Better late than never? on Quidditch Pitch

Coach Reilly

September 22, 2018 9:48 AM

Quidditch Try Outs by Coach Reilly

Coach Reilly had been a little anxious about the state of Sonora Quidditch when she had taken on the role. The word ‘revitalise’ had been used, and so she knew there had been waning interest in the sport, with the houses unable to field full teams. She had put the sign up sheet for the whole school team up with a few mental shout outs to anyone Up There who might be listening to get her at least seven players. It turned out though, that basic maths was on her side - four half teams made for far more than one whole, and when you condensed the students wanting to play down into a single list, it looked positively brimming with enthusiasm. They were, frustratingly, one short of two full sides, though she supposed she could step in - they could mix and match the teams during practise and have full scale matches, which would be fantastic training. There was even a decent spread of people wanting, or at least willing, to fill the different positions. And they had more than enough to put together a strong school side, with plenty of reserves. Things were looking good.

The first thing was, of course, to pick a starting line up, and that involved tryouts. Once the sign up sheet had been up for a couple of weeks, it was replaced with a notice detailing the time and date that all interested parties should assemble on the pitch.

The day itself was crisp and clear, fairly pleasant and neutral conditions, although the coach still offered to cast a warming charm for anyone who needed it - between the climate differences of Sonora’s mock Irish weather and their home regions, and the fact it would get chillier once they were up in the air, there might be one or two who didn’t find it a comfortable temperature, even though it felt fine to her.

“Right,” she announced, once she’d done a role call, and matched all the faces to names, “A lot of people here want to try out for multiple positions, so we’re going to run the tryouts section by section. Once all the positions you’re interested in have tried out, you can either stay and watch or go back inside. We’ll have a few activities for overall agility and flying ability. After that, we’ll do the Beaters, as there’s fewer people in that group wanting to try for multiple positions, followed by Seekers and then we’ll do Chasers and Keepers together, but we’ll rotate around so people interested in both get a chance to do both.

“First off, two warm up laps. We’ll then have a two lap race. Position matters, but you will be penalised if I see anything I regard as dangerous flying. After that, we’ll be running some agility drills,” she gestured to the equipment in the centre of the pitch, which was identical to that which she had used in the first years’ flying class. Deciding that was enough information for now, she led them through the warm up, before starting the race, and modelling the two courses they would have to complete.

Following that, she called the Beater group forward, giving them charmed targets to practise hitting at whilst in the air. The targets would get further away or move once they all had the basics down. If this wasn’t enough to separate out the top two Beaters, she might run a real game scenario and get a couple of the Seeker wannabes to fly, with a Beater to attack and defend, but she wasn’t going to have the students start by aiming at each other, not until she had a good idea that at least some of the Beater candidates had enough skills to defend their classmates. The potential Seekers were given further, tighter agility trials, plus a Snitch hunt. The trial snitch had a simpler flight pattern than its game equivalent, and could be set to come out if a certain number of minutes passed without its capture. She would give each of them fifteen. After that, the Chasers and Keepers would be put into groups to take turns making passes and shots.

OOC - welcome to Quidditch tryouts! This post has a lot going on in it. I would advise picking the position that your character cares most about and focussing on that section of the try outs. If you are not familiar with Quidditch writing, read some of the previous try outs and matches. It’s going to be about quality of first post, so give us long and detailed. It’s probably better to focus in detail on one element, e.g. one particular pass or hit, than to write a long post that covers the entire tryouts, as the former is much closer to the actual set up of matches. Any questions, ask on the OOC or in chatzy.

