Coach Amelia Pierce
November 13, 2009 5:33 PM
First Year Flying Lessons by Coach Amelia Pierce
Though she knew from practical experience that not all schools taught first years how to fly a broom, Sonora's new Quidditch Coach was of the firm opinion it was a good idea. Granted, a fair number would already know how, having been raised in magical families, but it was intrinsic enough to the wizarding world that it was only right to give muggleborns and half-bloods who may not have such experience a chance to figure out how it all worked. Brooms were an important mode of transportation in addition to their obvious application to sports.As she looked out over the group of young people, she was also glad that she had this class first, before she had to deal with any of the Quidditch teams, who were far more like to compare her to her predecessor. Given that half the staff seemed to be new as well, it hadn't really come up as such as problem - in terms of both confusion and inferiority complexes - as she feared would result from Coach Amelia Pierce taking over Coach Amelia Fox's job.
Still, it was nice to start out with the only group of children who weren't able to compare her to the famous Beater who had taught at Sonora before leaving the school in the hands of a woman whose closest ties to the national Quidditch League was through the legal and public relations departments. Amelia Pierce had occasionally spoken in their defense when WAIL had gotten particularly noisy. But to these kids, she was probably a virtual stranger.
Unless, of course, they were up on their New England pureblood gossip and news. Then they'd know she was the matriarch of the Boston Pierces, disowned from the New Hampshire Pierces, and heavily involved in DISCUSS. And given WAIL's theories and biases regarding women involved in Quidditch in general and DISCUSS in particular, they may have encountered the inevitable, but completely unfounded, rumor that she wasn't entirely straight.
But none of that was important today. She wasn't even going to mention her first name, never mind her family branch. Today, she wasn't Amelia Pierce. Today, she was Sonora's Quidditch Coach and little else. Well, the Crotali would know her as their Head of House, but besides that, today was about the Coaching. She was there for one purpose and one purpose only.
"Today, you are here to learn how to fly a broom," she announced to the gathered first years in a loud voice that wasn't quite shouting but still carried very well. She'd never been or met a drill sergeant, but she was using the kind of voice that television told her they used. "My name is Coach Pierce, and I am going to show you how."
She looked them over, making instant assumptions and bets with herself about which ones didn't need the instruction. "Some of you probably already know how, I'd like you all to stand over there," she pointed to a patch of grass on the Pitch ground away from where she'd piled a stack of brooms. "For everyone else, I'd like you to collect a broom," she pointed at the pile, "and stand in a line right here. I'll be with you in a moment. That means everyone," she added to a girl who was almost certainly a pureblood and probably thought the whole thing didn't apply to her.
She walked over to where the kids who had flown before were gathered while the rank beginners fought amongst themselves to find a school broom that struck their fancy. "Okay, you guys, I'm going to exempt you from the lesson and let you free fly. I know I considered myself an expert flier by the time I was eleven," she'd been wrong, and anyone here who thought the same also was, but she wasn't going to burst their bubble yet, "so I imagine some of you also consider yourselves above a beginner lesson. If you still want to stick with your classmates, or aren't comfortable in the air unsupervised, you can stick around, but I'm not making it mandatory."
She jerked a thumb back toward the broom pile. "If you'd like, there's a Quaffle over there you can throw around, and school brooms if you didn't bring your own. Please keep in mind that this is a privilege that I don't need to grant you. Any trouble from any of you, and you will all be back down here learning how to hover three feet over the ground, is that clear?" She frowned sternly and looked around with her best disciplinarian 'mess this up and you will regret it for months' Look - she'd raised two teenagers and coached at Durmstrang, so she knew she had a pretty decent one - and then nodded in dismissal. "Good. Have fun."
With that, she returned the beginners, who were mostly lined up by now. Taking a spot in front of them, where they could see her and she could see all of them, she summoned over her own broom and put it down beside her. "I want you all to put your broom down next to you. If you're left handed, put it on your left side, if you're right handed, put it on your right."
Once they seemed to have accomplished that, she instructed, "Now put your hand out over the broom and say 'Up!' very firmly, as if you were giving a pet dog a command. Not yet!" she ordered when a few kids opened their mouths and looked about to give it a try. "Wait for the demonstration. Up!" She commanded, and the broom leaped up into her hand. "It may take a few tries, but it should eventually come up to your hand. Once you get that far, put one leg over the broom, like this," she straddled the wooden handle.
"All of these brooms will have a cushion charm on them, so use that to find where you're supposed to sit. At this point, you may kick off the ground and hover, but I don't want you moving around too much yet. I'll come around and give you permission to try doing so once you've mastered the hover. Raise your hand if you need any help."
