Coach Patricia Reilly

August 02, 2018 4:36 PM
Coach Patricia Reilly hadn’t needed to look for a job long between when her last position dissolved due to budget cuts and when Sonora accepted her to fill a long held vacancy. The Sonora Quidditch program had languished a bit during the years without a proper coach, and she was determined to fix it.

The main problem seemed to be a small population that couldn’t quite support a four House tournament style of play. Patty had a solution for that. Her last position had also been at a small school, so she knew for a fact there was a local league down a team, which would be glad to have another school join them, and which Patricia herself was already well acquainted with and had some small amount of influence toward herself.

So she got Sonora signed up and registered and scheduled for games both at home and at other small private magical schools in the American West. The only thing left to do was get a team and appoint a captain.

Sonora already had three captains and a couple more assistant captains - nearly enough for a team by themselves, so she had no doubt Sonora could at least manage one full team, possibly even including a full set of reserves, with no trouble at all - but she decided to hold tryouts first, then award the captain and assistant captain based on merit and skill rather than seniority and previous badge wearing experience. She didn’t expect to hand it out to any first years, of course, simply because seventeen year olds may have trouble following the orders of an eleven year old, so age would probably factor slightly, but overall she planned to be pretty open in that decision.

So on the night of the Opening Feast, after the students left for their dormitories, she posted up the Quidditch announcement on the Cascade Hall Bulletin board, with its heading in large green letters that she hoped wouldn’t be easily overlooked.


Sonora Quidditch!

New School Wide Team
Try-Outs on Wednesday
All are Welcome


Once those important details were declared, the font grew smaller and grammar began to assert itself as it switched from key points to full sentences.


Starting this year, Sonora Quidditch will be changed from four house teams that played amongst themselves to a single school team which will complete against other small magical schools in this part of the country. Games will be hosted both here at Sonora and at other schools.

One single tryout will be held for all students, first through seventh year, on the Pitch this Wednesday. Brooms will be provided if necessary. All ages and ability levels are welcome to try out.

Positions will be awarded by skill, as will the team captaincy, so bring your A game to tryouts! The final roster will include a first string team as well as a full second string reserve team. Those who do not make the team or reserves will be allowed to attend practices but will not be able to play competitively or attend away games.

Please sign up below if you are interested.


The bottom half of the page provided space for each potential student’s name, house, and year, as well as a grid for them to make a checkmark if they wished to be considered for Seeker, Keeper, Chaser, Beater, and/or Captain (check all that apply).



OOC: I know I said this is set in the Cascade Hall, but I posted it here because Cascade is busy with the OF and soon the HoH speeches. The Quidditch Pitch is lonely, and this is thematically appropriate. Just please remember it is, In Character (IC), in the Cascade Hall when you write your post about your student signing up. This is a normal post, so the minimum 200 word count rule still applies. Make sure you provide all the details the sign up sheet requests. Welcome to a new era of Sonora Quidditch!
Subthreads:
0 Coach Patricia Reilly Quidditch Sign Ups! 1483 Coach Patricia Reilly 1 5

Eden Manger

August 02, 2018 4:57 PM
Every year, Eden surprised herself a little with her excitement for the new Quidditch season. This year was particularly surprising as she beelined to the sign up. It was weird that it was in the Cascade Hall and not Teppenpaw, but that was quickly clarified by the fact that Sonora was only compiling one team this year. The blonde swallowed. She wanted her spot.

When her House had combined with another, she’d kept it because she had a winning record. She still had one, boasting more victories than defeats in her short career in the skies. Eden was good. Somehow. She still didn’t know how she was such a natural at it. But it was fun - admittedly, it was most fun because she was usually winning - and it honored her father who, despite having died the summer before her first year, still somehow sent her a new broom each other and a note, implying that he knew what had happened in the latest matches. She still had no idea how he was doing it; the broomstick delivery could’ve been preplanned, but how his letters knew so much was simply beyond her. But honestly, Eden had decided that she didn’t care how. Her father was still with her somehow, and it made her feel safe.

She raised her eager quill to the sign up, pleased to see she was the first name on the list.

Eden Manger,
Teppenpaw,
Fourth year


The fourteen year old added a check under Seeker, then paused, considering. She added a check under

Captain.