Subthreads:

Jockeying for Lead Jock by Ben Pierce, Pecari, 7th Year, Beater

Just Trying to Survive by Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw, 6th Year, Keeper

Seeking first string by Winston Pierce, 5th Year, Crotalus, Seeker

Seeking a Chance by Evelyn Stones, Pecari, 1st year, Seeker

Chasing beats beating by Ness McLeod

Seeking to be the best. by Lily Spencer, Pecari, 6th year, Seeker

Chasing a Position by Malikhi Hill with Parker Fitzgerald, Pecari

Better late than never? by Eden Manger, Teppenpaw 4th year, Seeker

13 Coach Reilly Quidditch Try Outs 1483 Coach Reilly 1 5

Ben Pierce, Pecari, 7th Year, Beater

September 22, 2018 5:14 PM

Jockeying for Lead Jock by Ben Pierce, Pecari, 7th Year, Beater

Ben Pierce had very few doubts that he would make first string Beater. He figured he and Joe had that wrapped up in pretty paper already, given they were both seventh years and not signed up for any other positions. Simon was a wild card he hadn't expected under the Beater column, but while he might pose more of a threat than the two first years, Ben didn't see him displacing either himself or Joe as lead Beaters. Ben's best guess at seeing the fifth year's name there was that Simon was jockeying for Senior Beater next year.

Despite his confidence in his position, he couldn't afford to give the try-out anything less than his best. Beater, after all, wasn't the only thing up for grabs under this new combined school wide team. Someone was going to get named Captain. Ben wanted it to be him. From the sign-up sheet it had sounded like it was going out based on merit, so Ben felt he had to show that he wasn't just the best Beater Sonora had to offer, but the best overall player.

So he took his warm up laps, and pushed himself during the race. He placed well despite his larger older body having more mass and air resistance than many of his competitors. Beaters were never particularly renowned for their speed - not like Seekers and Chasers were - but it certainly wouldn't hurt if he could quickly get to where he needed to be to protect his teammates. He might not be a speed-demon of the highest order, but he was no slow-poke.

Agility was another skill Beaters did not popularly count as a necessity. Ben did have some though, mostly from his cross training in other sports than his actual Quidditch training and practice where Strength and Aim were really what Beaters needed most. Plus, Kyte had taught him enough circus broom tricks where agility was completely critical that he could keep up with all but the very most dexterous of the other players. So he did well enough on the agility drills.

Finally, it was time for the Beater try-out and this was where he really expected to shine. He'd obviously stick around for the rest of the try-out, to see what the strengths and weaknesses of the other players were, which he'd absolutely need to know if he got named Captain as he hoped, but he was largely done after this, so he had no need to hold back and reserve his strength for another part of the try-out.

Charmed targets were nothing he hadn't worked with in the past, so it was with a calm sense of readiness that he faced off against his first one. The first hits, while basics were being tested, were child's play but then the targets started moving. Ben smiled, pleased with the increased difficulty. This was when it got fun.

He saw his next bludger get released in his direction. He flew to intercept. He swung his own trusty bat, possibly the most veteran one on the field today unless Joe was using his brother's, and it hit the bludger in the sweet spot. Ben had calculated the wind and the direction of the target just fine. The bludger flew straight and true for a solid hit right to the moving target's center of mass with a resounding thunk that suggested clearly that the hit had power behind it as well as accuracy.

"Whoo!" Ben let out the reflexive cheer, satisfied that he was doing a good job of proving he was the most capable and experienced Beater Sonora could field.

1 Ben Pierce, Pecari, 7th Year, Beater Jockeying for Lead Jock 339 Ben Pierce, Pecari, 7th Year, Beater 0 5

Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw, 6th Year, Keeper

September 22, 2018 7:02 PM

Just Trying to Survive by Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw, 6th Year, Keeper

Despite having playing on the Teppenpaw Team (or a combined team including Teppenpaw) since his first year, Jozua was a terrible Quidditch player. He'd understandably been on the reserves whenever reserves had been an option, but those years had been fewer than he would have liked, and until last year, he had ended up on the team either by mistake or through being pressured into it for numbers. Last year had been different only because Joe had been Captain and he saw in his questionable wisdom to make Jozua his assistant captain. He'd been more than a little relieved when (a) Quidditch had been cancelled last year due to the plague, and (b) Quidditch was being reorganized this year so he would never get stuck being the captain.

Honestly, he wasn't quite sure why he was signed up this year. Habit, maybe. Mostly, though, he was blaming it on the opportunity to play together with Lily for once. Pecari was unfortunately the one House Teppenpaw had never combined with.

