Coach Grase
June 10, 2016 1:34 AM
Quidditch Game 1: Aladren vs. Crotalus by Coach Grase
The familiarity of the brisk morning air, combined with the nostalgic pang the comfortable atmosphere of the pitch cause, made the ache in Juliet’s right shoulder begin with much more vigor than previous mornings. She massaged it absentmindedly as the spectators for today’s match filed into the stands. Not a bad crowd for such a frigid morning, she mused internally. A smattering of students and faculty huddled in clumps like penguins to combat the chilly autumn breeze.A sudden, particularly cold gust caught Juliet off guard, and the resulting shiver made her offending injury twinge a bit worse for a moment. She had decided today was as good as any to see if it was time to start laying off the pain medicine, and while the ache was definitely more noticeable without it, it was certainly better than she had been expecting. It definitely could be worse she thought, allowing herself to feel hopeful. I’ll be back to my old self , and back in the air, by the end of the term.
The chattering of the Aladren and Crotalus teams coming onto the field snapped her from her reprieve. Putting on her best greeting-the-fans voice, Juliet cast the Sonorus charm on herself and welcomed the athletes and spectators to the game, introducing the teams and their respective captains.
“You guys know how this works; keep it clean, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she said as she turned back to the young athletes. “Now if the captains would please shake hands?” Trusting them to follow instructions, Juliet broke her gaze in favor of her pocket, rifling through it to find the whistle she had ignored until now.
When everyone was in position, she wished them all luck and tossed the Quaffle into the air, blowing the whistle in between her teeth. Next went up the Bludgers, which she released from their bindings with a disappointed sigh, followed by the tiny golden Snitch. Juliet then mounted her broom to join the kids in the air, where she still firmly believed she belonged.
Subthreads: Kicking things off by <font color=blue>Arianna Valenti, Chaser</font> with <font color='red'>Capt. Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>, <font color="blue">Captain Bennett, Beater</font>, <font color='red'>Daniel Fintoc, Chaser</font>, <font color="blue">Jack Spencer, Chaser</font>
Welcome back, Crotalus by <font color=blue>Clark Dill, Seeker</font>
The changing of the guard by <font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font> with <font color=red>Makenzie Newell, Keeper</font>
Back in Black...Well, Red actually by <font color='red'>Shinohara, Seeker</font> with <font color="blue">John Umland, Beater</font>, <font color=blue>Clark Dill, Seeker</font>, <font color="red">Arne Reinhardt, Beater</font>, Coach Grase
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Coach Grase
Quidditch Game 1: Aladren vs. Crotalus
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Coach Grase
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<font color=blue>Arianna Valenti, Chaser</font>
June 10, 2016 3:30 AM
Kicking things off by <font color=blue>Arianna Valenti, Chaser</font>
Why?She had known this day would come since she had walked on to tryouts, empirically. Still, dark eyes flashed open to stare at the ceiling, woken up that morning by a stomach full of knots. She could play sick. She could quit. She could say she got lost on the way to the Pitch, that one of the Magical Creatures from class had escaped their cage and she had masterfully battled it away.
But Aladren only had seven fliers, and no more. Were she to fail to appear, everyone would know that Arianna Giulia Valenti had been the cause of Aladren's failure. And that just wouldn't do at all. Moreover, other than her cousin, the Quidditch boys were the only people at this weird school that she interacted with regularly. Were she to quit, she would just be down to her cousin, most likely lecturing her on the importance of showing up for your team. And that just wouldn't do at all.
So she got up.
She showered, she put on her moisturizer and chapstick (whose dumb idea was it to make a school in Arizona freezing anyway? Just because you could magic didn't mean you should). She made a Dutch braid crown, and tied the rest of her dark curls into a ponytail with a blue ribbon, to keep the tendrils out of her face. It was a style the volleyball girls back home were no doubt wearing in the gym this fall. She missed them.
Giving herself one last look in the mirror, she flattened out her blue Aladren sweater so that it sat evenly, and adjusted her shin guards and arm guards before fidgeting around with her fingerless gloves. Manicured fingers stretched beneath them. She never felt quite right with all this equipment on. Last was the blue cape, and she deemed herself Quidditch ready.
Arianna skipped Cascade Hall of course, no sense in seeing the enemy before battle. She always kept some snacks and a water bottle with her, a habit formed from sharing a room with her little sister. Elisa was always hungry. Scarfing down a banana and some grapes before she left, the first year grabbed her blue water bottle, and was off.