If it was up for claims, she might as well try. And sure, she was young, but she won games. The new coach might not necessarily know that, but, well.. It couldn’t hurt to try, right?
12 Eden Manger A little too ambitious 385 Eden Manger 0 5

Malikhi Hill, Pecari

August 02, 2018 4:58 PM
Malikhi stumbled into Cascade Hall the next morning, his eyes bleary and stifling a wide yawn. He was not a morning person by nature and this particular morning, following the Opening Feast, he felt even more tired considering he hadn't actually gone to sleep until the early hours of the morning. He'd been too excited about properly starting school and learning magic and spending time with his new friend, Evelyn, that he hadn't been able to sleep.

He very nearly walked right past the newly posted Quidditch sign up sheet. He ran a hand through his messed up hair, which did absolutely nothing to help neaten it up, and approached it. He liked Quidditch and one of his wants was to play on the school team. It was an interesting set up that they were choosing, to have one full school team instead of four House ones. Malikhi wondered if the competition for spaces would be harder. Still, he'd never let it be said that he didnn't try.

In one of the black spaces below the written notice, he scrawled his name, Malikhi Hill, and that he was a first-year Pecari. Finally, he put a big checkmark next to the position of Chaser. He smiled as he walked away from the notice, pleased with himself. His only thought was that he hoped that he absolutely smashed it at practice.
20 Malikhi Hill, Pecari Cool! Quidditch! 1423 Malikhi Hill, Pecari 0 5

Evelyn Stones, Pecari

August 02, 2018 6:40 PM
Evelyn was surprised to find herself interested in the green lettering that promised to let all students, even first years, and even those with no known talent, try out for Quidditch. She hadn't considered the idea too much before Sonora. She knew she was a decent flier, but whether she was a decent...anything else...she wasn't sure.

Still, she couldn't turn down the chance to at least attend practices. Even if she didn't make the team, she'd get to play with others (including her new friends, she hoped), and she could still go watch the games if she wanted to. Hopefully.

Taking a breath, Evelyn wrote her name, Evelyn Stones, that she was a Pecari first-year, and that she'd like to be considered for anything but Captain. All the gods ever knew that wasn't the right spot for her.

22 Evelyn Stones, Pecari Here goes nothing! 1422 Evelyn Stones, Pecari 0 5


Ben Pierce

August 02, 2018 7:34 PM
Ben was not normally an early riser, but being in Arizona instead of Boston meant it was a lot easier to get up ‘early’ on the first day of classes than it would be later, after his body had time to adjust to its current time zone. As such, his belly was demanding food as soon as the Cascade Hall opened for breakfast and he was there to get it.

He wasn’t quite so hungry though that he missed the word ‘Quidditch’ on the bulletin board. He had been partially dismayed, partially excited by the Headmaster’s announcement at the Feast last night. On the one hand, it was his turn to get promoted to Pecari’s captain and that looked to be jeopardy. On the other hand, Quidditch at Sonora definitely needed a boost after a year of having all the games cancelled, and following years of combined teams, so whatever was going on would hopefully breath new life into it.

Drawn in, he read through the explanation, feeling a surge of excitement. Finally, this was sports. Real, competitive sports, like the baseball league he played in back home over the summers.

He did not hesitate to add his name to the list.

Ben Pierce, Pecari, 7

He placed checkmarks under Beater and Captain. He saw no need to hedge his bets with any of the other positions when he liked beating best. He was a seventh year, and size mattered among beaters, which gave him a strong advantage even before considering that he was now the most experienced beater left at Sonora. Not that there was really a lot of competition for the position, even school wide. Parker had been his co-beater in practice last year, but Ben knew he was the stronger player between the two of them. Joe, maybe, might go for it, too - he seemed to have mostly switched out of chaser in favor of beater lately - and he was a seventh year, too, but beater was the spot the House teams had always had the hardest time trying to fill. He supposed there could be some new beaters among the first years, but Ben was sure he could out beat any eleven year old. Basically, the only question regarding first string beaters was whether Joe was going to want to play beater or chaser.

As for captain, he hadn’t needed to think about that one either. He was pretty sure he was the sportiest sports guy in the school, and possibly the only one with league experience, even if it was in s different sport. Being president of the Sports Club probably gave him bonus leadership and sports points, too. Joe might have won Head Boy over him, but Ben was The Sports Guy. If he could only have one, he’d rather have the Quidditch badge.

