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
November 15, 2009 10:10 AM
I can't wait until Quidditch starts by Delilah
OOC: Just some friendly advice. Tobar, since you wrote that Tobar had tossed the Quaffle to Delilah, the ball is now out of your character’s possession and assuming that the quaffle was passed back to your character is god-modding, because you can’t predict what Delilah or Demelza would do since they aren’t your characters. For example, instead of passing the quaffle back, they could have started a game of monkey in the middle with you or could have passed it on to someone completely new to encourage someone else to join the thread. However, to make the thread move along a little easier, I’ll work with what was written and I’m assuming Demelza currently has possession of the quaffle unless the author says otherwise.BIC:
“Yeah,” Delilah said with a little bit of disappointed in her voice. A lot of first years had signed up to play for the Pecari House team. The competition was going to be really tough for sure. Not to mention, there were probably older years that were going to sign up and would undoubtedly be better. Maybe. She blinked in surprise as Demelza mentioned having been taught Quidditch at five. “Wow. If you learned that early, then you’re probably really, really good, and will blow the other first years away at try-outs! I’m sure you’ll make the team and you know what,” her face brightened, “if I don’t make it with you, I’ll just have to make a bunch of signs to cheer you on!”
She tossed the Quaffle to Tobar and waited while he said how long he had been on a broom. That was a really long time too! She couldn’t imagine starting that early. She probably would have fallen right off. At five and six, she had been as clumsy as could be and had ended up with numerous scrapes and bruises from falling down and tripping over this and that including her feet. Of course, now, she had a little less of that, but she still wasn’t the most graceful person. Though, that may have been due to the fact that she ran around more outside than she did sitting around playing grown-up with Veronica or let’s do extra credit summer homework with Cassie.
“We’re in Pecari,” Delilah answered. She thought it was great that they were both in Pecari, because it meant that they got to be roommates. She hadn’t talked much yet with their other roommates, but she was sure that they would get along wonderfully. How could they not? She didn’t think that any of them were like her sister who she hated to admit could be quite the snob. Between how different they looked and their personalities, it was hard to believe that they were sisters let alone twins. Thinking about her sister, her brown eyes went over to where her sister was. Why was she in the beginner class? She knew how to fly.
“Do you have any siblings?” She asked while waiting for the quaffle to be tossed back to her. She jerked her thumb towards her friend. “Mel here as a bucketful, but I’ll let her give you the details. I have an older sister, Cassie, and a twin, Veronica. She’s over in the beginner class even though she knows how to fly. She’s probably working on her social connections.” Delilah rolled her eyes. “So anyway where are you from? I’m from North Carolina.”
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Delilah
I can't wait until Quidditch starts
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Delilah
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Demelza Eagle
November 15, 2009 11:25 AM
You flatter me by Demelza Eagle
When Delilah replied to Demelza saying she had been flying since she was five, Demelza stared down at the ground, and concentrated it, as though it had the answers to a test. She could feel her face turning red and didn't look her in the eye as she continued. She didn't like the thought at all about her making the team and Delilah not making it. She would just feel so guilty."Yeah, but your really good too, I'm sure," She replied, and threw the ball at her really hard, just to see if she proved her point about her also being really good... and she did.
-ooc- Delilah, you did say that I was in possession with the quaffle, and then you said you passed the quaffle to Tobar, so I'm not forcing your actions, just incase you may have thought that.-ooc-
Next time, she thought, I'll give her my beater strength and see if she catch get that.
Demelza watched Delilah throw the quaffle to Tobar as he said how long he had been on a broom. He really didn't start flying until he was 8 and Demelza started flying when she was 5. She was the test person for all her brothers when they wanted to try out a new trick. Which would explain all the times Demelza has had to go to the hospital in the past 5 years... most of it was all Will's fault. He wasn't the best one at quiddtch....
Demelza smiled when Delilah mentioned that they were in Pecari. She really did like being in Pecari. She had some of the coolest roommates!
Grinning, Demelza replied to Delilah's statement about her family, "Yeah, I've got tons. Going from oldest to youngest: Joel, Tommy, Joe, Jamie, Beth, Will, Mickey, Luna, Me, Katlin, and Glen. 5 of us, including me, all play quidditch. I'm using my brother Joel's old broom," She said, indicating it, "But it's still a pretty good broom."
Then, adding in a question of her own, she asked, "What positions do you guys play? Or, well, do you have any positions you play specifically, yet? I play beater for the most part, but I play chaser sometimes if I'm needed."
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Demelza Eagle
You flatter me
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Demelza Eagle
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Tobar Brishen
November 15, 2009 12:10 PM
Answers by Tobar Brishen
OOC: My humblest apologizes for the god-modding.Tobar laughed when Delilah said that Demelza had a bucketful of siblings. He nodded and smiled at them. “I have three younger siblings my sisters Gianelly, Rosalie, and my brother Emilian. Though I have tons of cousins and we all travel together so it feels like I have twenty siblings.” He bit his lip wondering if these girls would suddenly dislike him if they knew he was a gypsy he knew some wizarding families hated his kind though he didn’t know why.
He smiled and shrugged at the question about where he was from. “I’m from all over the place. Though Romania, England, and Germany where we lived for most of my life, we have only been in the United States for a few years.” Tobar played with his hoop earring as he watched the girls for a moment. He missed his family already and it hadn’t been long, he missed hearing Gianelly and Rosalie bicker and missed taking care of Emilian.
Running his hand though his black hair he sighed these girls asked tons of questions very quickly he almost couldn’t keep up. He closed his eyes trying to remember what the last question asked was. Oh yes the position question. “I’m usually the Chaser when my family plays, but I’ve played Keeper and beater before, it’s pretty fun. I just love the sport.” As he finished speaking the quaffle was tossed to him. He caught it pretty easily and he tossed it in Delilah’s direction.
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Tobar Brishen
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Tobar Brishen
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Demelza Eagle
November 15, 2009 12:59 PM
Wow. That's interesting by Demelza Eagle
When Tobar said he traveled with his cousins all over the place, Demelza was impressed. That's gotta be one heck of a life, living with all your cousins and moving all over the place. Her family was rather the opposite. They never stuck together, and they all went to different schools. They had a medium sized home in Delaware where they were all in during the summer. But only the little kids (no longer her) lived there during the rest of the year. Joel, Tommy, and Joe were out of school and lived of on their own, but Jamie was in his last year in some school in Australia, Beth in her second last year in a school in Germany, Will and Mickey (the only ones together in a school) were in 4th year in Hogwarts, and Luna off in Mongolia in her second year. Wow. How can I even remember that, Demelza though."That's so strange!" She exclaimed as Tobar finished, "I couldn't imagine doing that! My family would be such a hassle if we even tried that." Then, she explained her whole family to them. How they all went to different schools, what years they were in, ext. She was probably boring them.
"Yeah, I must agree," She replied to Tobar as he described his positions, "Although, I'm a crummy keeper. And too clumsy to be a seeker. My brother Jamie is a seeker and Tommy is a keeper... but he isn't all that good. He doesn't like quidditch as much as me, Jamie, Joel, Joe, and Mickey.
"So, what about you, Delilah?" She asked, "What is your favorite position?"
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Demelza Eagle
Wow. That's interesting
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Demelza Eagle
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