The Coach
June 05, 2020 10:56 AM
Quidditch Tryouts! by The Coach
"Hello, everyone!" the coach said, greeting the gathered students with a grin. It was always exciting to see who signed up for the team - there were repeat players, new players, and everything in between. Some people had played once before but not for years since. Some people clearly didn't want to be here and stood nervously near their friends, hoping for some amount of social approval by coming. Some students were bouncing on their feet, eagerly waiting to give this their best shot. "As most of you already know, Sonora has a school team rather than house teams, and we play against other schools in the area. That means the team will be traveling! It also means this is a big commitment. That being said, there are enough of you that I have high hopes we will be able to do something a little different this year." The coach grinned again, excited about this bit.Taking a moment to savor the excitement - and the sunshine - the coach paced a little in front of the students. It helped with thinking through all throw words in the right order, too. "My hope is that we will have enough players to have a full team and a full reserve team, and we will be able to host recreational games here with mixed teams. That'll give your classmates a chance to get involved and be excited by watching, and you can all have more chances to really improve your skills by playing with different teams together." Pulling out a clipboard with the list of students who had put down their interest for tryouts and for which positions, the coach nodded, satisfied. "We should have enough for a regular and reserve player for most positions!"
This was so exciting! "All that to bring us to tryouts! Welcome, students. If anyone needs a refresher on any of the positions, please feel free to take a look at the poster I've put up on the wall over there," the coach said, pointing to a large, colorful poster near the entrance to the pitch. Moving animations showed little figures of what each position sort of did, next to more detailed descriptions. "Anyone who is trying out for more than one position may need more time than we have here today, so please follow up with me afterwards if you don't get a chance to try for all of the ones you want to.
We'll start with some warm ups, stretches, and laps to get our blood pumping, and then the tryouts will begin. I expect everyone to be limbered up properly. I know many of you are nervous, but injuring yourself because you were too important to get through a proper warm up won't do anyone any good, and I won't be impressed by that sort of behavior." The coach looked warningly at the students, although still with kindness. It wouldn't be the first time someone hurt themselves and it really was very frustrating to seek happen. "When that's done, I want you all to take a couple warm up laps on your brooms. I've set up some obstacles, so I want you to take your time getting through those. Over or under posts, through rings, around poles, things like that. I want to see that you can handle yourself, not see how fast you can manage it, so be careful. Finally, we'll begin the tryouts for individual positions."
The coach looked at the clipboard again and pointed out various spots on the field for each group to go as they were read off. "Those of you trying out for seeker will be over there. The contraption over there is charmed to fire off different color balls about the size of a snitch. First, you'll take turns--" the coach paused to assign each perspective seeker a color "--trying to catch balls of your color alone. Then, you'll all be up there, trying to only catch balls of your own color and not each others'. It's important that a seeker can be lithe, quick, and aware of their surroundings so as not to get run into or run into anyone else.
Those of you trying out for Keeper will be over by the goal posts with a similar contraption, except you won't be going at it at the same time at all. This will be a bit shorter because perspective Chasers," the coach pointed to another spot on the field, near the goal posts, "will be practicing some passing and catching activities together and then showing me what you can do for making goals. You'll do that without a keeper first and then I'll have the keeper tryouts get in there and give it a go. Missing a goal because the keeper gets there doesn't mean you did badly, and getting a goal because a keeper missed it doesn't mean you did well. Just do your best. I can absolutely see when you are playing skillfully, whether or not you get a goal out of it."
The coach paused to check for questions and then moved on to the final position. There were fewer people signed up for this one, particularly considering that they needed at least two, but that didn't mean they wouldn't be expected to tryout just like anyone else. "Prospective beaters, you're going to first take a bat and be working with a contraption much like the others I've mentioned. It'll shoot off Bludger-sized balls at you and I want you to hit them back at the targets that are set up where I've pointed. When that's done, you'll pair up and pass balls back and forth with your bats. If we have enough people, I want you to switch partners; I need to see how all of you work together."
Double checking the clipboard, pausing for questions and answers, and taking a deep breath, the coach grinned one more time. "I'm really glad you're all here. Let's play Quidditch!" The coach blew a whistle and the students began.
OOC - Welcome to Quidditch tryouts! This will function essentially like classes, although there won't be points award for this. I am trying something new and setting up specific groupings for subthreads for each position and general threads. We'll see how well that works. Feel free to tag the coach if you need, or god mod the coach slightly as necessary.
The team will be determined both by IC factors - experience and skill, things that the school would logically take into consideration - and OOC factors - essentially, contribution to tryouts. If you have any questions, shoot a message my way (Evelyn Stones') way in chatzy, or in an OOC. If you signed up for tryouts, it is assumed that you came to tryouts. However, if you don't actually post at tryouts, your chances of being on the team are significantly reduced. You'll have two weeks to post here and get your tryout in, and then I'll start building a roster to be posted in three weeks.
Happy flying!
Subthreads:Chasers
Playing the odds this time. by Valentine Duell with Heinrich Hexenmeister , Morgan Garrett
The odds are good, but the goods are odd. by Parker Fitzgerald with Evelyn Stones
Speaking of odd by Ness McLeod
General (before & after; warmups; etc.)
Seekers
Keepers
Beaters
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The Coach
Quidditch Tryouts!