He thought he had a good shot at it.
1 Ben Pierce I nominate myself the sportiest sports guy 339 Ben Pierce 0 5

Jozua Sparks

August 02, 2018 8:08 PM
Jozua was relieved to hear the school was disbanding House quidditch teams. Joe had gone somewhat insane last year and made Jozua his assistant. This freed him from both that responsibility and joining Quidditch at all. However, when he arrived at breakfast and saw the sign up sheet, habit brought him closer and he noted the tryout date, thinking he might drop in as a spectator to cheer Joe and Eden on.

In spite of himself, he read through the description of how Quidditch was going to be run this year and he found himself unexpectedly intrigued.

If he didn’t make the team, it actually sounded like fun. He could play with Lily but not need to have the stress of competing. Somehow Teppenpaw had never managed to pair up with Pecari when the Houses had needed to combine teams and it would be cool to actually play with his best friend for once instead of against her.

In spite of his absolute intention of NOT joining Quidditch this year, Jozua found himself digging through his bag for a quill and adding his name to the bottom of the list.

Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw, 6th

He checked none of the positions, but left a small ink dot under Keeper column, because he rested the quill there briefly while he decided whether he was going to attempt to try out for anything at all. Deciding not to, he just wrote NO! in large bold letters under captain because he thought it best to be emphatic about that. Then he put an asterisk near his name and at the very bottom of the page he wrote in explanation, * Doesn’t play competitively. Practice attendee only.
1 Jozua Sparks Practice only 348 Jozua Sparks 0 5

Winston Pierce

August 07, 2018 2:51 PM
Winston was concerned about the Quidditch announcement. He was co-captain of the Crotalus team and it seemed likely that he would loose his authority and badge if all the teams merged into one, what with Teppenpaw’s captain and The Pecari both being seventh years.

It had been bad enough when Crotalus and Pecari had needed to team up before, when The Pecari hadn’t been the senior player. If he got made captain of the whole school . . . well, maybe Winston would get lucky and that would go to Joe Umland, or, even better, him or Simon (though Simon getting it without him was also quite terrible to think about). Or even Eden would be relatively tolerable, he thought as he saw she had made a mark under that column as well. Playing under a captain younger than himself was not ideal, but at least she wasn’t The Pecari. He was at least allowed to speak her name. That was an important quality in a captain.

Winston briefly forced himself to consider what he would do if The Pecari did get captain. Would he have to quit the team in a huff? Surely that would ruin his chances for getting it the year after. Simon had already made first string over him once. If Winston took a whole year off Quidditch, that would surely give his roommate a clear advantage down the road. Not acceptable. Unless he could convince Simon to quit with him in protest against The Pecari, but he wasn’t sure Simon cared enough about Pierce politics to take that much affront to The Pecari’s existence.

Given the choice, Winston didn’t like giving this much thought to The Pecari’s existence either.

Deciding that not acknowledging such existence was the best course of action until proven otherwise, Winston ignored the one line on the sign up sheet ahead of him, as he always tried to ignore The Pecari in person, and added his own line to the sign up.

The good news was that he was now old enough that he probably wouldn’t get cut from the first string, even in a whole school team.

Winston Pierce, Crotalus, 5th year

He put a number 1 under Seeker and a number 2 under Chaser to show his order of preference, but he wasn’t going to get held back to reserves again if it meant Eden - or worse, Lily - got to play and he didn’t.

He also gladly made a large check mark under captain, just in case he was far luckier than he really expected to be.
1 Winston Pierce Hoping to get lucky 370 Winston Pierce 0 5


Lily Spencer

August 08, 2018 10:33 PM
The new Quidditch announcement was a bit sour for Lily for two reasons: one, she might not get the Assistant Captain position she’d been waiting for many years; two, she wouldn’t be able to represent her house in the match. However, some Quidditch was better than no Quidditch, and Lily was happy to put her skills to use once again. She was thankful for Ingrid’s training – which had seemed inconsequential at the time – because it kept her from getting too rusty.