So here he was at Try-Outs, not quite sure what he was doing here since he had no intention of actually playing competitively. Maybe if he had any skill, that might sound appealing, but he really didn't. He came in last place in the race. It was at least close this time, though. When he'd tried out in his first year, he'd been a full lap behind everyone else. This time he was only a broom length off second to last. He was pretty proud of that.

For the agility drills, he could choose between going cleanly through the hoops, and doing it swiftly. He could not do both. He did alright going at a snail's pace but then proved his lack of agility on a broom when he attempted 'swift' (and, as previously noted, Jozua's swift was not so swift as most people's swift). He set off three alarms before he managed to disentangle himself from the obstacle course.

He did not attempt Beating. He hated beating, even though that was where he'd been stuck lately on his Combined House team, as it was deemed the position where he could do the least harm (this being Beater he was sure that was saying something bad about both his Quidditch skills in general and his Beating skills in particular). There were enough other beater hopefuls that he didn't need to do that.

For Seeking, he was alright with spotting the Snitch, but not so good at getting to it quickly enough. So basically, what that boiled down to meant that if he wasn't playing in competition against anybody else, he might almost be good at it. But if there was another Seeker on the field, they'd probably win. Not a situation likely to occur at school matches.

For Chasing, he was rubbish at, well, basically everything involved in Chasing. He couldn't fly fast. He couldn't maneuver around the other players very well. He had trouble keeping track of who was where and who had the ball and who was even on his team. He could only catch about half the balls thrown in his direction. His best skill was throwing the stupid thing away from him.

Which meant the only position he felt he had even half a shot at not sucking at was Keeper. It had a few advantages going for it. First, you didn't have to fly very much or very far, and he was a bit better at sprints than long flights anyway, when he did need to be fast. Second, he was a sixth year. Other than Simon, he had relatively long arms compared to most of the other Keeper Hopefuls. Third, you didn't need to catch the ball. You just had to stop it. And finally, guarding a goal felt like it had a lot less pressure behind it than scoring goals, ending the game, or preventing death and injury to your teammates. Normally, he'd be all about saving his fellow schoolmates, but he was way better at wielding a wand than a bat, and he wasn't convinced he wasn't endangering them more than helping them when he played Beater. The least he could do was guard the goals instead. Maybe pretend it was the castle and he was a defending knight or something.

Of course, he still had trouble tracking exactly who had the ball, especially from so far away, so complicated plays could still trick him up, but he stopped more than he let through. So that was good, he thought.

And it wasn't like he was actually trying for a spot on the travel team anyway. He just hoped that he'd usually get put in as Keeper during practice.

1 Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw, 6th Year, Keeper Just Trying to Survive 348 Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw, 6th Year, Keeper 0 5

Winston Pierce, 5th Year, Crotalus, Seeker

September 26, 2018 11:22 AM

Seeking first string by Winston Pierce, 5th Year, Crotalus, Seeker

Winston arrived at the Quidditch try-outs feeling more than a little bit nervous. From what he’d seen on the sign-up sheet, it looked like the Seeker position had the tightest competition. He’d been well set up to take over as the Crotalus Seeker, after Alistair graduated, but now there was no Crotalus team, which meant he was in competition with both Lily Spencer and Eden Manger, both of whom had played the position competitively and won before, while Winston had been stuck playing Chaser and reserve Seeker behind his House Captain. He wasn’t sure if last year’s lack of games was going to work in his favor or against him, since it had been canceled before anyone had formally decided whether he or Lily would be the Seeker of the Crotalus-Pecari team.

Now he wasn’t even one of the co-captains in charge of making that decision and he wasn’t sure of his odds, especially after adding Eden Manger to the mix. He’d been glad last year when Crotalus combined with Pecari instead of Teppenpaw because Eden had the most official wins of any Seeker in the school.

The only good news was that it looked like Amelia Layne wasn’t trying for first string.She wouldn’t have been nearly as rough competition as the other two girls, but, as Aladren’s lead seeker, she did have slightly more experienced than he did.

Worse, he feared that putting Chaser down as a secondary option, when neither Lily nor Eden did, meant he might default to that simply by way of logistics without getting a fair shake at playing Seeker.

