Hopefully my best is enough. on Quidditch Pitch

Captain Arnold Carey

June 11, 2013 7:54 PM

Aladren tryouts! by Captain Arnold Carey

He was the Quidditch captain, which meant he had to host tryouts. Simple enough, Arnold had thought for two years. David could do it, and while Arnold had liked his former captain well enough, thought he was a decent guy, shame he was Muggleborn, he had never really thought of David as an organizational genius. If he could do it, surely Arnold could. Besides, they had the people, all they really had to do was keep doing what they always did and things would be fine.

In retrospect, on the day itself, Arnold thought it might not have been the best idea to base all his plans on the actions of others. And that was even before Arthur had told him that this year, he had to think about politics as well as tactics for positions other than his own. He really was not looking forward to that, though took heart that at least, according to his brother, anyway, Francesca’s people weren’t the ones who were likely to call him unpleasant names because of Fae. His first thought about how he’d like to react to that involved punching the other guy in the face, which would both not work if the other guy was actually a girl and not, most likely, be what Arthur meant when he talked about a carefully considered response to the views of others.

Whatever those exactly were. He had been pretty sure, after all, that his brother was very carefully selecting his words, making a show rather than frankly telling the situation as it was. Arthur did that, sometimes. Normally, Arnold didn’t care, because Arthur enjoyed it and he couldn’t see that it really did any harm, but this time he did feel a little impatient about it. What if he made a mistake during this because of it?

“Hi, everyone,” he said cheerfully. Playing dumb worked with everyone except Fae, after all, and she wasn’t here. “I’m Arnold, I’m, er, your captain, I guess. I’m the Seeker, too. So we don’t need one of those.” Well, it could have gone worse. “The first thing we need to do, then, is sort out our positions,” he continued with more enthusiasm. “A Keeper’s the biggest thing, so how about we fly a few laps to warm up, and then you – “ he pointed toward one of the potentials – “get in the goal and three more throw the Quaffle around, hm? If any of you guys don’t know much about Chasing, Arthur’s going to run those for now – he’s that guy there, who’s not as good looking as me…” Arthur’s response to this was a perfectly-timed polite sound of disagreement.

He was half-inclined, based on the way Thad Pierce had announced his presence to Sonora years ago, to give the spot to his easily-deterred Beater, both because he evidently still liked it and because he was less likely to get into trouble with whichever of his cousins played for Pecari that way. There was a lot of difference, after all, between stopping a relative from scoring and hitting the same relative – a tiny girl relative at that – in the head with a Bludger. Still, he would have to see, and figure out what the team could best live with. Then he could get back to Seeking, though for now, he was just glad about the prospect of going on a few warm-up rounds. He had actually been on his broom only a few hours earlier, before his breakfast, but after this leadership stuff, it felt like it had been years since he was last in the air.

OOC: Welcome, signed-up and walk-ons!

Subthreads:

Trying Out Again by Thad Pierce with Francesca Wolseithcrafte, Kitty McLevy

Coming in for the save by Andrina Thornton with Irina Volkov, Andri

Hopefully my best is enough. by Lucian D'Alesandro

0 Captain Arnold Carey Aladren tryouts! 181 Captain Arnold Carey 1 5

Thad Pierce

June 11, 2013 11:24 PM

Trying Out Again by Thad Pierce

Thad arrived at the Pitch several minutes early. Early, that is, according to the posted start time. He was merely on-time, if not a little bit late, according to his own personal schedule. He wanted to be early, partly to impress upon Arnold that he was a reliable part of the team and should therefore be given the position he wanted rather than the one he had been stuck in for three years. The other part was just in the off chance that the Coach was watching and was considering choosing Andrina over her own biological brother for Assistant next year. He didn't think she was - he'd been first string for two years' worth of games while Andrina hadn't gotten off the bench yet - but there was precedent for selecting a Captain from the reserves before.

As he waited for the official start time and watched the others arrive, he noted there were a few new faces. Given her family's politics, he wasn't terribly surprised to see Francesca among them. He nodded and smiled politely toward his former Challenge teammate in greeting, deciding this was an acceptable interaction between two people who had reached victory together previously and any implied approval of her presence at the try-out was merely unintentional happenstance which could be easily explained away if he was ever confronted about it, which he doubted he would be.