Subthreads: Advanced Free Flying (nm) by Coach Pierce with Demelza Eagle, Tobar Brishen
Beginner Lesson (nm) by Coach Pierce with Kameyrynn Prinzo, Starbuck Gregory, Veronica Kerrigan, Aladren, Jose Hernandez, Alessa Hinckley
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Coach Amelia Pierce
First Year Flying Lessons
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Coach Amelia Pierce
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Delilah Kerrigan, Pecari
November 14, 2009 12:30 PM
Isn't it though? by Delilah Kerrigan, Pecari
Flying was a class that Delilah had a hard time containing her enthusiasm for. It was probably one of the only classes that she would do well in, probably even better than Veronica, which was hard to believe. Oh, it wasn’t that she didn’t try, because she did, unlike Veronica. Yet, no matter how well she seemed to understand the lesson, when it came to actually doing the assignment, it suddenly became confusing and she ended up messing it all up. This was one class that didn’t require anything more than actually showing her flying ability, which she actually had thanks to playing broom games and the like with other kids in the neighborhood.So it was with as much effort as she could muster that Delilah forced herself to pay attention to the lecture when all she really wanted to do was anything but. Standing there, she was far more interested in all of her classmates, yet for different reasons than her sister. While Veronica was interested in making all the right social connections, Delilah was interested in making friends with everyone or at least trying to. Life was more interesting when one had lots of friends, because then she always got to try something new or get to do things that she wouldn’t otherwise get to do. She really never understood why her sister wanted to limit herself when there was just so much out there.
When they were told that if they knew how to fly to go stand over there, Delilah followed along and dragged her broom behind her. She hadn’t actually thought about getting a new broom for school until Veronica had insisted, something about germs. At home, she just used her dad’s old broom from when he was a kid. It was still a little bit big for her, but she liked it with all its old marks. But she was excited to have her own broom too. Though, it was still a bit too bland just like her new shoes. She didn’t really like new material things, because they lacked personality. Though, she was more than happy to fix that.
Her old shoes, the ones that were up in her room, had all sorts of pictures and writing on them in every color imaginable. She was sure her current shoes would soon be like that and like her shoes, she would need to do something about her broom. Maybe she could tie various colored ribbons around the handle. That would be cool. She looked around to see if anyone else had their own broom. Did they have it decorated? She wondered if they would want to decorate it. Oh, there she went again getting lost in her thoughts instead of paying attention. Looking to the professor, she listened to what they would be doing instead of being in the beginner lesson.
Cool! They would be playing around with a quaffle! Hopping onto her broom and kicking off, she flew over to where her friend, Mel, and a boy had begun passing the ball. She caught the end of the conversation and grinned at Mel. “I signed up too. If we both make it, we’ll be teammates! How awesome would that be?” Her brown eyes passed over to where the boy was hovering. “Hey, I’m Delilah Kerrigan. How long have you been flying? I’ve only been flying the past couple years, since I was nine. Want to pass the quaffle my way?”
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Delilah Kerrigan, Pecari
Isn't it though?
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Delilah Kerrigan, Pecari
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Tobar - Teppenpaw
November 14, 2009 3:40 PM
Oh yes! by Tobar - Teppenpaw
Tobar was a bit taken back when the second girl joined them, weren’t there any guys in the first year? He smiled though at the mention of Quidditch and tossed the Quaffle to Delilah. “I’m Tobar Brishen.” He introduced himself. “And yeah I signed up for Quidditch! I couldn’t let Teppenpaw win without me!” He cried as he went a little bit higher then the girls and looped around them.“I was first put on a broom at six years old, but I wasn’t allowed to fly by myself till eight. It’s pretty cool that Coach Peirce is allowing us to be playing while the others are being taught.” He said as the quaffle was tossed to him, he tossed it once again to Demelza.
“So what house are you gals in?” He asked as he pushed his black hair out of his face so he could see better, if he made the team he would have to braid it extra tight on game days.
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Tobar - Teppenpaw
Oh yes!
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Tobar - Teppenpaw
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Demelza Eagle
November 14, 2009 5:34 PM
Oh yeah by Demelza Eagle
Demelza grinned at Delilah as she zoomed up to her and Tobar. Delilah also joined in their conversation."That would be so cool!" She exclaimed to Delilah as she said that she also signed up for the Pecari quidditch team. "But did you see how many first years have signed up?" She asked passing over the quaffle in her hand to Tobar, "Well, at least we have some already trained skill, eh? I grew up with quidditch, which would make sense if you've seen any of my brothers. They taught me how to play quidditch when I was about 5 and are all really good. So, I'm trying my best not to brag, but, well, I do know how to play. I play beater for the most part, what about you two?" She asked the two people she was passing the quaffle with.
She was glad that She had Delilah there because she knew her a bit better, but she was also glad that Tobar was there too because she did want to meet people from other houses.
Demelza turned toward the beginners and was quite surprised. Having known what quidditch was her whole life, there seemed to be a lot of people who didn't even know what it was until very recently. Demelza couldn't imagine a life with out quidditch. Well, she hoped that they would enjoy it as much as she does!
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Demelza Eagle
Oh yeah
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Demelza Eagle
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