The morning of classes, Lily rose early to stretch before heading down to Cascade Hall for breakfast a bit later than usual. She saw the large green letters glittering on the noticeboard and stopped to take a look. It was simple; nothing noting competition or begging students to join. It seemed simple enough, and competing against several other students wasn’t so intimidating now that she was a sixth year and had ample experience. However, the thought of not making the first string team gripped her and she knew she’d need more practice to prove herself worthy to be the Captain of this team. Playing against other schools was a brilliant opportunity, and Lily did not want to miss it by being on a reserve team.

Lily dug around in her bag for a quill as she scanned the names of others who’d gotten their earlier. Jozua had included himself, and Lily hoped they would be able to play together. It was a bit funny that he’d written ‘practice attendee only,’ but he’d never been quite as competitive as she. The one name that did worry her was Winston Pierce.

Lily Spencer, Pecari, 6th year

At the boxes, Lily checked Seeker as her preferred, Chaser second – just to make herself more appealing – and Captain. After a moment, she underlined Seeker just to make it clear that it really was her preferred position.

Her heart was beating hard as she ticked off that last box. Suddenly, she wanted it very badly, the captaincy and the Seeker position, and she was willing to fight Winston for it if she had to. When she sat down for breakfast, she pulled out her timetable and scheduled in practise times for herself until the day of tryouts. Pierce seemed like her greatest competition for the position and title at this moment, and she did not want to lose because she hadn't worked hard enough.
40 Lily Spencer Scoping out the competition. 357 Lily Spencer 0 5

Simon Mordue

August 09, 2018 1:46 PM
As far as Simon had been concerned, things had been going brilliantly in the Quidditch world. He got all (well, half, at least) the status that went with being a Quidditch captain in fourth year without much of the responsibility and work which would traditionally accompany said status. Nathaniel, being an idealistic child, babbled about how important hard work was, but Simon, being older and wiser, knew better than this. Work smarter, not harder, and if the opportunity to look good without doing much presented itself, take it.

Unfortunately, he had scented danger in the air as soon as he heard there was a new Quidditch Coach. A real coach, that wasn’t good. Professor Skies, Professor Wright – they both had full schedules aside from Quidditch, even assuming they really weren’t actually people and therefore really did have no lives whatsoever to speak of outside their work. A real coach would expect them to do something. The nature of what that something was wasn’t long in coming. And two of the other captains were seventh years. And one of those other captains Most Definitely Wasn’t Winston’s Cousin.

Simon sighed as he looked at the list. Why were they friends again? It was always Winston’s fault Simon found himself in these positions – first on the team at all, then taking the captain job before he’d realized it was actually a sweet break, and now….

There really was no way out of it. Leaving Winston stranded in such disreputable company was not the behavior of a Good Friend, and besides – he couldn’t let Winston have all the glory, such as there was left for them to grab. He wrote, in the best flowing penmanship he could manage under the awkward writing circumstances, Simon Mordue of Crotalus, 5th Year and wrapped it off by checking that he was willing to be a Keeper, Beater, or Chaser, then finished it off with a check for ‘captain’ just so he wouldn’t be outdone. He could not bow aside and let Winston have even all the slimmest opportunity for glory to himself.
16 Simon Mordue Everything is Winston's fault. 369 Simon Mordue 0 5

Joe Umland

August 10, 2018 3:12 PM
Joe wished he could say he was surprised by how much the inter-House team was really the Pecari Team and Friends, but he could not do so without lying. For Teppenpaw, he thought Quidditch was as much about being on a team as anything, and Aladren and Crotalus had their superiority things, but Pecari was just the most inclined to be athletic. They’d always had numbers, and so they had numbers now. Including, it seemed, their first years. He thought both of Teppenpaw’s were small girls, but he was nearly certain one of them was Sparkly Pecari’s sister or cousin or something….

Even if Tiny Sparkle and her roommate were game, though, Joe still doubted Teppenpaw could make a team of its own. That was just a fact. He was proud, therefore, to see his own Seeker and Assistant Captain at least making brave plays for their spots – sort of. He half-smiled, shaking his head more affectionately than anything, at Jozua’s amendments to his sign-up, then laughed out loud when he read Eden’s. Captain! He wanted to write her a letter of recommendation for Prefect or Head Girl before he left, just for the initiative. He supposed this was partially proof he was not a Good Teppenpaw.