He’d just have to show everyone he was the best and hope it was enough. He did well in the race, finishing just behind The Pecari Who Better Not Get Captain. Winston was kind of mad that he didn’t out fly a seventh year beater, especially That One, because New Hampshire Pierces were supposed to be superior to all false bearers of that name, but the bigger teen was faster than he looked.

He did at least score ahead of The Large One Who Shouldn’t Really Exist in the agility exercise. That was satisfying. Winston wasn’t tiny for his age, but he was slim and fit and his expensive new broom was particularly acclaimed for its maneuverability. He passed around the obstacles and through the hoops without error and with good speed.

He sat out the Beater try-outs, as he lacked the upper body strength to make a good showing there. He cheered on Simon and scowled at The Pecari. Then it was time for the Seekers to show their stuff. He continued to do very well on the agility trials, and that leant him confidence going into the Snitch hunt.

He settled into a searching flight pattern, canvasing the Pitch. His keen blue eyes darted about, trying to pick out a flash of gold. After about seven minutes, he saw one. He dove for it, but it was on the far side of the Pitch, and he lost track of it before he got there. Angry with himself, he made himself settle down and resume his search route from before. It took another four minutes before he picked out the flash of gold again, this time closer to hand, and he flew after it, leaning forward, reaching out . . . and his fingers closed around the golden winged ball.

“Got it!” he called out in triumph with twelve minutes on the clock.

1 Winston Pierce, 5th Year, Crotalus, Seeker Seeking first string 370 Winston Pierce, 5th Year, Crotalus, Seeker 0 5

Evelyn Stones, Pecari, 1st year, Seeker

September 29, 2018 7:52 PM

Seeking a Chance by Evelyn Stones, Pecari, 1st year, Seeker

Evelyn typically hated that she was so small. Climbing trees would be easier if she was tall and lithe, running would be faster if she was strong and lengthy, and being friends with someone like Malikhi, who was always ready for adventure, would be more fair if she could keep up with the stronger, faster of them. However, she did find things to appreciate. If the opportunity to sneak ever came up, she was an ideal candidate. It also made her stand out a little less as a student who should actually be in second year.

Today, Evelyn was grateful that it made her fast.

She loved to fly, although she'd never been particularly well coordinated. The ground didn't scare her, it was the idea of trying to fly, hold a ball, choose who to throw it to, or score, all at the same time that scared her. But flying? She could do that. And she'd only have to manage a snitch in her hand for a moment, so that was no concern.

Agility was the one thing Evelyn was good at, even if it happened to be on a magical flying broom when she had zero abilities in the magically-making-it-fly department. She was just glad she wasn't planning on going into the broom production industry. Although she could probably manage to polish one pretty well.

She pushed these thoughts aside and focused on the open sky in front of her as her 15 minutes trickled away. She'd been flying well but hadn't caught more than a fleeting glimpse of their practice snitch. The wind was making her face pink and her hair rat and she was glad she'd opted for lipstain instead of lipstick today, as she was sure the blue would've smeared across her mouth otherwise.

Finally, with just a few minutes left before her attempt was finished, she saw what she'd been looking for. Her fingers were cold and stiff from clutching her broom, and the thought of forcing them into another position was painful. But the snitch was so close.

The grass was close to and Evelyn realized she'd dived from high above the pitch to just a few feet above it without even realizing. Her eyes were fixed on her goal and only a fleeting thought that she hoped her dive looked cool at least made its way in her head before she put aside any thoughts at all.

The snitch bat its wings as if in slow motion and Evelyn wondered if it had been charmed to do that or if she was just focused more than usual. Each curved line of the little golden device seemed very clear; Evelyn wasn't sure if she'd ever really looked so closely at a snitch before. As she examined it, she saw her hand move as if someone else controlled it. She could feel the edge in her thoughts that made it clear it was her own drive and desperation to catch the snitch that pushed her hand out, extended her stiff fingers, and extended across the distance between her hand and the ball.

Her arm might've been long, her coordination might've been adept, and for just a moment, Evelyn might've caught the snitch.