It was important to get down early, because she would need to borrow a broom from the supply closet. It was not worth writing home to ask for a new one, that would just mean less money for clothes, and firsthand books, and things that mattered. Quidditch was just an outlet for her, a way to pass her time here at Sonora in a way that would look useful on a future college resume.
Still, she would not be stuck with some leftover broom, and she would not allow anyone to know she had no choice but to use it. Gabe had his top of the line racing broom, of course, but the first year couldn't see him parting with it, not even for her very first game. Besides, they would play each other eventually, and so sharing a broom was not a long term solution. Therefore, she made her way to the closet, chose a newer looking broom from the bunch, and considered herself fully prepared for the game.
By the time she joined the Aladren team, the knots in her stomach had been put on lockdown, replaced instead by a confident smile. Abby's mom always told the girls to fake it until they made it, and Arianna supposed this was one of those times.
Finishing her water bottle, Arianna paid careful attention to anything Captain Leonidas or any of her teammates might say. She reminded herself yet again that she refused to let the nerves get the best of her. She would not be just some helpless little girl in the air.
Things seemed to move at a whirlwind pace now, they were outside - so unnecessarily cold! - and the Coach was announcing things, and it was almost time to go. Kickoff was the worst, and the knots in her stomach pressed at the cage they ought to be locked away in as she threw her leg over the broom. She could do this. She had to do this. It would be permanently embarrassing if she failed to do this.
Three, two, one - away!
Sneakers kicked off the cold ground, pushing her into the gusts of frigid air. The cool, hard ground provided a quicker ascent than she was used to, she was going, going - the Quaffle!
It was only a few feet away! If she could claim first possession for Aladren, then everyone would know that she was just as important a Chaser as Louis or Jack. That she was more than just some first year, here to be a warm body in this cool, cool day.
The Quaffle was just out of reach, she wasn’t sure if she could get a good grip on it before one of the more experienced players got close, or a Bludger approached. Coming towards it from the left, her left hand still carefully gripped the broom as her right swung back behind her, knees slightly bent. Yes, she was new at being a witch, at flying, at Quidditch. But she remembered everything her coach at her old school had taught her.
Lining up with the ball, Arianna swung her hand back, right elbow back, at a ninety degree angle, before whipping her forearm forward, and slamming the ball with all her eleven (and-a-half) year-old might with the center of her hand.
The ball began to careen towards the Crotalus hoops, aided in part by a favorable gust of wind, although it also carried the ball further to the right then she had intended. Still, things were going in the right direction for Aladren. And she had played her part. If she was going to be a part of something, she was going to be successful at it, and nobody could call her a failure now. Grinning, she watched to see where the ball would go, forgetting momentarily that she ought to follow its path.
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<font color=blue>Arianna Valenti, Chaser</font>
Kicking things off
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<font color=blue>Arianna Valenti, Chaser</font>
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<font color='red'>Capt. Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>
June 10, 2016 2:15 PM
Stopping you right there. by <font color='red'>Capt. Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>
In some respects the first Quidditch match of the year had rolled around rather quickly but at the same time the weeks leading up to it had seemed to drag by. Alistair personally had been dying to get back into playing matches, going without any at all last term had been agony, but there was also a part of him that felt concerned that his amateur team were just not ready. Then again, he supposed it could be argued that the Crotalus Quidditch team would never be ready. Their skill level wasn’t as high as some of the other teams for sure, but Alistair had been pleasantly surprised by Makenzie’s abilities as Keeper and so far this term he’d put a lot of effort into developing the skills of all his players. If their work on technique still didn’t help them match up to Aladren, the Crotalus Captain did think his team could actually have the one up on fitness. He ran a strict training regime for the Crotalus Quidditch team, involving a range of different training methods and regular testing of a variety of key fitness components to ensure that they were making the desired improvements. Alistair had unfortunately been forced to make some of this optional because his teammates had other commitments but he thought that enough of it was compulsory to give them an advantage.At their last team practise, the Crotalus Captain had reminded all of his players (mostly for the benefit of those who hadn’t yet played a match) to turn up promptly on the day so that they had plenty of time to warm up. He was particularly glad that he had done just this when he stepped outside on the morning of the first match, after a breakfast consisting of an omelette and a tropical fruit salad, and found that there was a rather chilly breeze. When his team showed up, Alistair ran through a substantial set of warm up drills with them (not needing to instruct as they were by now expected to understand what was required of them) and made sure to stress the particular importance of doing so in cold weather. He did not want his players flying about with cold, tight muscles at any point during the game. Not only would it make them more prone to injury, but also meant they wouldn’t perform as well - and Crotalus could afford neither of these things. They had no reserves for backup and were at a disadvantage when it came to experience. After all, the team’s Assistant Captain had only played one match before and that was only as a reserve, which really didn’t inspire confidence.