Nevertheless, he didn’t think she’d get it. Actually, he didn’t think he was going to get it. Most of the team was Pecari, and Ben was the Pecari captain – it was most logical to appoint Ben as captain of the united team, though now that he looked it over again, both of the Crotalus boys were in play, too. This ought to be fun – Joe was going to be amused to see if everyone turned on each other, or if the new coach made herself very unpopular right off the bat by making any decision. For the meantime, he wrote down his name, Joseph Umland, 7th Year, Teppenpaw and checked the boxes for Beater and, for the form of it, Captain - with everyone else but Aladren represented, plus Eden, he thought it would look ill not to make the gesture.
16 Joe Umland Once more into the breach. 329 Joe Umland 0 5

Amelia Layne

August 10, 2018 3:26 PM
Amelia had accepted the Assistant Captain badge last year because to do otherwise would have been to reject her very identity. She was a Layne; Laynes, with the exception of her mother and brother, achieved things. Amelia loved her mother and her brother, but she didn’t want to live like they did. Their lives scared her – the lack of knowing about physical things, the lack of respect from the world, all that.

In spite of all that, however, she had not been horrified to hear that the House teams were being dissolved after all, because she had been afraid of taking up the post of captain. It had been bad enough playing Seeker and not doing that well. It would, she was sure, be worse to be not only a failing Seeker and a younger captain, but also the only girl among the five (Crotalus was weird) captains. It was a lot of stress, and she had been afraid that it would be blamed on her if a team didn’t form, and….

It was a bit of a relief to have that off her shoulders. CATS were heavy enough.

Her fellows, however, didn’t seem to think so. Ben and Joe signing up was unsurprising – they were seventh years, big guys, both down for Beater. It was in their very natures to compete for the top spot, she thought. Simon and Winston both bidding for captain, though, that was a surprise – they couldn’t think they really had a chance, did they? Or had Eden Manger deranged them? And did this mean Amelia had to give it a shot?

She hesitated. The others had all been captains properly; she had only been Louis’ Assistant Captain. She looked for another Assistant Captain for guidance and found…Jozua Sparks.

On one hand, he was giving her an out here.

On the other, he was…Jozua Sparks. Not exactly respectable people, with all the, well, sparks.

She sighed and checked the boxes for Seeker and Chaser, positions she’d played before, and then began writing her information on the line in smaller-than-usual handwriting, squeezing more than she was meant to into the line. Amelia Layne, 5, Aladren, 2nd team please. If she volunteered, it saved the indignity of being demoted, didn’t it? She hoped so, anyway.
16 Amelia Layne Weighing my options. 360 Amelia Layne 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue

August 10, 2018 3:52 PM
Nathaniel spent a lot of time outdoors, but he did not really think of himself as much of an athlete. He was not particularly competitive by nature – indeed, he was usually quite happy to follow Sylvia’s lead – and while he liked people, he also usually felt slightly separate from them, which made the sort of team mentality he thought teams were supposed to have difficult for him. Finding there would not be a Teppenpaw team was a bit sad to him – it seemed to him that Joe Umland had really cared about it, to go around courting random first years last year for it, and plus it was a way to make other people respect his House – but not an overwhelming personal blow. When he first heard there was going to be a school-wide team, his first thought was that it was intriguing, but probably not for him. After he had that thought, though, he began to second-guess it.

For one thing, it would be a way to get to know more people, in a setting where they would all be doing something, which would make it easier to strike up conversations and things. That would be nice. For another, it would also be sort of cool to be on the same team as his cousin, rather than Simon’s opponent. Finally, he thought it would also be fun to travel – to see more of the country, other schools, other states. He would be able to add so much more to his Sonora albums to show his mother and brother when he got home, and meet other people, and show even more people he was a respectable young man who did respectable young man things and was absolutely not in any way tainted with such irregularities as those which had taken his father away….

All of this, he thought about, trying to decide if traveling was too much for his studies, but mostly thinking about the good points. Therefore, it was not long before he signed up - Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw, Second Year - and checked the boxes for Chaser and Keeper, though he suspected he was too small and slight to have much chance at those. Chaser and Seeker, though, were both extremely popular, based on the rest of the list, so he went for it.
16 Nathaniel Mordue Mildly enthusiastic. 1412 Nathaniel Mordue 0 5

Tatiana Vorontsova

August 10, 2018 4:20 PM
Tatiana’s ability to speak and read and write and understand heard English had all increased by leaps and bounds over the past few years, but bulletin boards were still a struggle for her. Consequently, she paid the most attention to the one in her own House and less to the public ones throughout the building, reasoning that anything important would be told to them in their Houses first, or even from the center of the head table at meals.