Before she managed to close her fingers around the tiny golden ball, it took a sharp left turn and Evelyn refocused her gaze on the fast-approaching wall of the pitch. Pulling up sharply and swinging her broom, she could only manage a right turn as she threw her weight to the side in an effort to turn, her right hand still off her broom.

The sound of Coach Reilly's whistle blowing made her face turn red again, but it wasn't the cold now. Bitter disappointment surged through her stomach and she fought off tears as she guided her broom to the ground. She wanted to be proud of herself for not crashing and dying, but the one thing she really thought she might be good at was still something she wasn't able to do well enough.

Evelyn nodded sadly at the coach and then went to sit out of the way of try offs, figuring she might as well see who else went out for the position.

22 Evelyn Stones, Pecari, 1st year, Seeker Seeking a Chance 1422 Evelyn Stones, Pecari, 1st year, Seeker 0 5

Ness McLeod

September 30, 2018 10:04 AM

Chasing beats beating by Ness McLeod

Ness was so, so, so hyped for try outs! The odds were not exactly in favour of the first years because there were a lot of older kids signed up, especially for Beater, but still… There were enough people to form a team, and they were going to have real practises and maybe even trips to places, and even if Ness was just a reserve and didn’t get to be a part of everything, it was still being a part of something. Hopefully the other students trying out would be people the first year could get on with. They all had a common interest, after all, although she knew jocks could easily be a bunch of homophobic buttholes (the McLeod Foundation had been involved in campaigns against homophobia in sports) and it being a whole school team made it a bit more of an intimidating cross section. Ness was glad Evelyn was there too because that was at least one good person. Only twelve others to go.

The coach explained the various warm ups, which were conveniently familiar from flying class. Ness did decently in the race, having grown up flying, although it was a bit odd being in a pack of so many people, and having to watch out. Conscious of being docked for dangerous flying, the first year took a bit more care over the lap, taking it a little slower than usual. The agility drills were something the Aladren was pretty decent at, having spent enough time at Quidditch camps where they were fairly standard fare. Still, all it took was one misjudged move and you were out, even if you hadn’t reached the point of showing your best. Ness had never been the fastest at such things, preferring to take care and get it right.

Once everyone was warmed up, it was time to do Beater trials. Everyone on the field for that except Ness and Evelyn was a much older boy. Even Ness could not be convinced that there was institutionalised sexism at work if the positions went to them. They were all clearly bigger and stronger, and those things were valuable in Beaters. Ness’ Bludgers hit the targets with nowhere near the impact of the others, and were a good deal less precise once the targets started moving. Bludgers were a lot harder to practise with in the backyard so it was an area where the first year had considerably less experience. Chaser had always been the main goal, and signing up for Beater had been a more spur of the moment thing.

Ness felt kind of deflated at the end of it. Objectively, it hadn’t been a bad performance, but the first year hated not being good at things, and it was clear that everyone else out there (maybe with the exception of Evelyn) was better. The fact that that made total sense given their relative ages, size and experience did little to quell Ness’ negative feelings.

It was with aching arms and a bit of a low mood that Ness joined the Chaser tryouts. A Quaffle was sent her way, and there was a moment of fumbling, of having to overreach to get it, of nearly losing balance and then bringing it all back in, all of which Ness could only hope got credited as ability to keep it together in a difficult situation, rather than marked down as fumbling what should have been an easy pass. It definitely showed an ability to repair, and repair was good, right? Ok, there wasn’t mental space for this right now - the catch had been a mess due to lack of concentration, so thinking about anything except the Quaffle was not a good plan right now. Ness’ arm arched back, judging the distance of the next nearest player. These actions were much safer and more familiar than trying to send Bludgers at their targets. Ness threw the ball over arm, looking much more solid and steady than before, and sending the ball on neatly towards the next player, overall feeling much better in this position.

