I'm here to Chase! on Quidditch Pitch

The Coach

July 15, 2022 5:46 PM

Quidditch Sign-Ups/Try-Outs by The Coach

“Hello and welcome!” The coach called out a cheerful greeting to each player as they arrived on the pitch, adding a name or a check in about their summer or about a particular skill they’d been aiming to improve for the ones who had been on the team before. Sonora had a fairly solid core group this year (they'd only graduated a Seeker last year, but that was a very popular position and the coach had little doubt someone would be glad to fill in the vacancy), but there were also a number of fresh faces, which was quite nice. They hadn't quite managed two full teams for intra-school matches last year, but it had been close, and with a little luck perhaps they would gain more than they lost. Probably still not enough to make two teams, but the coach could dream.

“Welcome back to our returning players," the coach greeted, once the trickle of people arriving seemed to come to a stop. "And hello to the new people! I’m a firm believer that this team is for everyone, and so I’d like to make sure everyone’s comfortable and settled with the game and the basics before we get into the actual try-outs. And, for those of you who have been here a while, I want to see leadership and teamwork skills. As you know, I can’t be with every set of players all the time in every practice - so I'd like the older students to set up some drills while you're not actively trying out. Make sure you’ve explained the position, and done the basic skills required with your new students."

“If you are interested in trying out for multiple positions, just follow me around. We'll be starting with Seeker first since we graduated Anya and we don't have a returning first string one of those.
Meanwhile, Oz and Billy, you'll be working with anyone interested in Beater. Mab, you've got the Keeper hopefuls. Val . . . you're trying out for Seeker so,” they'd had a lot of new beginners as Chaser last year, so she turned to the three second years who had traded off first string between them, "Fortune, Freya, Xander, you three are in charge of Chaser drills while you wait, unless if any of you wanted to try out for Seeker, too."

“After Seeker, we'll go to Keeper, then Beater, and end on Chaser. For now, I know everyone needs to get warmed up, and drill leaders may need some thinking time, so let’s get to it with stretches, and a run, and for some basic flying and agility practice, fly two laps then go through the short course I've set up there in the middle.” A small obstacle course of hoops, barriers, and poles was set up in the middle of the Pitch, too low to get in the way of any Chaser or Keeper drills going on at normal playing altitudes, but providing the coach with a way to gauge just how good the players were at flying before anyone started at the more position specific try-outs.

OOC: As was mentioned in the post, you can assume there was a sign-up sheet in the Cascade Hall, (I am assuming most of last year's first string did sign up, or at least turned up to try-outs, and had similar sign-up preferences to previous years) which you may or may not have signed up upon (walk-ons are welcome). You can skip to any part of the tryouts, so you don't need to start with keeper drills while Seeker try-outs are going on if that's what you wanted to try-out for, or if you end up waiting on others who don't get posts up, you can jump around to another part of try-outs. Feel free to refer back to any of the older try-out posts for guidance, or you can make up your own position related activities that the coach might have you perform.

Any questions, ask in chatzy.

Subthreads:

Keepers. This way. by Mab

Seeking!!! by Valentine Duell

I'm here to Chase! by Xarryn Bavol with Fortune Ardovini

Beaters over here! by Oz Spellman with Yaniel Ayala Velez, Cole Pierce, Billy Cobb

1 The Coach Quidditch Sign-Ups/Try-Outs 0 The Coach 1 5

Mab

July 15, 2022 6:28 PM

Keepers. This way. by Mab

Mab really didn't know why she was here. She again hadn't signed up on the sheet, but there was a disappointing lack good Keepers in the existing crop of students. She hadn't even had an understudy last year. During the matches, Billy and Oz traded out their Beater bats to fill in the other Keeper slot. Which, honestly, was fine with her. It meant she didn't have to interact with many people and she was hoping not very many of the people here today wanted Keeper either so she could keep her monopoly and not need to work too closely with anybody (which was the whole reason she'd signed up to be a Keeper in the first place). It would mean the team was in trouble next year, when she had graduated, but that wouldn't be her problem.