Despite all of these concerns, every inch of Alistair portrayed confidence today (not that he was ever prone to externally lacking it). To some degree he did have faith in his team and knew that they probably worked harder than he gave them credit for. He was aware he often pushed them rather hard in training, perhaps more than they’d sign up for but never more than appropriate for their level, yet at the end of the day he just wanted the same thing as they all did - success.
“Alright team, gather round!” Alistair called his players in close so he didn’t have to shout out his last minute advice and hopefully they would take initiative and huddle in close to preserve heat. “Today you all need to be thinking about keeping warm so I want everyone moving about as much as you can. I don’t want the cold weather affecting our game. You also need to be aware of the wind so keep this in mind, particularly Chasers when passing or shooting.” He focused particularly on Isaac and Daniel now as he ran through his advice for them. “We’ll be mainly wanting to be using short passes and you need to make sure you’re throwing hard and fast, and accurately. Don’t stray too far away from whoever has the Quaffle otherwise you’ll force them to throw long. Aladren have a new Chaser on their team, a first year muggleborn, so our Chasing team is already looking stronger.”
The fourth year now switched from directing his words to the Chasers and onto the Beaters. “Beaters, you have your work cut out for you but you’ve just got to keep your wits about you. Reinhardt, I want you marking the Seeker - she needs to stay fully focused on finding the Snitch so it’s your job to make sure she doesn’t need to worry about any bludgers coming her way. Évreux, you’ll be marking us Chasers so just remember everything from practice and think about where you’re sending those bludgers - the more hits you get in, the better.” Alistair had explained to Sébastien the way in which the Beaters usually worked at Sonora, with one marking the Seeker and the other marking the Chasers, and had made sure that both Arne and Sébastien practised both so that he could switch them around should it be necessary.
“Seeker,” the Crotalus looked to Shinohara now as he moved onto the individual positions in his team, glad he had the time to run through advice for everyone. He refused to allow himself to feel any sort of disheartening as he spoke to the older girl, knowing the competition was tough. “Dill’s got to miss the Snitch at some point, let’s just make that today - okay? Reinhardt, I want you firing as many bludgers at the Aladren Seeker as you possibly can.” Alistair tried to speak in a light tone, although not devoid of seriousness, simply because he was aware that he hadn’t been very supportive of Shinohara in the past and that now was not a time for negativity. Pep-talks were supposed to be as much about motivating the team as much as they were about last minute advice, the Captain had come to understand.
Alistair finally turned to Makenzie, one of the team’s most recent recruits. “Keeper, the Chasers should be keeping the Quaffle down at the other end of the pitch to you for most of the game but when it does come your way, just remember to keep calm and you’ll do great. The most important thing for you to consider is the weather.” He had already drilled this into the team as a whole but when it came to cold the Keeper was the highest concern, simply because they had much less flying to do that would keep them warm. “This weather can directly affect your body heat so if you allow yourself to get cold, you’ll find yourself with numb hands and slow coordination and this will make it much harder for you to save goals. I advise you just fly around a little bit when the Quaffle is down the Aladren end to stay warm. Do whatever so long as you just keep moving and don’t sit still but you must make sure that you remain facing the match - do not turn your back.” He gave her what he believed to be an encouraging smile before adding, “and just a head’s up, the Quaffle’s going to be harder today.” He hoped this wouldn’t affect Makenzie’s ability to catch it but knew that very often a cold, hard ball could lead to a decline in a Keeper’s performance as they tended to catch it differently because of this or were more inclined to bat it away.
“Everyone ready?” the question was mostly rhetorical but Alistair glanced around at the faces of his teammates nonetheless. “Good. Now let’s get up there and win this game!”
When instructed to do so by the new Quidditch Coach, Alistair strode forward to shake the hand of the Aladren Captain. He gave Leonidas Bennett his usual firm handshake and wordless nod, not unfriendly but neither smiling because he took his sport seriously and was now in the zone. He felt a stirring of pride within him, not an unfamiliar feeling it has to be said, largely due to the fact that this was actually the first match where he was wearing the red Quidditch robes of his own house and was finally Captain all by himself, without the irritating Liac Reinhardt trying to share his power.