However, she was also, of necessity if she wanted to know what was going on, observant, and she noticed there was something on the Cascade Hall board which seemed to be getting a fair bit of attention, and so she looked at it more directly and recognized ‘Quidditch’ on it. This drew her in closer, and into slowly decoding the rest of the message.

Travel This word leapt out at her as one she didn’t understand. Anton Petrovich said she should try to figure out meanings from context, and she thought she had an idea from context here, but she took out her pocket Anglo-Russian dictionary anyway to check it and found she was more or less right. Traveling – going to other schools in other places. A little more flipping about revealed another word meant people would also come here, but there would be some going there. They were going to get to see new things – if they could make the team.

Tatiana, so far, had not made the team. She had been on the bench her previous years on the now-defunct Pecari team, wishing she had more imperial topazes (most of her topazes were blue, and her citrines were closer to Teppenpaw yellow than Pecari yellow-gold) and clapping whether she could really see what was going on or not. As far as she could parse it, though, then even the second string might get to travel, which would be good – she could…surely they would let them do something besides sit on the bench the length of a game, wouldn’t they? They would let them see the buildings, or have a dinner with their hosts, or something, yes? That was the only thing that made sense. Tatiana wanted to see more of America while she was here. She wrote, taking care to sign in all Latin letters, Tatiana Andreievna Vorontsova, Pecari Houws, 3-year, and checked that she would play Chaser and Keeper.
16 Tatiana Vorontsova In it for the adventures. 1396 Tatiana Vorontsova 0 5

Ness McLeod

August 25, 2018 12:15 AM
Ness’ first morning was pretty intense, what with library time with Evelyn, and then celebrating Zevalyn’s birthday. But there was no way that the first year’s name was not going on the sign up sheet for Quidditch as soon as humanly possible. It was on their way into the hall for cake that the Aladren deviated to the notice board. The subject of positions was something that had had a great deal of thought in all the many years of waiting to head off to school, and so there was no lingering about the sign up sheet, trying to make decisions.

Being late into breakfast, a fair few people had already got there first, and Ness was optimistic that there would be a solid team this year. Hopefully enough of them to play, but few enough that first years could get spots… Though that was a tricky balance. Still, there would be proper Quidditch and training and it would be awesome.

Ness McLeod, was scribbled onto the sheet. It seemed unlikely that there was any possibility of confusing Ness with another student even if it was the nickname rather than full first name that went on this list, and it was what the first year wanted to be known by. First year, Aladren Chaser and Beater both received ticks, and then it was time to go greet the birthday girl and eat some of Kir’s delicious cake.
13 Ness McLeod Signing up 1419 Ness McLeod 0 5

Parker Fitzgerald, Pecari

October 17, 2018 12:05 PM
Parker was sick and tired of sitting and reading. It was information he wanted to read, and was still trying to read, but it was still annoying to sit still for so long without any outside stimulation. He could feel the energy inside of him building and though he had gone for walks through the gardens, he knew he needed something else.

So, when he saw that there were going to be quidditch sign ups he practically yelped. He liked the idea of a school wide team, much like the football and baseball teams of his youth. He felt that this would be a much more action-packed year in terms of sports. Plus, he'd get to travel! He hadn't thought about the fact that there might be other wizarding schools really, but now that he thought about it of course there was.

Parker read the announcement and with quill in hand paused. He hadn't thought if he would play a different position, mainly because it seemed that the house teams were based on tradition, with the players keeping their positions, but with this new makeup he could be any position he wanted. He thought through each position. He liked being involved in the main movement of the game, and moving around so Seeker and Keeper didn't really interest him all that much. Plus, with his exercise routine he had meant he could take a beating better than the first year when he almost... no he did get fairly injured.

With gusto he wrote:

Parker Fitzgerald. Pecari. Chaser... or any position you deem me fit for

He walked away smiling, thinking about Wednesday.
41 Parker Fitzgerald, Pecari Thank heavens! 1402 Parker Fitzgerald, Pecari 0 5