13 Ness McLeod Chasing beats beating 1419 Ness McLeod 0 5

Lily Spencer, Pecari, 6th year, Seeker

October 03, 2018 12:57 AM

Seeking to be the best. by Lily Spencer, Pecari, 6th year, Seeker

Lily had practised hard in preparation for these try-outs. Going against Eden made her more nervous than she'd anticipated, partially because Eden's current record as a Seeker surpassed hers. However, with seniority on her side, Lily hoped she'd have a bit of an advantage. Still, she'd need to prove herself. In order to make it as a Seeker and take on the coveted position of captain, she needed to be better than average.

Her muscles were almost always sore these days, but she felt better about try-outs on the day of. The weather was pleasant and she took a moment to breathe in the smell of grass and fresh air. She waved at the classmates she knew - which, by now, was most everyone - and took her place to await the coach's instructions.

The two warm-up laps were easy for the seasoned witch. She did quite well during the race, placing just ahead of Ben Pierce, who was evidently much faster than he looked. Much of her speed came from her smaller stature - being one of the shorter and slimmer witches in her classes did help her in this regard - and her past experience racing against other team-mates for the Quaffle or the Snitch.

As a Seeker, she was normally quite good at agility drills, but coming right off of summer, she was slower than usual. She felt a bit frustrated, not having done as well as she would've liked, but she couldn't do anything about it now. It just meant she'd need to practise more drills in MARS later this week.

It was finally time for the actual Seeker try-outs, and after the tighter agility trials, she waited her turn whilst watching the other candidates with critical eyes. Winston did it in twelve and the first year didn't managed to grasp it. Before taking her turn, Lily smiled at the first year, channelling the message, 'Good effort,' before hopping onto her own broom.

It was always a bit nerve-racking to be alone without a clue of where to look for the Snitch. Lily flew slowly around, keeping her dark eyes narrowed to scout any glint of gold. She took deep breaths, trying to keep her anxiety at bay. The position of captain was on the line as well as this position, and she did not want to muck it up. She heard the flutter before she saw it as it whipped around her, and Lily quickly moved towards the way she thought the sound was going. Turning her head, she saw the Snitch flying away from her, and she was quick to chase after it, her eyes locked on it despite its attempts to outmanoeuvre her.

It disappeared suddenly, and Lily huffed and turned her broom round again. She took in a deep breath, steadying her heartbeat, and shook her head to regain her focus. She scanned the pitch, moving slowly once again, and suddenly took off again when she spotted it once more. "I can do it," she said, pushing forward as it zipped ahead. Lily narrowed her eyes and reached out her hand. It took a sharp right turn and Lily snatched at it before it could completely get away. Her fingers just grazed it, and she stopped herself from saying a bad word as she turned sharply on her broom to follow it. It had once again disappeared from view. Lily's head whipped around quickly, attempting to spot it before it went too far.

She was lucky, it seemed, as she easily spotted the Snitch once again. This seemed to be much easier than a real match, where it might take her hours to spot the gold. Here, however, she had very limited time and couldn't waste making a mistake. Lily caught up to the Snitch and this time, when it made a sharp left turn, it smacked against the palm of her left hand. Those earlier agility drills had certainly helped.

"Caught it!" she exclaimed, and flew back to the ground. It'd taken her twelve minutes as well, a personal best for her so far.

40 Lily Spencer, Pecari, 6th year, Seeker Seeking to be the best. 357 Lily Spencer, Pecari, 6th year, Seeker 0 5

Malikhi Hill

October 13, 2018 12:06 PM

Chasing a Position by Malikhi Hill

Malikhi loved Quidditch. Everything felt right when he rode a broom. He briefly wondered that, if he had been born a creature instead of a human, that he might be a bird. He would love to soar high into the sky, the wind carrying him to far-off places. Surely, there were fewer things better than that.

Still, as he wasn't a bird, he would have to make do with riding a broom and playing Quidditch. On the sign-up sheet, he had only put one position, which was Chaser. He was small, which made him fast and he had good eyesight, which made catching and throwing his best skills. He wasn't strong enough to be a Beater and being a Keeper wasn't interesting enough - they did a lot of hovering in one place whereas Malikhi wanted to fly.