The moment the whistle blew, Alistair shot up into the air. Reaction times were something he’d worked on improving in team practices so he hoped that, even if he didn’t reach the Quaffle first himself, one of his fellow Crotali would. Unfortunately for the team captain, he got a little caught up in the initial scrimmage of players fighting for first possession of the ball. When he managed to get out, quite possibly pushing off from another player, he was very surprised to find Aladren’s muggleborn first year taking the first touch of the Quaffle. Quite how this had happened, Alistair wasn’t sure, but there was no time to waste wondering what Aladren were feeding their players and whether or not it was legal. The little Aladren girl seemed to have more surprises up her sleeve as she smacked the scarlet ball and sent it flying through the air. It was a rather unorthodox method and one that Alistair hoped she wouldn’t continue to use throughout the whole game. It had worked out fairly well for her now and he liked to see uniqueness in players but he did not deem it very practical to use repeatedly today.
Carried slightly by the wind, the Quaffle headed closer to Ali than he had thought it would as he sped towards it, plucking it neatly out of the air with a cocky glance at the grinning first year. She didn’t think the game was that easy, did she? He flew sharply upwards to avoid an incoming bludger, apparently one of the Aladren Beaters had seen his intentions to intercept the first pass but they were just too late. The Crotalus Captain flew successfully back over the halfway line and into Aladren territory with the Quaffle tucked under his arm but, despite his speedy flying abilities, he had no choice but to rid himself of it soon after reaching this point of the pitch, sure that he had bludgers and enemy Chasers hot on his tail.
Alistair made a short pass to the nearest Crotalus Chaser, expecting them to stay close because they knew that the majority of their passes would be fairly short today to reduce the potential for the wind interfering. So far, so good, he thought as he powered on, although not too far so that he would be ready to receive another pass soon if the Quaffle recipient found themselves in need to relinquish the ball. He had a feeling this was going to be rather a tight and quick Chaser game, doubting that many players would be risking long passes which would be subject to inaccuracy.
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<font color='red'>Capt. Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>
Stopping you right there.
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<font color='red'>Capt. Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>
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<font color="blue">Captain Bennett, Beater</font>
June 12, 2016 10:56 PM
Returning the favor by <font color="blue">Captain Bennett, Beater</font>
On the day of the first match, Leonidas allowed himself to indulge in a little true optimism. Not only did they have a full team, but even their new girl seemed to be doing okay in practice. She wasn’t perfect, but while Leonidas had yet to see her in a game, he was confident that she was going to be less of a headache to keep in one piece than John had been the year he’d played Chaser, which was all Leonidas thought anyone could really ask of a first year.Anyone, that was, except Alistair Johnson. Unless he was a very different person than Leonidas thought he was, he was going to ask a lot more than that of, among others, his first year, a kid Leo thought was a second year, and a girl Leonidas doubted had played Quidditch in at least five years. The question was just whether or not he could get it. Leonidas supposed it was possible they could all exceed expectations, but he still had the utmost confidence that his team could go through them like hammers through tissue paper. He expected the Chasers would be able to take care of themselves and each other, but even if Alistair and Isaac got in the way, the Crotali still had two major problems to deal with and they were called Leonidas and John. Arne Reinhardt had only been a reserve on Teppalus and the first year was…a first year. He did not expect either of them to present much of a challenge.
“Hello, everyone,” he said to his team. “I’ll keep this short. I expect we’re going to win, but I also expect everyone to play as though you were against the toughest opponents you’ve ever had. Remember that their Seeker and two of their Chasers were on the Teppalus team – which, yes, means this should be easy for you, Clark. Deal with Miss Shinohara as you usually would. John, watch his back today.”
He had hesitated over that one for a while. For one thing, Leonidas didn’t trust anyone and losing Clark would mean disaster. For another thing, Leonidas thought John had been a poor fit for Chaser for the same reason Theodore would have been: where Chasers had to be highly social beings by default, Beaters and Keepers had a bit more distance and license to act as they saw fit, if still not as much as Seekers did. A Seeker’s Beater in the standard strategy, though, had to follow his Seeker’s lead, almost read his mind and accomodate quickly when he got it wrong. However, John had to learn it sometime, as it would be complete idiocy to hand Clark over to a first year next year, and the Crotalus Beaters were going to be easy to handle. In the Championship or any game against Pecari, Leonidas would be the one keeping his Seeker in one piece, but today, he thought he was safe having some fun revisiting his younger years and beating up Douglas and Johnson and the new boy.