Luck was not with her today. The Coach spotted her among the Quidditch hopefuls and pointed her out as the Keeper Drill Leader. This was the year that kept on giving. She'd thought she'd dodged a bullet by getting out of having her name on the Head Student ballot, but apparently this was because they wanted to put her in charge of everything else. Prefect. A club president. A challenge team leader. Now Keeper drills were hers to come up with and implement. Great.

She went through the stretches and the run without too much trouble. She was the only seventh year on the team, so she had age and muscle development on her side. She wasn't amazingly tall (though standing next to her very short adoptive mother, sometimes she could imagine she was), but she was wiry, and she could get some decent speed out of her legs without exhausting herself. The flying laps were easy, and the obstacle course was no harder than it had been last year or the year before that, and while she was sure there were better fliers on the team, she wasn't a mess, and Keeping didn't require a whole lot of it anyway. She erred on the side of accuracy at the cost of speed, though she did get a better time than last year.

Then the Coach led off the Seeker hopefuls, after pointing her out again to the Keeper hopefuls, and Mab needed to lead some kind of drill related to Keeping, without actually having any chasers available. Luckily there was a Quaffle throwing contraption. "I'm Mab," she introduced herself to those who didn't know already. "We're going to go to that thing over there. It throws Quaffles. As Keeper, it's our job to stop Quaffles from going through the hoops. So this is some Quaffle catching practice. We'll take turns."

1 Mab Keepers. This way. 1473 0 5

Valentine Duell

July 15, 2022 6:59 PM

Seeking!!! by Valentine Duell

This was it! Finally after five infuriatingly long years it was at long last her turn! All Val had to do now was to ace the tryouts. Jeremy was gone and Anya had graduated, the two obstacles that had been standing in her way since she arrived at school in her first year were now no longer between her and claiming Mama's old position on the team! This was what she had been training and preparing herself for, now it was time! She'd signed her name as a Seeker on the sheet and would probably try out for chaser as well.. just in case. But she was sure she wouldn't need it.

Valentine showed up early for try-out with her broom in hand so that she could welcome everyone else as they arrived and see who all her new potential teammates might be. She fell into line quickly as the coach began talking, and listened well. At the mention of her trying out for Seeker, Valentine smiled and nodded enthusiastically. Fortune, Freya, and Xander would do fine with Chaser drills, she'd certainly run them through enough of them last year.

As instructed, Val did the necessary stretches and run before enthusiastically hopping on her broom for the laps. Those two laps worked well for burning off some of the excessive excitement levels and helping the girl to focus. For when she hit the obstacle course, she maneuvered her way though it more gracefully than she'd ever done before.

The Seeker try-outs looked the same as every other year so far. The ball shooting contraption was armed and she was ready. "Let's do this!" She cheered as the device whirred to life and she shot into the flurry of colored balls.

2 Valentine Duell Seeking!!! 1490 0 5

Xarryn Bavol

July 16, 2022 12:36 PM

I'm here to Chase! by Xarryn Bavol

Xarryn had never played Quidditch. He had never watched a Quidditch match. Until flying lessons this week, he had never flown a broom. But he'd heard about Quidditch, and he had a basic idea of what the objective was and what the different positions did. It was basically a free-for-all melee battle, where two crews fought it out to see who walked away with the most treasure. There were two treasure hunters - the Seekers - who were trying to fake each other out and be the first one to find The Big Treasure (aka, the Golden Snitch, which was worth 15x as much as the Small Treasures everyone else was fighting over). The Keeper tried to stop the other crew from getting any of the Small Treasures (aka, the Quaffle) onto their ship. The Beaters were the gunners with the cannons who were trying to shoot down the enemy crew. And the Chasers were the one trying to carrying the Small Treasures back to their ship and get it safely stashed aboard. There was only one Small Treasure available at a time and both crews fought over it until somebody threw it through one of the portholes of their ship and then it was safe and a new Small Treasure appeared to fight over.