The first year was entirely unfamiliar, but she was a potential teammate so he nodded politely toward her as well. He mentally dubbed her a muggleborn, or possibly a half-blood, and thus she was no more culturally subject to disapproval for playing than Kitty was, and Thad had long since accepted that Kitty was a Quidditch Player despite being a girl.

When Arnold got things started, Thad turned his attention from his fellow players to the new Captain. He somewhat predictably decided to start with Keeper since that was the position that David's graduation left vacant. If Thad got it, Beater try-outs would likely follow. He did not think Arnold was the sort to be lazy in Quidditch matters, so he had little fear that he'd be passed over just to avoid further try-outs, which was good.

Thad flew his practice laps at a good clip that neither exhausted him nor left him looking like an undedicated clod. Then it was time to show his stuff as Arnold instructed him to go first in front of the goals. For the first time since it happened, he kind of hoped people remembered that he had nearly killed himself blocking a goal in an informal pick-up game between himself, Cepheus, and Gareth during his first flying lesson. He didn't really intend to repeat the dramatic save today, but he certain would if the same situation presented itself during a game. Heck, if the same situation presented itself today, he'd probably do the same thing again.

He didn't like to lose, and letting anything past him would be considered losing by his book.

Thad flew to a defensible position in front of the goals and waited for the first pseudo-Chaser to come at him with a Quaffle. He took a deep breath and readied himself to defend these hoops with everything he had, up to and including personal injury, but probably short of death. He hoped. There were supposed to be charms on the Pitch to prevent fatalities, weren't there?

OOC: Wasn't sure if I was supposed to assume several Quaffles got tossed to me for me to block or if we were going to play it out, so I'll stop here to avoid any potential god-modding.

1 Thad Pierce Trying Out Again 213 Thad Pierce 0 5

Francesca Wolseithcrafte

June 12, 2013 10:22 AM

Trying out for the first time by Francesca Wolseithcrafte

Francesca walked down to the pitch, her stomach twisting with nerves that had very little to do with the actual try-out. She was more concerned about the reaction she was going to get from the other players. She was relieved when, upon arrival, Thad gave her a little nod of recognition. She was not going to go so far as to call it a gesture of friendship, or an endorsement of her decisions, but he was acknowledging her presence. In her worst-case-scenarios, she had imagined the possibility that the male, Pureblood members of the team – which included the captain – would simply treat her as invisible. They would have been foolish to do so, as it would have been to the detriment of the team but she knew it was possible. Some people simply treated her mother as if she wasn't there, as it was easier than getting involved in the debate. She had been prepared for all kinds of treatment, from being ignored to spat at or just overtly disliked by one and all when she had arrived at the school. So far, Sonora had proven itself to be better than this, although she still couldn't quite bring herself to let her guard down, and to assume that anyone would be genuine in their friendship, unless she could find people who agreed with her cause. She returned Thad's nod, however, glad that things were better than dreadful.

She listened with interest to how the try-outs were to be structured, although Arnold Carey only covered the first stage, which still meant that her questions were yet to be answered.... There were two problems that she could foresee. The first was that they were currently a sextet instead of the required septet (she had briefly wondered whether her presence on the list had put anybody off, but one of the returners who had failed to sign up was, she understood, a Muggleborn girl, and thus that theory made little sense). The second was that almost everyone seemed to want to chase or keep. A couple of people had put that they were open to playing any position but one of those had been a first year girl, which didn't strike her as ideal beater material (she hadn't noticed any unusually burly female first years, after all). She was somewhat disappointed. Aladren had a fearsome reputation and she had been looking forward to being a part of that, even if it was only on the bench. Now it looked like they might not have a team at all. Unless those who had played in previous years were too self-assured or lazy to bother with the sign up sheet but that still didn't really speak well of their drive, and their chances of conquering all.

