Coach Amelia Pierce

March 30, 2012 9:31 PM
In her 'Quidditch Coach' hat, Amelia Pierce was only responsible for teaching one class: Flying Lessons, which was given only to first years (though older students could attend if they wanted to and signed up in advance). It was generally a popular class among the kids because there were no homework assignments or tests, and half the class was allowed to play broom tag or a pick-up game of Quidditch for most of it while the true beginners were given basic lessons. The rest were only expected to participate to the best of their ability.

As long as everyone spent the entire period sitting on a broom in the air and at least attempting to do as instructed, they passed. It was not a difficult class by any stretch of the imagination. The final exam was flying from one end of the pitch to the other and back without crashing. That got an A. If they could do in under ten minutes it was an E. Under five earned an O. Most kids earned Es and Os in her class.

"Hello," she greeted her new class of first years once they seemed to have stopped trickling in. She allowed for 'getting lost time' the first week, but she'd dock points for poor punctuality later. She was Head of Crotalus and the Deputy Headmistress; it was practically in her job description to be a stickler for rules. "My name is Coach Pierce. I will be your flying instructor this year."

"Now, I know most of you will not view this as a 'real' class, but I can and will take House Points and assign detention if I catch any of you messing around, and I will catch you if you do. I expect you to show up on time. I expect you to behave and show each other respect. I will not tolerate insults or taunting of any form. I expect everyone to try their best."

She did not assert that there would be no exceptions because she had been informed that sometimes there apparently were good medical reasons for some students not to participate. Those students would be seen to on a case by case basis.

There was one reason she would hear nothing about, no matter how much some of the Board of Governors howled. "For those of you with parents who support WAIL, I assure you, they will not disown you for hovering on a broom and flying across the pitch for one hour, once a week, for one year."

She took a breath, and used the short pause to look around the group to make sure they were still listening. "That said, I am aware some of you already know how to fly. I offer those students the priviledge of forgoing the basic lessons and doing whatever you like so long as you are on your broom and flying for the duration of the lesson. I have Quaffles and other muggle varieties of balls available for your use. Later, once I know I can trust you, I'll allow bludgers and Snitches. If you need anything else, let me know and I'll see what I can do."

She waited a moment to let them try to imagine what other equipment they might need for more creative flying games, then added, "Just remember, this is a priviledge and if I have any problems with you fighting amongst yourselves or interferring with my lessons, you will all be down here hovering five feet over the ground with the beginners."

With that threat leveled, she expected not to have any problems with the experienced kids (in point of fact, in her seven years coaching here, she had only once had to follow through with it and she had only leveled the punishment against the single offending student). "Now I'm going to call roll, and then anyone who feels they do not need basic instruction may go play. Please raise your hand and say 'here' when I call your name. Ammon, Liam." She went through the list and marked attendance. "Okay, that's it. If I didn't call your name, let me know. Experienced fliers, you may take to the air. School brooms are over there, if you don't have your own."

She gave a few seconds for unnamed students to make themselves known and for the fliers to get out of the way. "Everyone else, line up here." Her wand flicked out and a white line appeared in the grass. "If you have your own broom put it down beside you. To your right if you're right-handed, to your left if you're left-handed. Everyone else, just stand in front of the line."

Once they did that, Amelia started distributing brooms to those who didn't have one yet. "Put it to your right if you're right-handed, to the left if you're left-handed," she repeated as she moved down the line. Once they all had brooms beside them, she instructed, "Now hold your wand hand out over your broom, like this," she stepped over her own broom, lying in the grass, so that it was to her right. She held out her right hand over it. "Palm down. Now, in a firm voice, like if you're ordering a dog to sit, tell it to come to your hand by saying 'up' - Up!" she said, louder, in demonstration, and her broom leapt up directly into her hand.

"I'd like you all to try that. You may need to try it a couple of times to get it to work. Once it's in your hand, just swing one leg over it like this," she demonstrated climbing onto the broom, "and just hover there for a bit. Try to keep steady and not drift too much. Raise your hand if you have a question or a problem. Barring too many of those, I'll show you how to manuever once everybody gets into a hover."



OOC: Hello and welcome to Sonora. Your character earns points for their House by participating in classes. Long, quality posts earn the most points, so be sure to follow the posting rules. Have fun!
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1 Coach Amelia Pierce Flying Lessons for First Years 20 Coach Amelia Pierce 1 5


Jay Carey, Aladren

April 02, 2012 4:36 PM
Jay prided himself on being able to think of how things were for other people, but he had honestly been surprised to find out that they were going to have flying lessons once they got to school. At home, even the girls had, by the time they were six or seven, learned how to use a broom, if only by annoying or blackmailing their brothers or cousins into teaching them in secret because they couldn’t learn officially, and the boys were formally introduced to flying about the time they learned to walk. The idea that they’d need lessons in something so basic seemed strange to him.

Still, though, he went down with everyone else and smiled at the teacher, even if she was not a reputable person, and the other students and waited to hear what they were going to do. His cousins had mentioned that they had been allowed to play Quidditch instead of having to go over the basics again, but that they weren’t sure, after Thaddeus Pierce jumped off his broom last year and got in trouble, if Coach Pierce would still offer the people who already knew more or less how to fly that chance. Jay was under no illusions that he was the best flier in the world, Arnold had been outdoing him on a broom since they were old enough to fly at all, but he knew he was past the hovering stage. He’d hover if he had to and not complain about it, since there was no point in complaining about it, but he thought it would be an awfully boring thing to do every week for a year.

Of course, there was a chance he would discover he had really been doing everything wrong all his life and need to relearn it all from the ground up and end up with a much greater appreciation for brooms and flying – but really, that was the kind of thing he said to his younger siblings to get them to do things they didn’t want to do, and while he believed it sometimes, there were other times, like now, when he knew that if he had to spend a year learning to fly from the ground up, it was probably going to be really boring.

After they got through the part where the girls wouldn’t be disowned for performing the beginners’ exercises, though, she revealed that yes, those who knew how to fly could go do that, provided they didn’t cause any trouble. She wasn’t hugely specific about what interfering with the lesson would be, but Jay was, without Arnold here to egg him into doing stupid things, planning to play it comparatively safe anyway, so he didn’t think he was going to do it, anyway.

Especially since, he had to admit, he was more than a little intrigued by these Muggle balls she had mentioned. He had never seen anything Muggles made before, and had been vaguely under the impression that they were uncivilized, so the idea of looking at the other balls was interesting to him. The reality, though, if he was right about what he was looking at, didn’t look particularly crudely formed, just sort of oddly sized and textured. He lifted a ball and looked at it, then at the person who came up beside him. “Have you seen a ball like this before?” he asked, holding it up and out a little for their inspection. It seemed to have seams of some kind on its surface, but he couldn’t quite see how they’d been made, and the material of it felt strange, too.
0 Jay Carey, Aladren Indulging my curiosity 0 Jay Carey, Aladren 0 5