He was confident when walking onto the pitch and this held up throughout the agility trials. It helped that they were set up similar to their flying lessons. He did well in the lap race, finishing near the top - though he had nearly knocked into somebody and he was sure that he'd probably be marked down for that. Still, he moved on and performed the agility trials with confidence and ease, pleased with himself. He knew he was good at flying.

Everything took a bit of a downward turn when it came to passing and scoring. The passing between players had gone relatively okay but he had, admittedly, gotten distracted at one point which resulted in him nearly receiving the quaffle to his face. The sudden movement he'd had to make to save his face from injury had subsequently caused him to wobble dangerously on his broom. In order to steady himself, he'd had to sacrifice holding the ball in order to use both hands to keep himself firmly on his broom. Mentally, he cursed himself. He'd probably blown it now.

Determined to make up for his failing in the passing section, he focused intently on scoring and was mostly successful, which cheered him up. Only a few he'd missed the hoop and others had been saved by the Keeper. He was a bit worried that his mistake in passing would cost him a spot on the team but he tried to be hopeful. It would do no good to be pessimistic.

20 Malikhi Hill Chasing a Position 1423 Malikhi Hill 0 5

Eden Manger, Teppenpaw 4th year, Seeker

October 13, 2018 3:06 PM

Better late than never? by Eden Manger, Teppenpaw 4th year, Seeker

The status on Quidditch was very strange this year, with the school offering the promise of just one combined team. That meant there was only going to be one Seeker, and Eden knew that she absolutely had to have her spot. Her apparent athletic prowess had come as total surprise to her when she’d first begun, but she’d grown to really, really enjoy the game. And somehow, even from beyond the grave, her father expressed his pride at her victories. A new broom each year, just like he had sent Jake. Her brother had never won a game of course - a stark contrast, as she had never lost - but he’d sent them anyway. Eden’s just came with letters of congratulations.

With the raised stakes, she was far more nervous than previous years when she arrived, fingers pressing into the wood of the new broom she carried, like a war of attrition between their two different varnishes. Eden was decidedly less confident - or perhaps careless - than she felt signing up. Why exactly had she been so reckless as to put herself up for Captain? She knew she was too young, and there were players like Ben and Lily around who were more experienced and more obvious choices. Actually, looking around now, she thought that she would be lucky to retain Seeker, let alone acquire that coveted title.

She swallowed hard and took flight for the warm up laps; she took them easy and stayed near the back, but she rocketed forward for the race, pleased to find her new broom was equipped for speed. And finesse as well, as she felt how responsive it was. Perfect for a Seeker. Dad had really outdone himself this time.

Eden did her best not to fidget too hard while the Beaters went. Instead, she mentally strategized. What course she would take for the Seeker exercises, what direction to set off initially. It seemed simple, but it was a lot of sky to scan for that Snitch, and being in the air meant a literal 360 of options. But a lot of it was chance, or perhaps instinct, so when it was time to fly, her stomach made a choice, and she listened.

Her blue eyes were attuned to Snitches by now, it seemed, and she darted quickly at the flickering speck of gold once she’d caught sight of it. Her dominant arm, increasingly long on her body, stretched out, her hand encapsulating it. Eden beamed. The coach gave her fifteen minutes. She took ten minutes and forty-three seconds. All at once, she was grateful for the agility drills beforehand. They were spectacularly helpful. “Caught!” she shrieked.

She knew she could technically leave after this, but during the Keeper and Chaser drills, she took a seat and remained vigilant. Her breath was only just now returning to a normal speed, and Eden thought that maybe sticking around would show how dedicated she was and make her appear more Captain-ly. It was a long shot - this whole thing was - but she wanted this thing.

12 Eden Manger, Teppenpaw 4th year, Seeker Better late than never? 385 Eden Manger, Teppenpaw 4th year, Seeker 0 5

Parker Fitzgerald, Pecari

October 17, 2018 12:49 PM

Sportsman sporting the sport sportingly by Parker Fitzgerald, Pecari

Parker was excited the day of tryouts. He stepped outside the Pecari commons into the gardens and felt the crisp air and breathed it in. Outside, able to exercise and cool weather. Today was going to be a great day!