She mounted her broom – a lightweight model, designed for speed and agility – and took to the skies. She felt markedly better as soon as she was airborne. She had been practising in the MARS room but it didn't compare to the feeling of the wind through her hair, and the practise she'd got over the summer had been starting to feel dim an distant. She took the corners as tightly as she dared, trying to get a feel for the full size pitch. She'd had a little experience of them at Quidditch camp but she needed more to be able to tune all her moves as tightly as possible – she turned far too soon for the second corner, cutting off a rather large chunk of it. She did better on the second pass, and by the time they finished she was pumping with adrenaline, rather than nerves. Being back in the air had been a great tonic, as had been the fact that no one had tried to deliberately ram her off her broom, which had been another of her worst-case-scenarios.

As Thad took to the goal, she broke off with those doing the chasing. She found herself near the front of the pack and, when the Quaffle came her way, she caught it easily, tucking it in close to her stomach as she closed the distance between her and the goal. She nearly came up at the wrong moment, as she was still getting used to judging the distance. The change in her posture and resultant slowing was probably noticeable but she recovered quickly, drawing herself in a little closer to the goal before straightening up to take a shot.

She feinted as if she was going to throw to her left before throwing the ball straight up. Returning her right hand, with which she had thrown, to her broom, she threw all her weight into punching the ball forcefully with her left hand, sending it towards the right hand goal. The momentum swung her back over her centre and slightly to the right but she caught her broom handle with her left hand and pulled herself straight. The set up for the move took slightly longer than a straight throw, but the speed it gave the ball balanced that out, in terms of giving the Keeper time to realise there had been a feint and to react to the actual pass. It could also be slightly less accurate but it was a move they'd trained hard on at her Quidditch camp, and accuracy had always been one of her strengths so she was confident that it would find the goal, though it might be close.

13 Francesca Wolseithcrafte Trying out for the first time 250 Francesca Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Andrina Thornton

June 14, 2013 3:17 PM

Coming in for the save by Andrina Thornton

Andri had been practicing through the upheaval in her family to be on the actual team instead of just on the bench this year. With David having graduated, she thought she had a chance now, at least. She’d put down Keeper or Chaser on her sign up, and though she’d placed a higher desire on Keeper, she wouldn’t really have a problem being Chaser with Kitty either. She just thought it might be fun to be in the Hoops and get to see the game happen before her very eyes. Besides, she’d played the Muggle Game of Soccer (Football in Europe) when she was little and when she played, she was the Goalie. It was almost the same thing, at least in her book anyway.

Instead of breakfast on the morning of Tryouts, she went to the Sports Room in the MARS corridor with her broom and flew around like wildfire. There was something about getting into the air that made the Aladren feel better about everything as well as herself. The adrenaline of flight came back and suddenly things felt better, at least a little bit.

Andri had decided to go fly first to bring herself back into a better mood before tryouts, thinking that may just help her thought process. And as much as she thought it would, it did.

At least at first.

On her way to the Pitch she thought about what had been going on and how much better she felt when she was flying or playing some sport or another and she actually was looking forward to Tryouts. What she didn’t know was that there were a few people going for Keeper, including Thad Pierce. She didn’t want to have issues, but she was determined to land herself a spot on the first rate team this year that WAS NOT from the bench. When she got to the Pitch, she walked over to the other Aladrens and when she got there, Arnold started talking. He said they were going to fly a few laps and then start with one of the potentials in as Keeper. Thad went up first and Andri waited her turn to Keep and got into the Chaser line. When she tossed the Quaffle for Thad she watched to see what happened with it, but then flew to the back of the line again.

When Thad was done at his Keeper Tryout, she swapped him out and set in front of the goal hoops. Andri waited to see what would happen as the first Chaser sent a Quaffle at her.

0 Andrina Thornton Coming in for the save 214 Andrina Thornton 0 5

Kitty McLevy

June 17, 2013 3:25 PM

Flying free by Kitty McLevy

Kitty was beyond happy. Over the summer she’d grown three whole inches, and she was finally starting to look more like a woman instead of a little girl. At sixteen, she only had modest curves, but she thought she looked alright for her short height. The summer had been a blast, but Kitty was thrilled to be back at school. She had missed Quidditch terribly, and couldn’t wait to get back into the game.

This year, they were going to win for sure. The short Aladren bounced happily down towards the pitch. During the summer, she’d learned how to drive, but Kitty still thought that flying beat driving any day. Maybe riding a motorcycle would be just as fun she wondered as she watched all the other perspective teammates gather. Brushing her long black hair back in a messy tail, she wondered how hard it would be to convince her dad to get her a motorcycle.

