Coach Amelia Pierce

December 11, 2009 10:33 AM
It dawned a nice, early autumn day on the date of the Sonora's first Quidditch match of the year. The sun shone brightly, but not too warmly. It was at just that temperature that Amelia liked best - cool enough to be bracing, but warm enough to be comfortable without a coat, even for the people just watching the game.

The two teams, Crotalus and Pecari, were on the pitch. She looked them both over, making sure both had exactly seven players. As she glanced over the red uniformed Crotalus players, she felt a brief worry about perceived bias, given that she was their Head of House now. There was also the issue of having a distant cousin on the Pecari team, but she felt that was less of a problem. If she went back far enough, she was probably related to half the purebloods in the school. Despite another of Derwent One's descendants being on the field, it was the Crotali that she felt the most kinship toward.

She'd been very careful to make sure she didn't have any red clothing on when she got dressed that morning. Black, she'd decided, was thoroughly neutral. Aladren wasn't playing today, after all.

"Okay, Teams, we're here for a good game of Quidditch!" she called out once it looked like the Captains were done with their pep talks. She gestured for them to all come toward her, and she reminded them of the important bits, though everyone already knew them. It was a formality.

"Game starts at the whistle. Game ends when someone catches the snitch. Keep it clean in between. Medic's on hand if she's needed. Have fun, guys. Captains, shake hands." Once Elly Eriksson and Helena Layne had done so, Amelia released first the snitch and then the bludgers. Lastly, she picked up the Quaffle. "Three. Two. One." She blew into her whistle and threw the Quaffle up into the air at the same time.

The game had begun.
Subthreads:
1 Coach Amelia Pierce Game One: Pecari vs. Crotalus 20 Coach Amelia Pierce 1 5


<font color="red">Charlotte Abbott, Chaser</font>

December 30, 2009 11:53 AM
Charlotte cursed under her breath as her shot was saved by a first year. She blamed the Bludger - but wait, that had been sent by another firstie. Did Pecari have some secret first year attack plan? Whatever it was, it seemed to be working. Charlie was hoping for plain dumb luck. Whatever it was, it was making Crotalus look bad, and although Charlie didn't generally care for such nonsense as House pride, she knew it would be her neck if Oliver and Helena thought she wasn't giving the game one hundred percent of her efforts. So when firstie Keeper threw the ball back into the game, Charlie regained her focus. She kept an ear and an eye out for any more Bludger trouble, and she kept the other of each receptor trained on the Quaffle.

The one thing that could definitely be said about the CRotalus Chasers was that they worked well as a team. Oliver and Helena had been playing together for six years, and Charlie had lived with Oliver for twice as long as that. In short, it was hardly surprising that the Quaffle had barely been in pecari possession since the start of the game. It was time to put a stop to that nonsense. Noticing her brother shadowing the Pecari's one side, Charlotte hovered a little behind him on his other. When the ball was passed, she shot forward as if her life depended on it, knocking the Quaffle off its course. Fumbling with it on the edge of her fingertips for a heart-stopping couple of seconds, the brunette managed to reel the ball back in and tuck it safely under her arm.

Mission accomplished, Charlotte flew higher just for a moment to catch her breath and calm the adrenaline that was making it difficult for her to think. Then she did pulled sharply on her broom, turning a tight corner and heading back to the goals. Give that firstie another run for her money. Charlie didn't want to be a Bludger target again, and so once traveling again in the right direction, she looked down for the nearest red robe. Dipping the handle of her broom, she aimed, and passed. Intercept that, Pecari.
0 <font color="red">Charlotte Abbott, Chaser</font> Ignoring Ethan, as requested 0 <font color="red">Charlotte Abbott, Chaser</font> 0 5


<font color="brown">Elly Eriksson, Seeker</font>

December 30, 2009 1:15 PM
Naturally, the Seeker’s main aim was to find the Snitch and to catch it before the opposing player. Yet at the same time, Elly was trying to keep an eye on her team – she could hardly coach them to improve if she couldn’t see how well they were playing. Yet on the other hand, their playing abilities would be useless if she neglected to put the required effort into her own position and allowed the Snitch to be caught by some second year with no game experience. It was a tough decision to call.

After a failed couple of minutes once the game started trying to search for the Snitch and watch the game, Elly eventually settled for Seeking with her eyes, and Captaining with her ears. The crowds told her a lot – which team had the Quaffle, whether it was dropped or intercepted, and how close those Bludgers were getting to the players. The sound of a wooden bat cracking onto a metal ball was never a pleasant one to hear, and Elly was silently relieved she wasn’t being targeted for once. It didn’t make logical sense: if she’d been Helena she would have told her Beaters to take out the Captain and Seeker as first priority. Maybe Pecari’s Beaters were simply doing their job and keeping the Bludgers within the game to take out Oliver and Helena. Elly hoped that was the case; it sounded as if their Chasers weren’t doing too well, so hopefully the Beaters were at least performing to standard.

Elly tensed as she heard the crowd hush – that could only mean that an attempt was being made at a goal. Determined to keep her visual focus on the thus far invisible Snitch, Elly searched the skies, and was delighted at the cheer rising from the Pecari supporting section of the spectators. Starbuck had saved her first goal – way to go! Elly chanced a look at the game and saw Jose in possession of the Quaffle. Her team were really doing her proud, and it gave Elly an extra burst of enthusiasm. She simply had to catch the Snitch now, otherwise she would be letting the team down in a big way. Time to put in that extra bit of effort she liked to call the extra ten percent, Elly flew yet higher over the game, allowing her an eagle-eye view of the stadium below, and a wider scope for Snitch-spying. The sunshine made this all the more difficult: watches, jewellery and even discarded sweet wrappers all managed to distract Elly’s attention as they glistened under the sun’s rays. But there – what was that?

With no desire to call her opponent’s attention to the possible Snitch sighting, Elly didn’t take her eyes of the spot and she manoeuvred her broom closer. It was hovering and darting about – yes, that might just be the ball she was looking for. She was so far away from it though! With careful movements, Elly turned her head this way and that, trying to give the appearance that she was still searching for the Golden Snitch, while in face she kept her eyes trained on that solitary glint. As fast as she dared go without wanting to call attention to herself, Elly made her way over to the other side of the pitch to get a better view. The game hadn’t been going on all that long, but Snitches didn’t care about things like that. They pleased themselves.
0 <font color="brown">Elly Eriksson, Seeker</font> Ignoring the game in general 0 <font color="brown">Elly Eriksson, Seeker</font> 0 5