Xarryn had decided the most exciting role in this battle was one of the people trying to get the Small Treasure back to their ship. They got to do everything! They collected treasure! They stopped the other crew from getting treasure! They had to get their treasure past the person trying to cut them off from their ship! And they got to get shot at! There was so much going on!

So as soon as the sign-up sheet had gone up, he had added his name to the list:

Xarryn Bavol, Year 1, Pekari, Chayser!

And when it was time for the try-outs, he was absolutely ready for this! He stretched and ran with the best of them. Well, he had shorter legs than most of the others, being only eleven, so he wasn't quite with the best of them, but he tried! And he was fast for his age and size! And then he flew the two laps with almost no trouble at all once he picked out a school broom to borrow. He was totally a natural at this broom flying stuff!

When he tried to do the obstacle course though, he had to admit he wasn't quite as good at broom riding as some of the people who had been doing this for longer than a couple of days. He ran into a lot of things, and he had two new bruises and a little bit of bleeding when he came out of it. But it was totally cool and he really hoped he got to do that again soon!

He got a minor charm done to fix the bleeding from the medic in the first aid tent, and then it was on to drills with Fortune, Freya, and Xander, which was totally awesome because they were all people he'd seen in the beginner classes!

Eventually, the coach came over and did the try-outs and Xarryn performed with a ton of enthusiasm and whatever Chaser skills he'd been able to develop in the last however many minutes since he'd been learning how to do the drills.

1 Xarryn Bavol I'm here to Chase! 1560 0 5

Oz Spellman

July 20, 2022 8:43 PM

Beaters over here! by Oz Spellman

Oz rocked up to the Quidditch Pitch, ready for another year of hitting stuff and building muscle. Alongside the actual flying part of Quidditch training, he'd been putting some serious sessions in at the gym in the MARS rooms. It couldn't quite replicate the fancy electronics of flashy gyms back home, but it wasn't like those had ever been in his reach anyway. He could make it have weights and a rowing machine and be cool enough to be pleasant. All that felt like luxury. It was working too. He'd seen Henry with his shirt off enough times over the summer to know this - it was just sort of inevitable when you shared not only an apartment but a room, and when said apartment was in Arizona and aircon was expensive. These days, their haircuts weren't the only physical feature to mark them apart. Oz liked it. He liked having muscles, he liked looking different to Henry, but it was still strange. It was like growing out of an old sweater... Except he wasn't just out growing their shared body, he was actively choosing to change it. It was like the haircut situation all over again, and even though he'd had his reasons for that, he knew it had still hurt Henry. He didn't want to stir all those all feelings back up.

It wasn't like he could stop either. He needed to be strong for his role on the team. He felt good when he compared himself to Henry, but compared to guys in sports magazines, he was still a weed. His eyes traced over their abs, and it stirred up feelings that he was labelling as 'envy.' Feelings that made him feel crappy when he looked at himself in the mirror afterwards.

He gave the coach a nod as he was assigned responsibility for the baby beaters, pasting a confident smile on his face. What the heck was this? First Xavier telling him he should have been prefect (though he was delusional) and now the coach getting him to lead stuff (though joint with Billy, and with no other option). It wasn't, he told himself firmly, like they really thought he was capable. Xavier had his head on backwards, and the coach had no other choice. None of this was happening because he was good at that kind of thing. It was just weird situation after weird situation... And the fact that he was a fifth year, and he was supposed to be responsible, even if he wasn't really.

"Alright, you lucky people, you've got me!" He greeted his beater group with a huge smile. "And Billy here," he nodded to his roommate, tone indicating that this was a much lesser blessing, though still done with the easy grin that said it was a joke.

"How about we start with some ground warm ups, yeah? We can take turns to pitch and bat, then do it at a hover?" He'd been doing this long enough that he could run off a list of easy beater exercises. Pitching might not have been part of their deal, but it was an easy way to get everyone warmed up and swinging again. They could also step up to practise Bludgers, which would stay in the air and zoom about, making it more challenging to get to them, but which were nowhere near as damaging as their real life counterparts.

