered she enjoyed that, so she probably ought to keep it up. Plus, what was better for clearing the mind than a nice fast flight on a cold morning? Evelyn couldn't think of many things.

After quadruple checking her schedule to make sure that she either wouldn't be missing things, had notified club folks that she would need to miss things or have things moved if she did get on the team, or didn't mind missing them, Evelyn finally went ahead and signed up. She'd played both seeker and chaser before but she'd been basically terrible at seeker, so she figured she'd keep up the same thing she'd been working on. Of course, there was more competition now, and that worried her. Still, it would be fun and if she ended up second string, then she could still practice and then actually go watch the games. Satisfied, she added her name to the list.

Evelyn Stones, 5th year Pecari, Chaser

22 Evelyn Stones Just keep flying. 1422 0 5

Anya Delachene

May 21, 2020 5:54 PM

I'm In!! See me Soar! by Anya Delachene

Anya Delachene, Year 3, Pecari, Seeker

Anya lowered her self-inking quill and looked over the list as it stood. She wasn't the youngest contender, but that was an awful lot of people signing up for Chaser, all but one of them older than her. That younger one also signed up for Seeker, but Anya didn't figure she was the competition she was going to have worry about there. Eden had graduated so this was her chance to claim Seeker, but Jeremy had a year's advantage over her and had wanted it last year, too. But given the number of Chasers already on board, Anya didn't really see a point in putting that down as a secondary option.

She was too small to be a Beater though, and she would go insane as a Keeper, so best just to keep it to the one position she most wanted to have. Even if she didn't get it, at least she'd probably get to practice playing the position as the first string's competition. She'd been a reserve last year, and that hadn't been the worst thing ever. It was even fun most of the time, except when the first string team got to go to away games and she had to stay here.

1 Anya Delachene I'm In!! See me Soar! 1453 0 5

Ness McLeod

May 26, 2020 7:17 AM

I'm in! by Ness McLeod

Ness was, naturally, signing up for Quidditch. Yes, there were CATS this year. Yes, there was DnD to compete for. But Ness could handle a busy schedule. Regardless of what someone thought about that. It wasn’t like Ness hadn’t pulled in top grades with those two things on the agenda before. Okay, there were now prefect duties, and planning games would take more time than participating, but backing out of anything now would only prove Gary’s doubt in Ness’ ability as being valid, and Ness wasn’t going to let that happen.

And besides, Quidditch was fun, and had been something the Aladren had always done. It was also a Gary-free-space that allowed you to hit things, which Ness thought might be increasingly important priorities, even if Ness planned to sign up for Chaser more than Beater.

Ness was probably getting to be one of the taller members of the team now, and had always half faniced giving Beater a go - had in fact signed up for it before. Nathaniel and Hilda had it pretty well covered though, and the Chasing squad was coming together as a pretty fun place to be. Also, whilst Ness had height, any form of muscle or… well, anything other than little noodly limbs wasn’t making itself apparent. Their family just tended towards the beanpoley side of things.

Ness McLeod, Aladren, 5th Year, Chaser went on the list next to the other names.

13 Ness McLeod I'm in! 1419 0 5

Morgan Garrett

May 26, 2020 12:34 PM

This year, I'll shine! Maybe. by Morgan Garrett

Morgan had, on the whole, not been too impressed with the state of Sonora Quidditch when she had arrived last year. Things had clearly changed a lot from the epic struggles between Houses which had made her dad think it would have been completely fair to compare his team to the Empire from Star Wars (minus, he was always quick to add, the Death Star bits and stuff; they had never been defeated by anything as stupid as some guy's unknown relative magically finding their one weak spot, probably not least because, he had bragged, they hadn't had a weak spot for anyone to find). Nowadays, as far as Morgan could tell, the rest of the school didn't even particularly hate her House!

Of course, Morgan wasn't actually sure she wanted to be in a House which everyone loathed, really, but that was kind of beside the point. She was, after all, an Aladren Quidditch legacy (even if her father was, by his own admission, the second-worst Keeper Aladren had ever had, and had spent most of seven years on the bench). There were forms to be observed.

In her first year, though, there had almost been enough people for them to play against each other, and surely some of the first years would sign up. In that case, practice might get a little more interesting - and, more importantly to Morgan, public - even if Morgan remained firmly in the reserves for games against other schools. And she was a legacy. There were forms to be observed. So she signed up again.