She gave Arnold a thumbs up when he took control of the gathering. He would make a great Captain, Kitty knew. A broad grin flashed on her lips when they were told to fly a few laps. It felt great to be back in the air, and Kitty floored it. She was almost a disappointment to start practice and give up the joy of flying just for the fun of it.

Kitty waived at Andrina when she caught the other girl’s eye. Hopefully, her friend would be on the first string this year. Not only was Andrina trying out, so was Francesca. Kitty grinned at the sight of the other girls. When she first tried out as a little first year, she had been the only girl on the team. All the other teams had been shocked when they’d let Kitty be the Keeper that first year, and even though she wasn’t best suited to the position, she’d still had a blast being part of the team. Now it looked like the dynamics of the team were beginning to change. Maybe when I’m a seventh year, there will be all girls and only one boy on the team, she thought with a small giggle. That probably wouldn’t happen, but it would be funny if it did.

When Francesca caught the Quaffle and made her run, Kitty followed behind to cheer the Second year on. She also kept an eye on Thad, having heard about how he’d nearly killed himself during his first flying lesson when he’d played Keeper with a couple of other boys playing chaser. “Come on Francesca, you can do it!” she yelled as the smaller girl threw the ball. Kitty was in a good position to snag the Quaffle when it was put back into play.

0 Kitty McLevy Flying free 0 Kitty McLevy 0 5

Irina Volkov

June 18, 2013 12:33 PM

I'll give you some practice. :) by Irina Volkov

Going into the Quidditch try-outs, Irina knew that she wasn’t very likely to make the team. Standing around with the others trying out, she felt like a midget. Everyone was obviously older (and most likely more experienced) than her as well as being taller, even the shorter ones were taller. Gripping her broom a little tighter, Irina put on her not to be deterred face. She could do this. All she had to do was make the team as a reserve. She didn’t even have to make the actual team. If she made it as a reserve, she probably wouldn’t ever have to play and she could still put down on her resume that she had been on the Quidditch team. It was a win-win situation.

She shuffled from foot to foot. She was starting to get a little antsy for the try-outs to begin. The sooner they began, the sooner they would be done with. Thankfully, the Captain, Arnold, didn’t seem one for long-winded speeches. She already knew the rules since she had cousins that played all the time. They never let her play though, because they thought she would get hurt. Maybe they were right. Maybe she wasn’t big enough to actually play this game, but she had to at least try. Her future was riding on it.

Her guardians had been surprised when she had asked for a broom for try-outs, but they had sent along her uncle’s old broom. It certainly wasn’t a lightweight model, but it felt sturdy in her hands. She just hoped it went fast enough. A lot of the newer models boasted about how fast they were. Mounting her broom, she headed into the air to do the required laps. Her father had taught her how to ride a broom. She wondered if he would have approved of her playing Quidditch or if he would have taught her how to play. Maybe then she wouldn’t be so worried about the try-out. Going around in circles though helped to ease her mind as her body shifted into a more relaxed mode as she became more familiar with the broom.

Once they were ready, she took a position as Chaser. She was going to be going against a girl trying out for the position of Keeper rather than the boy. She didn’t mind either one, but hoped that maybe she was decent enough to score at least one goal so she looked like she belonged. After a few passes, which miraculously she managed to drop none of them, though one had been close, she was in possession of the quaffle again. Close to the goals now, Irina had to make a choice. She could either pass it again or try to score. Score. Her eyes narrowed in determination as she tried to study the movement of the Keeper and with that, she threw the quaffle as hard as she could towards the left goal. Please, please, please go in. She bit her lip, wishing with all her might.

0 Irina Volkov I'll give you some practice. :) 0 Irina Volkov 0 5

Lucian D'Alesandro

June 21, 2013 2:04 AM

Hopefully my best is enough. by Lucian D'Alesandro

Lucian woke up the morning of the Aladren tryouts a bit early so he could psych himself up before heading to the Pitch. He had made a last minute decision to try out for the team this year. After his stressful summer and the dramatic beginning of his fourth year at Sonora, Lucian thought an activity that was more physical might help him get out all of his pent up energy and stress. Though he loved books and enjoyed the book club when he was a part of it, he thought that being a part of a team would help him be more social and become better friends with some of his fellow housemates. He had originally planned on trying out in his fifth year, but now seemed to be a good time, so he changed his mind.