“Let’s make them sorry they made a full team,” he suggested to his team. “Good luck, everyone.”
He shook hands with Johnson, resisted the urge to half-turn to repeat the gesture with a Reinhardt who wasn’t on the field today, and went back to his team. When they kicked off, he smiled, pleased, when he saw Arianna go right for the Quaffle. That didn’t last long, though, because Johnson stole the Quaffle from her. That wasn’t going to work. Leonidas flew after a Bludger and whacked it straight toward the red robes, hoping at best to knock one of them down and at least to disrupt the pass and give his people a chance to recollect the Quaffle.
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<font color="blue">Captain Bennett, Beater</font>
Returning the favor
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<font color="blue">Captain Bennett, Beater</font>
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<font color='red'>Daniel Fintoc, Chaser</font>
June 14, 2016 11:56 AM
Trying to avoid it. by <font color='red'>Daniel Fintoc, Chaser</font>
Daniel felt rather nervous from the moment he woke up on the day of his first ever Quidditch match. He’d only been playing the sport for just over a year so, whilst previous experience meant he was more than comfortable on a broom, he wasn’t as confident when it came to playing this specific sport. He had never played Quidditch in a formal competitive situation before and now felt that he was being thrown in at the deep end, pitted against Aladren, the reigning Quidditch champions.The weather was pretty bad, Daniel noted as he stepped outside that morning and shivered as a gust of wind hit him, not for the first time wondering why the school would make the weather unpleasant (since he’d heard that they controlled it). Being cold was something he thought wouldn’t be an issue once up in the air as the activities of his Chaser position would get him warmed up but wind was potentially a more problematic factor. The second year considered that it could pick up most unexpectedly and whip his passes and shots off course.
Daniel turned up to the pitch promptly, eager not to be the one to show poor form today or let the team down. Upon arrival, there was little time to dwell on any worries as he threw himself into the warm up. He certainly didn’t want to perform any worse than usual because of the cold (as Alistair said would happen if they weren’t sure to warm up thoroughly) and didn’t think the Captain, for one, would forgive him if he didn’t do his very best today. The older Crotalus had spent a lot of time helping Daniel with his Quidditch last year so now he felt pressure to prove to Alistair that it hadn’t all been a waste of time. Daniel had to hand it to his captain, whatever less appealing traits Alistair did have, his dedication and knowledge were both very admirable.
When the team was called together for a last minute pep-talk, Daniel tried to ignore his nerves and pay complete attention to what was being said. He bounced slightly from one foot to another to keep warm but stopped when Alistair focused on him so that it was clear he was listening. The twelve year old was glad of the last minute advice that the Captain gave, being sure to retain the instruction about using short passes and filled with a little more confidence having been told that their Chaser team was apparently better than that of Aladren.
Nevertheless, the butterflies in Daniel’s stomach were still there as he waited for the opposing captains to shake hands and the whistle to be blown. And then they were off and Dan knew better than to hang around. He pushed up into the air, eyes locked on the Quaffle. But then his line of sight got obscured and other players got in the way. It was rather messy, he thought, but having six players shoot up into the air heading for the same thing wasn’t really ideal for a clean flight line.
Suddenly the young Crotalus remembered what Alistair had told him in their latest team practice - “don’t get caught up in the fight for the Quaffle; I’ll get it.” Alistair was much faster on his broom than Daniel and probably the rest of the Chasers and was confident that he could get to the Quaffle first. Daniel was supposed to be the one keeping out of the fray and receiving the Quaffle as soon as Alistair got hold of it. What had he been thinking by ignoring this instruction? Apparently the nerves and the weather concerns had got to him and made him think too much about one thing. Daniel felt cross with himself by following what everyone else was doing like a sheep and forgetting his own individual role that he had been specifically assigned.
Fortunately for the second year, Alistair hadn’t been the one to get his hands on the Quaffle first, although Daniel knew he shouldn’t be relieved by this because Aladren had started off with the Quaffle advantage. However, he watched as Alistair snatched the Quaffle out of the air from Arianna Valenti’s pass and sped back towards him with it.