Morgan Garrett, 2nd year, Keeper or Chaser

16 Morgan Garrett This year, I'll shine! Maybe. 1470 0 5

Graham Osbrook

May 26, 2020 12:47 PM

I guess I've got nothing to lose. by Graham Osbrook

Graham knew how to fly, of course. His family was magical, and lived far enough away from Muggles that he was unlikely to be spotted, so his parents had taught him to fly as soon as he was big enough to manage a broomstick. He had proven himself an adequate if somewhat undistinguished flyer, and had continued the practice when he couldn't think of anything better to do throughout his childhood, especially when Gran had insisted he and Claire go outside after lessons were done for the day. The old broomstick they had shared, however, had not seemed like the kind that would want to support two people at once, so they had had to take turns, and neither had really done any fancy flying, or even thought about such things.

Recently, however, Graham's thoughts about the ancient magical art of flying had begun to change. It was, perhaps, an inevitable consequence of now having his very own broomstick. Or maybe of said broomstick being, specifically, his parents' going-away gift to him. Or maybe of Claire being very visibly jealous of said broomstick. He didn't know. In the end, he also doubted it much mattered. The point of the matter was that he had a broomstick, and it was making him think more than usual about flying, and all that led to him standing in front of the school-wide Quidditch sign-up sheet and contemplating it more thoughtfully than he thought he ever would have planned to.

He knew the rules of Quidditch, because who didn't? At least at home. He lived in one of the states which had a really good professional team, one which sent players to the national team to compete against other countries. He had been to professional games before, the only times in his life it had been acceptable to get so excited about something that he'd yelled himself hoarse. What he had not ever done, though, was really play any Quidditch himself, because how exactly was he supposed to have done that with just Claire to play with? He didn't know exactly what position he would be best at, really....

It was a relief, then, to see the list finally fill up enough that he was virtually guaranteed to be a reserve. He had been worried before, since there was already another first year signed up, and it would have been super embarrassing to be beaten out for a spot by a girl. Now, though, he and Valentine Duell would probably be on an equal footing, so it was all right to sign up, which was what he did.

Graham Osbrook, 1st, Keeper or Seeker, he wrote neatly, after considerable deliberation about the roles.

16 Graham Osbrook I guess I've got nothing to lose. 1498 0 5

Bonabelle Row

May 27, 2020 8:59 AM

Here I am, I guess. by Bonabelle Row

Bonny didn't particularly want to play Quidditch, as she'd never seen a proper game before and wasn't terribly athletic. She would've been perfectly happy to sit in the stands and cheer for, ideally, Val. If not Val, then sit with Val and cheer for everyone else. Maybe next year she'd be more inclined to play. Regardless, Val seemed so excited about Quidditch and had asked Bonny to join, so here she was. She doubted the Teppenpaw would be upset with her if she didn't join and they could probably still have plenty of fun friendship-building moments, but it seemed like a gesture of good faith if nothing else.

She read the Quidditch notice through several times, debating what to do. She hadn't actually thought about the fact that she'd have to pick a position. She was too small and too weak to play beateer probably. There were a million folks signed up for Chaser and that seemed like the most obviously athletic choice. Seeker seemed optimistic since she hadn't played before. Which left keeper. That did seem like her best bet, although she wasn't sure how accurately or quickly she could fly between the hoops. Of course, that meant she wouldn't have to play. She was pretty sure she wouldn't make the team in a million years. Retrieving a writing utensil and some courage, Bonny added herself to the tryouts list.

Bonabelle Row, first year, Aladren, Keeper or wherever.

22 Bonabelle Row Here I am, I guess. 1488 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

May 27, 2020 9:10 AM

I don't know what's gotten into me. by Felipe De Matteo

Felipe had never played Quidditch before. He was pretty sure his parents wouldn't have had any interest in him doing so before, but that was not important now. Now, he could do whatever he wanted to some degree, and that meant thinking about the future. Being with Zara made him happy, and it made him wonder what else would make him happy. He liked school well enough, but he knew his passion there lay with Herbology and a few auxiliary subjects. He wasn't sure how that would translate to a career but he could see one obvious way it translated to a hobby: Quidditch.

While it wasn't the same as taking care of plants, it was a great outdoor activity that would keep him in shape and, hopefully, have him meeting new people. Plus there was a sad sad lack of Crotalus representation on the board and Felipe thought he ought to rectify that. He took a moment to look over the other posts on the board, trying to sort out which positions had the fewest applicants. By the time he signed up, only one person really wanted to be seeker and two others were alright with being seeker or a different position. Same with keeper. He could try for one of those but neither seemed like a good fit. However, he did notice that there was only one person signed up for beater, and there were at least two beaters required on a team.

It was sort of a crass position, but his build and strength would definitely be helpful there, and if he wanted to be working out, beater seemed like the best bet. Chasers and such required exercise too, but not so obviously as beaters. The more he thought about it, the more he thought it might be fun (there was that word again) and he put his name on the list with a nervous, albeit excited sigh.