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The Coach
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Parker Fitzgerald
June 09, 2020 2:25 PM
The odds are good, but the goods are odd. by Parker Fitzgerald
Parker sat in a triangle pose on the edge of the field in the sun, waiting for most of the people to arrive. He smiled at others as they entered and continued stretching, trying to keep his heart rate and excitement low and steady.He’d woken up early this morning. His body jolting him awake. He’d only done quick workout in his room, knowing he’d have a bigger workout later. He quickly ate breakfast, hardly registering what went into his mouth or those around him. His mind was abuzz. This was his last year at Sonora. It was his last year to play Quidditch. He was pretty sure he would not be playing at the college level or professionally. At least, that wasn’t something he had on his mind. Still, part of him wanted to do well, wanted to prove to himself, and others, that he could be a good leader on the pitch and a good player.
He stood smiling as the coach began her speech. When she was talking about hosting games his smile turned in a light chuckle as Anya let out a woop. He wasn’t too surprised. She was a lot like him, full of energy that needed to be channeled in some way and he was glad to see her here again. He looked around. He liked most of the people here from his interactions with them. He saw Jeremy and even felt a sense of comfort with the student, even if Lyssa called him Jeremeany.
When the coach was done Parker went back to his stretching and then began to run laps back and forth across the field. After doing it six times he did a few dozen burpees, reveling in the feeling of the blood pumping through his veins, causing him to forget about other things. He could feel stress melting away and he couldn’t help but smile wider as he stepped onto his broom. He knew he probably looked like an idiot, but this is what he loved. He loved playing sports with a team. This was his happy place.
When he was younger he took the obstacle courses fast, trying to show how good he was with a broom based on speed. He now realized that going slower through some of the obstacles actually increased the difficulty in completing them. There would be a time for speed, but doing the course correctly was important to him. He got his broom going at a comfortable speed during the first few laps and then ran through it at a steady pace. He never once slowed down or sped up. He made it through without knocking anything and did a small fist bump on the back of his broom as he increased speed to move out of the way of anyone following him.
He felt a bit childish throwing the ball back and forth. He knew it was an important part, but it would make sense if they had some sort of strategies or plays to practice. Still, he was enjoying himself, and threw it to a young, Parker assumed first year. Every once in a while he flew around trying to catch other balls as some of the other students lost track of them in the mele of balls that were flying around.
Then came the part Parker had been practicing for. Getting goals. At first he was relatively tame, carrying the ball up and swerving while tossing the ball to the goal and faster and faster speeds. He was trying to steady his breath and maintain his focus. Visualize the ball going into the goal. He cheered for the first year that he’d been tossing the ball back and forth with. She looked good.
Then Keeper tryouts started.
Parker had wanted to try something, but had wanted someone on the other side, to see if it would work. He started slowly building up speed heading towards the Keeper and the three goals. He swerved to and fo as if he was dodging Beaters. The ball in his arm as he moved from side. Quickly picking up speed he headed right for the Keeper, moving the ball from hand to hand as if to decide which goal he was going to go for. He raised his right hand and took aim at the left goal. His arm moved back and then started moving forward before twisting so the ball went straight up instead of to the left. Parker quickly leaned towards his left so his right hand came around. The ball hit his palm for just a moment, but enough of a moment for him to aim it. Parker let his core muscles do the work as he twisted his body and the broom so the momentum of the ball shifted towards the right right goal. Parker broke down so as not to collide with either the goals or the Keeper. As he spun downwards all he could think was, “The move worked!”
He’d been testing different ways of doing it in his parents house over the summer. Unable to actually fly a broom, it had been hard to see if it would work. Tryouts was maybe not the best time to test it, but it had worked! He wasn't sure if it had gone in, but it was heading towards going in and that was what was important!
He rotated his shoulder giving it a test rotation. The coach wasn’t wrong, stretching was important and he was glad he'd done so.
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Parker Fitzgerald
The odds are good, but the goods are odd.
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Evelyn Stones
June 12, 2020 8:23 PM
I'm scared I won't get this. by Evelyn Stones
Last year, it had been Evelyn, Heinrich, and Ness. It had been perfect. This year, there were others trying out for Chaser who would likely get it and Evelyn was not under any misunderstandings about the fact that she was a likely boot out. She was athletic and competitive and skilled, sure, but she was also small and clumsy and probably not that impressive. Plus, Parker. Parker, Heinrich, and Ness would be a dream team for any coach to put on their roster. Evelyn thought it was likely that she'd get second string, and would be pretty upset if she didn't, but still.She tried to push her doubts aside as she moved through her stretches, than the course, than the catch. It was easy. It was mindless. It was the sound of blood pumping in her chest and the feeling of her hands and feet getting warmer, and the taste of sweat and cut grass mingling in the air she sucked down. It felt so good to be doing something physical.
Her turn to try for a goal came right before Parker's and she raised her eyebrows at him. "Wish me luck," she laughed. It was nice and easy being here, even if Parker was her competition. Ness was here, which was great. Heinrich was here, which was perfect. But these people were her friends. She'd miss Parker when he was gone from Sonora, and it was nice that they could all be friends and be themselves. She felt safe here.
Her biggest advantage was speed. She was slender and quick and lithe, and aerodynamics favored the small. Tossing the Quaffle as hard as she could manage, she made a goal based almost purely on the fact that she could get there before the Keeper got there first. So be it. It was the reason she'd tried for Seeker her first year, but this was better. This was so much better.
She felt a little confident until she saw Parker go next. There was no way in heck that she was going to make the team and she had the time it took him to fly back to the ground to figure out how to be happy for him. Reminding herself that she could still do practices and maybe even play games with her friends if she was second string, Evelyn managed a smile when he landed.
"That was great!" she told him. "I don't think I could do left and right handed like that."
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Evelyn Stones
I'm scared I won't get this.
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