He dressed quickly in a brown t-shirt with a tree decal, worn jeans, and black Converses. After he situated his hair, which didn’t take long since it always looked messy, he headed to Cascade Hall for some breakfast. He wanted to have energy for the tryouts, so he ate a larger than normal breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon, orange juice, and toast. He even grabbed a banana on his way out.

Once he made his way to the Pitch, he joined the other students who were trying out. Looking around, he saw a mixture of boys and girls. A lot of the players looked older than him, but one of the girls looked like a first year. Hopefully she doesn’t get hurt or something he found himself thinking as he glanced at her once more. He then imagined himself hitting a Bludger towards an opponent that small and shuddered a little bit. Then he looked once more at the older players. What if all of the other experienced players were a lot better than him? Lucian figured these thoughts were just normal worries most players have, and he did his best to silence them in order to perform well during tryouts.

He listened carefully as Arnold explained what they would be doing. Once he was done talking, Lucian swallowed down his anxiousness the best he could, took to his broom, and quickly flew a few laps while holding onto it a little more firmly than usual. He hoped that practicing his flying during the summer was paying off.

After landing, Lucian looked around the Pitch and saw a few students waiting to try out for Keeper, and others lining up to be Chasers. He had decided to try out to be a Beater. The only other position that really interested him was the Seeker position, but he knew that was already filled by the captain.

Lucian walked over to the nearest bat and picked it up. He then took a position in the air, and waited for another player to hit a Bludger towards him. When it came in his direction, Lucian hit it with all of his might back towards the other player. That wasn’t too bad at all he thought to himself. He surely wasn’t the strongest player, but he did have some power to put behind his hits. Just then, the Bludger came back around and Lucian, not prepared for it, flew out of the way and missed it. The Bludger went flying behind him. I should have had that he thought scolding himself. He turned his broom and urged it to go forward quickly to catch up with the rogue Bludger. Determined, he caught up with it and hit it forcefully towards the other player once more.

0 Lucian D'Alesandro Hopefully my best is enough. 223 Lucian D'Alesandro 0 5

Andri

June 27, 2013 3:51 PM

Thanks! Now its your turn! by Andri

Sitting in the goal hoops after Thad made Andri feel really nervous. She hated the feeling she got that Arnold would probably make Thad Keeper rather than her since he’d actually been first string before and there she is just sitting on the bench for years. Granted, there had been many players willing to play for Aladren before now, so why would the captain choose some girl off the bench to play instead of a boy like Thad? If she ever ended up Captain she wouldn’t, so she wouldn’t expect any others to do that either. She would go for talent, that was for sure. She only hoped that she had enough of that to go around this time.

The fifth year was a little worried, she wouldn’t lie to herself. What if Arnold chooses one of these boys who are younger before her? What if he doesn’t choose me at all? What if he doesn’t even want me to warm up Aladren’s bench?? she thought to herself, getting more and more paranoid by the second. Her heart skipped a beat and thumped and thudded worse than thunder in a thunder and lightning storm.

There were players coming at her now, and she shook her head to bring her back to reality. The first looked like a first year girl. She’d never seen the girl before this year anyway, and that meant she was either a transfer student or a first year. With the girl’s size though, Andri would be willing to bet money on the fact that she was a first year. The girl was coming at her having passed the Quaffles back and forth amongst the ‘Chasers’ and the Quaffle was released from her hand hard and fast it looked like the way it headed right towards the left hoops.

Andri had been sitting on her broom in the center hoop and booked it to the left one just in time to knock it out of the way of the left one, but still called out, “That was a really nice sharp shot! Great power too!” along with her praise, Andri grinned at the girl and she hoped two things. The first was that the first year had not only heard her but seen the smile on her face. The second was that Arnold heard her because that first year really could be a huge asset to them as a whole and she wanted him to know that.

“Give it another go!” she called to the girl again.

0 Andri Thanks! Now its your turn! 0 Andri 0 5