OOC: If there are any new Beaters, Oz would also give his name.

13 Oz Spellman Beaters over here! 1514 0 5

Yaniel Ayala Velez

July 28, 2022 12:37 AM

That includes me (for now) by Yaniel Ayala Velez

Yarielis walked out onto the Quidditch pitch, trying to look purposeful and present, whilst simultaneously hoping to blend in with the background. It was a tricky juggling act that was leaning more and more strongly to the latter, at the possible risk of dropping the first ball entirely.

Quidditch was supposed to feel good. It had last year. It might, once they got moving again, but before the moving there was all the standing around, and feeling hyper-visible. Warm ups were torture. Running and stretching were just ways to showcase all the things Yarielis didn’t want to showcase. It would be better with a beater’s bat in hand, leaning forward over a broom handle… It would be better in a minute. It didn’t help that, for Quidditch, you really couldn’t hide in robes that were two sizes too big, like you could in class… Sure, they were loose fit to allow for movement, but they didn’t entirely swallow up a body, turning it into a safe anonymous blob. Nothing really did that any more.

Yarielis went and took a spot with the other beaters, shoulders hunched. The second year’s eyes trailed over Oz Spellman’s body as he talked. Oz wasn’t so bulked up that it was super obvious under his robes, but - like the way that everything wrong with Yarielis’ body showed in spite of them - everything that was right about Oz’s body did too. Or maybe Yarielis had just seen him in t-shirt sleeves often enough to know. Oz’s body, especially his arms, made something stir in Yarielis’ stomach. It was like this all over prickling, like he was so good that he was somehow painful to look at. Was this a crush? Objectively, Oz was loud and kinda intimidating. He wasn’t awful but there was literally zero appeal in the thought of kissing him. But his body kept catching Yarielis’ attention.

That fact did little to quiet the voice that said everyone was noticing how everyone else looked all the time. It was pretty much impossible that the three boys on the beating squad hadn’t noticed the way in which Yarielis wasn’t one of them. The way they got split up, and Yarielis was the odd one out when they went to change. The ways the Crotalus was just never going to be look like the rest of them. How long before that mattered, if it didn’t already? Yarielis just wanted—

—to be up in the air. Or to hit something. Maybe if they were all doing that, the second year would be one of them again. Oz was suggesting warm ups, and Yarielis nodded, getting into position.

Focus.

Everything else needed to just stop for a few minutes. Enough to keep an eye on the ball. Yarielis swung, a little too frantic and too soon, missing, and retreated to the back of their short line, nerves jangling, as all the thoughts about not really being ‘one of them’ crawled back in, laced with the added sting of failure.

13 Yaniel Ayala Velez That includes me (for now) 1554 0 5

Cole Pierce

August 01, 2022 6:55 PM

Me, too! by Cole Pierce

Cole was ready for another year of Quidditch! He had his broom all cleaned up and trimmed after a summer of too little use (living in the city of Boston was not ideal for broom riding), and his bat was brand new after the one from last year disappeared somewhere in his room, probably under his bed, but it was possible it walked off with Reilly after Dad babysat for him one of those times (not that he was accusing his little cousin of stealing exactly, but Reilly was at an age where he didn't totally understand personal property yet). His robes were new too because he had grown and he felt like he wasn't the tiny baby of Sonora anymore. Yarielis might still look more like a beater than he did though. He was neither tall nor bulky and nothing about his demeanor said he was a beater sort of guy. But it was the spot his dad had played, and his uncle had played, and his cousin had played so here he was, average height for his age of twelve years old, and wiry. Yeah, he wasn't making first string.

He waved at Mab when she was pointed out in the Coach's talk about what to expect from try-outs, but his cousin either didn't see or pretended she didn't (you could never tell with Mab). He ran the laps, puffing and sweaty because running was not his strong point when the distance was any longer than from one base to the next in a baseball diamond. He was more of a sprinter than a long distance guy. He flew the broom laps and that went better, but it had been a few months since he last flew so it wasn't perfect; he'd had some weird zigs or zags, and his speed hadn't been very consistent. He'd mostly remembered what he was doing by the time he got to the obstacle course, so that went all right, with just a few bumps, and a decent time.