Daniel wasn’t sure when Alistair was going to pass. He had heard that the older boy could be a bit of a Quaffle-hogger in matches, possibly because he didn’t have much faith in his teammates which was something Daniel hoped wasn’t the case. As it turned out, Alistair passed the Quaffle his way pretty much as soon as he crossed the halfway line and Daniel was now ready to receive. He remembered what Alistair had said about short passes so stayed fairly close to receive the pass.
He caught the ball easily, the pass had been neat and so had his catch. Dan hadn’t messed up and they were off to a good start, but now the pressure was on him. Barely had he gained possession of the Quaffle and flew forward, glancing around, did the newest Chaser hear a bludger sailing through the wind towards him. He panicked, desperate to get rid of the Quaffle so he could escape the bludger without it. With a quick glance around, Daniel passed it on to the nearest red-clad Chaser and then ducked down to try and shake the bludger from his tail, not hanging around to make sure his short pass was successful. He thought he’d done okay, he hoped he’d done okay.
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<font color='red'>Daniel Fintoc, Chaser</font>
Trying to avoid it.
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<font color='red'>Daniel Fintoc, Chaser</font>
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<font color="blue">Jack Spencer, Chaser</font>
June 21, 2016 6:05 PM
Flying towards it. by <font color="blue">Jack Spencer, Chaser</font>
The morning of the Quidditch match, Jack woke up with adrenaline pumping through his blood. He'd dreamt of holding the Cup in his arms with his team-mates surrounding him, cheering him on, and he'd scored the winning goal. Everything had felt so real he hadn't wanted to wake up, but he knew he needed to get out of his warm bed and dress. Today was important. It was the first game of the year as well as the first match against Crotalus in a few years. They hadn't done very well putting a team together, but he was glad they'd managed this year. He couldn't wait to get back on the pitch and into the match.Breakfast was quick and Jack ate just enough to sustain himself. He couldn't eat as much as usual because of his nerves, but he made sure to drink loads of water and use the toilet before approaching the pitch. He had his broom in hand, a hand-me-down from Adam but still very good. It was worn in the best way, and he'd learnt to trust it over the years. Jack joined his team-mates and looked at the sky. It was chilly today, and a gust of wind made him shiver. He wouldn't need a warming charm once he was up in the sky, so he refrained from casting one on himself. He rubbed his hands together, his broom tucked in his elbow, and listened attentively to their Captain.
Jack had shot up in height during the past few months, and was now about as tall as Adam. It was about time for his growth spurt, and Jack hoped to grow several more centimetres to pass his older brother. He was eating and drinking his milk faithfully. His sudden growth made flying a bit awkward, however, and Jack was still trying to find a comfortable position with his longer legs and torso. His arms were longer as well and he sometimes surprised himself by how far he could reach. He'd get used to it soon, he was certain, but it made catching some passes a bit awkward.
Once all the formalities were done with, Jack mounted his broom with the others and, as soon as the whistle blew, joined the fray. He was waving his throwing arm in the, reaching his fingers to snatch the Quaffle, but after being bumped and shoved by shoulders and elbows, Jack found that his team-mate had succeeded in getting it. Her manner of dealing with the Quaffle, however, was very unorthodox and Jack smacked his fist against his head as he saw her smack the Quaffle right into the arms of a Crotalus Chaser. There was no time to say a swear word as Jack immediately soared after Johnson, his blue eyes focused solely on his goal.
What Bennet had told them earlier suddenly came to mind: "Let’s make them sorry they made a full team." That sounded rather nice to him.
Jack pushed forward, leaning down more against his broom to gain speed. It didn't seem like Fintoc was going to take chances and might make a short pass. Jack would have to swoop in and snatch the Quaffle in that short space, or smack it away like Valenti had done earlier. Just not so haphazardly.
The bludger from his captain had distracted Fintoc enough for him to make a pass, and Jack did just as he'd hoped. It was not very graceful, as he clumsily smacked it downward first and scooped it into his arm, but it got the job done. Jack made a short turn and was now flying the other way towards the Crotalus hoops. He searched for one his team-mates surreptitiously, then did a short turn again going the other way and pushed it right into the arms of a blue-clad Chaser right before hitting the hoops.
What Jack didn't like was being surrounded by clumps of people, and he was glad to get a breath of fresh air before diving back in and seeing whether or not his team-mate could carry through with the first shot at the hoops.
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<font color="blue">Jack Spencer, Chaser</font>
Flying towards it.
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<font color="blue">Jack Spencer, Chaser</font>
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