He walked towards the field with a smile on his face and his hand on a broom he'd finally been able to buy that school year. His mother wasn't too happy about it, but after Parker noted that he would let his sister borrow it for her lessons, she had given him the money he needed.

As he stepped on the field he felt the temperature rise. He was sure this was some sort of magic trick, and for a moment he was saddened. He loved the crisp air, but when he thought about the speed that might be required for some of the tryout pieces he rethought and the smile returned. He nodded to Jouza and Lily as he walked up to where everyone was standing. He recognized most of the people, but he felt he knew the two of them best from the previous years. Parker winced a bit thinking about Jouza seeing his sickness last year. He also noticed a few first years standing around as well.

He watched the new coach walk out. She seemed to have purpose and an aspect of the way she talked reminded him of past coaches for peewee football and basketball back home.

Yes, Parker thought, this was going to be more like how sports went that he was used to.

Parker's broom raised to his hand in a satisfying manner and he started the two warm up laps. He was practically giddy on his broom. He’d taken it out before so he would be used to it, but this was different. He was using it for Quidditch, the real reason he’d focused on it, and as the wind went by his face he let out a small yelp of glee.

He started the two-lap race fairly well, and was doing well when a first year in the race almost ran into him. Parker quickly moved out of the way of the younger student while trying to maintain his speed. Unfortunately, that was not possible so instead of running into another racer he slowed down and then tried to speed up again to catch up. He was unable to do so and though he wasn’t dead last, he wasn’t in the front of the group that he had hoped he would be.

Parker was able to do well in the agility skills, he had after all learned the importance of avoiding things his first year. He had also practiced a bit over the summer, but he wasn’t allowed to use magic at home so his agility skills were strictly physical. But after looking around Parker did not appraise himself as the best.

Still, Parker could possibly be a few different positions. So when the Beaters were called up Parker stepped up and picked up a bat from the pile. He was pretty sure this was going to be difficult. Parker was used to seeing the Bludgers flying, this time he’d at least get to hit them back.

In the air, Parker found the first few to be relatively easy, though it was difficult for Parker to swing the bat without planting his feet. Once he got used to it though the Bludgers became harder to hit. He found himself trying to fly in odd fashions to get a good swing at them. At one-point Parker took a swing at one and missed completely turning himself around a few times like a cork screw. He flew down to the field and let the bat drop. He’d seen Ben and was pretty sure Ben would be THE Beater.

Shaking out his arms Parker watched the Seekers run through their trials. He was impressed with the first year. Parker hadn’t talked to her much, but as he saw her rush towards the ground his mouth opened almost as if he would shout something, but nothing came out. When she turned at the last moment and didn’t crash violently into the ground Parker was amazed.

As she walked by he turned towards her, “That was a really impressive turn at the end. Also, you have no fear. You sure you aren’t a Chaser?”

And then it was the Chaser tryouts. Parker hopped back on his broom. He was excited. This is what he had been waiting for since he came back to school. The wind swept through his hair and as he passed the Quaffle around he felt happy. He knew he was being reviewed, but he simply wanted to have fun, so that’s what he did. Riding his new broom he passed the Quaffle around trying to get close to the goal. He loved weaving through the air and passing. At one point, the first year who almost knocked him off the broom wasn’t paying attention as Parker passed him the Quaffle.

“Heads up!” Parker yelled in time so the younger boy didn’t get his head knocked in. Parker felt bad as he watch the boy wobble and drop the ball. It hadn’t been his intention, but he also wasn’t sure what had distracted the younger boy. “Sorry,” he yelled after as he flew by, really meaning it.

After an admirable scoring section, three had gone in and the rest had been stopped in some fashion. Parker flew back down to the pitch. Parker felt calmer than he’d felt since arriving back at Sonora. There was a big smile on his face as he blew into his slightly chilled hands back on the ground.

This year was going to be good. This was going to be fun. He looked around at the other people on the field. This was going to be fun.

41 Parker Fitzgerald, Pecari Sportsman sporting the sport sportingly 1402 Parker Fitzgerald, Pecari 0 5