Felipe De Matteo, fourth year, Crotalus, beater.

22 Felipe De Matteo I don't know what's gotten into me. 1434 0 5

Jeremy Mordue

May 28, 2020 5:08 AM

It's mine! by Jeremy Mordue

Jeremy was more than prepared for the new Quidditch season, much as he had been every year. He had put in plenty of practise over the holidays, as usual. (It had not been quite ‘as usual’ in that Nathaniel had instigated practise several times rather than just tagging along to keep an eye or being drawn in when Jeremy and Simon had done it, but given that wanting to play Quidditch seemed to Jeremy about as natural as wanting to breathe air or eat dinner, he hadn’t particularly noticed the difference. They all usually played. They had continued to play. And he had been excellent).

He was especially looking forward to this year because the blasted Manger girl was finally gone. She hadn’t even wanted her spot on the team badly enough to compete against Winston for it, but had had the nerve to show up and push Jeremy out of it when he’d waited patiently enough for the older boy’s graduation.

Now though, she was gone. Anya Delachene had put her name down. That scarcely mattered though. She seemed incapable of noticing when her shirt was untucked or when she’d failed to brush her hair - or when she was outclassed and oughtn’t bother putting her name down for something. She seemed very unlikely to excel at a task whose main component was attention to detail. And anyway, Jeremy had had it first. The coach always seemed to favour the older players, and if that rule stopped applying now, he was going to be livid.

He ignored the several first years (including one called Valentine of all things) as clearly they didn’t know better, and assumed they would very quickly find out that this position was not available.

Jeremy Mordue, 4th Year Crotalus, Seeker.

13 Jeremy Mordue It's mine! 1443 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue

May 28, 2020 5:45 PM

List analysis. by Nathaniel Mordue

The Quidditch list was worrisome. Nathaniel did not like it at all, and wondered if it was too late for him to go try to threaten a few people into going away. He had no real concerns about how the results would end up - Jeremy was an undeniably talented Seeker, and Nathaniel would wager on himself against a scrawny fourth year who did things like meekly trail around after girls and puke on Professor Xavier's shoes any day Beater tryouts happened to occur - but the process looked like it was going to be irksome, and Jeremy might be even more difficult than usual until it was over....

He strategized. Simply telling Jeremy he probably had nothing to worry about was out of the question; Jeremy would just get sulky over Nathaniel sounding as though he thought Jeremy might not know this. His brother was rather proud of his talent in Quidditch, one of the few things that Nathaniel thought Jeremy had genuinely positive emotions about. Would mocking the younger students work? Sarcastic remarks about what stunning competition Jeremy was up against? Sarcastic humor had gotten a positive response before, was closer than most things to Jeremy's general method...but what if something then went terribly wrong and the Coach gave the position to Miss Delachene? However, if he didn't say anything until after the fact...what reaction would that get? Would the sarcastic remark seem like he was diminishing Jeremy's accomplishment in that case? Would sincere congratulations be taken as an insult? He really wished they could learn mental magic, it would make his life so much easier, sometimes....

Before anything else, though, he had to sign up himself. That was a step he knew he could take without making a mistake. It was an arena where they met as more or less equals and therefore the one where things were the least difficult with Jeremy. So he signed up.

Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw, 6th Year, Beater.

16 Nathaniel Mordue List analysis. 1412 0 5

Tatiana Vorontsova

May 30, 2020 8:23 PM

One more time. by Tatiana Vorontsova

All reason, Tatiana knew, said that the smart thing to do would be to finally fully step away from the Quidditch team. She had RATS coming up at the end of the year, and because she was stubborn, she had refused to take the easiest route and take a minimal number of classes. She was going to have to work very hard all year. Plus, Dorian was going to need her - that was a given, with everything that had happened over the past year and change. Adding more things to her timetable would not help with either of those very important things.

Still, though, she remembered what Ness McLeod had said last year: that she had liked it, and that she had been good at it. And she combined with that with how it was her last chance, really, to do whatever she wanted - to really do something as silly as fly around in the air having Bludgers hit at her - before she was really and truly permanently trapped in the prison of adult womanhood at home....

Plus, it might still give the remaining Mordues some kind of satsifaction, to think that their cousin had driven her off the team. That, to put it simply, could not be allowed. And it was not as if she had failed her classes last year, she reasoned. She was apparently good enough at lots of things to keep juggling them. Sixth and seventh years took classes together, so she had an idea what the work would be like, had even done some of it, she reasoned. So she finally decided to sign up again.

Tatiana Vorontsova - Pecary Year 7 - Keeper

16 Tatiana Vorontsova One more time. 1396 0 5