Then he split off to join Oz and Billy and Yarielis for beater drills until the coach made it over to them for proper try-outs, which were probably going to go quick because it was pretty obvious that Oz and Billy were the older experienced players - though Yarielis wasn't bad at all either - and Cole was . . . the kid who was still learning.

Lucky, Oz started them on pitching and batting on the ground, which was exactly the thing he was good at and had more practice at than anything else, being a former little leaguer, so he got off to a strong start with a slider to Yarielis, which she striked at, but then Cole remembered they weren't actually playing baseball and felt bad for not throwing a nicer ball to her. Oops. To be fair, he gave a curveball to Billy and a fastball to the lower inside corner of the strike zone to Oz. They switched up pitchers and Cole got a turn at bat, and he swung at the ball that came his way, managing to make contact, but the beater's bat was shorter than a baseball one and this ball was not the same size as a bludger either, so he misjudged his swing, and only caught a foul tip.

"Sorry about those pitches," he said as he got into the back of the line. "I used to play baseball and pitching was the only thing I could practice at home, so I've got some mean ones."

1 Cole Pierce Me, too! 1546 0 5

Billy Cobb

August 02, 2022 7:54 PM

Anyone else? by Billy Cobb

Whoo! It was finally time to play Quidditch again! To say that Billy was excited would be an understatement. His time at home had certainly been interesting, but it didn't involve Quidditch! Now he was on the pitch and ready to go! Billy shifted around with eager anticipation while the coach droned on and on and on.

He saluted the coach at the directions he was given and started to move before he realized the talking was still continuing. Forcing himself to a halt, he did his best to keep listening. Right, there were those warm up things they did. Though some might wonder if Billy ever 'cooled down' enough for them to matter. Regardless, the Pecari boy took to the physical activities as a bird takes wing.

Oz seemed to enjoy the authority the coach gave them, so he let his roommate take the lead with a friendly clap on the shoulder when Oz mentioned him. He ran and grabbed the equipment when Oz announced the drills and was back in a moment. Cole took first turn at pitching while every else cycled through batting.. and he was throwing some weird pitches. He wondered if Cole was magicing the ball, 'cause that thing did some weird stuff between Cole and him. He did manage to hit it, but not cleanly. The ball skewed off the bat in a weird direction.

"I'll say ya do." He replied to Cole with his normal friendly grin. "What sort of magic are you using?" With a deft motion he scooped up the ball from his round at pitching and tossed it to Yarielis. "Your turn at pitching, do you want to do it on the ground, or should we hop on the brooms?" His vote was for brooms, enough if this standing around.

2 Billy Cobb Anyone else? 1519 0 5

Fortune Ardovini

August 05, 2022 6:00 AM

You've come to the right place! by Fortune Ardovini

It was Quidditch time again! Fortune was ready for it, he'd been practicing over the summer with his friends back home. They still hadn't had enough for a full team, but there had been enough of them to make it work as they usually did.

Back at school, he'd been hoping that they'd have enough to make two full teams this year. As he arrived on the pitch for try-out, he wasn't quite sure if they did. Well, the coach would make things work, he was sure if that.

Warm-ups went normal, he stretched, ran and flew the obstacle course. As always it was fun and got him pumped up for his next task, he was leading the Chaser drills with Xander and Freya! They were important and invaluable members of the team already! Plus, they had new blood!

"Alright!" He got the chasers attention, "Hop on your brooms and we'll do some low altitude passing practice to get things started!" Fortune grabbed a Quaffle, hopped on his broom and from a few feet off the ground threw the ball to the waiting chasers.

The plan was to get everyone comfortable riding and flying, then go a bit higher until the coach was ready for them.

2 Fortune Ardovini You've come to the right place! 1549 0 5