Chaser drills I guess on Quidditch Pitch

The Coach

October 16, 2021 12:01 AM

Quidditch Try Outs by The Coach

“Hello, hello, welcome!” The coach called out a cheerful greeting to each player as they arrived on the pitch, adding a name or a check in about their summer or about a particular skill they’d been aiming to improve for the ones who had a long-standing place on the team. That was a fair few of them, but there were also a lot of fresh faces, which was very exciting, and then some of those on again/off again students. Of course, Quidditch couldn’t be everyone’s priority, all the time, and perhaps there were very good reasons why they’d dropped the team - the main thing was, they were back. It wasn’t the biggest crop they’d ever had, but it was more than enough for a starting string, and there was some new talent coming in, which was always good to see.

“We’re going to be kicking off with something a little different today. We have some new faces here, and some returning players who weren’t with us last year. I’m a firm believer that this team is for everyone, and so I’d like to make sure everyone’s comfortable and settled with the game and the basics before we get into the actual try-outs. And, for those of you who have been here a while, I want to see leadership and teamwork skills. As you know, I can’t be with every set of players all the time in every practise - you sometimes need different things to each other. So, if you were a first string player last year, I want you to run a drill. Make sure you’ve explained the position, and done the basic skills required with your new students.

“If you were interested in multiple positions, rotate round. Tisenna, you can go to Seeker first. After that, Jeremy, I want to see you training up your reserves. You’re only here one more year.” And I really would like some concrete evidence that you are capable of playing nicely with others… Or to at least try to force that into you before you leave.

“After that, we’ll have the usual try out activities, which I’ll explain more about when we get to them. For now, I know everyone needs to get warmed up, and leaders probably need some thinking time, so let’s get to it with stretches, a run—sorry Gus—and some basic flying and agility.”

OOC: I thought I'd try something a little different this year, to promote more interaction.

However, you can skip to any part of the tryouts, so if you prefer to write a classic try out post, or if you end up waiting on others who don't get posts up, you can assume the tasks are the same as previous years, and refer back to any of those posts for guidance.

Any questions, ask in chatzy.

Subthreads:

Chaser drills I guess by Valentine Duell with Mab

Beater Drills by Hilda Hexenmeister with Billy Cobb

13 The Coach Quidditch Try Outs 0 The Coach 1 5

Valentine Duell

October 16, 2021 4:12 PM

Chaser drills I guess by Valentine Duell

Another year, and another shot at finally taking Mama's old position! This time Val was going to do it, she had a good broom, she had got a little extra practice over the summer, she was ready to unseat Jeremy! Well... probably not, it was his last year and she really doubted that the coach was going to take that position away from him at this point. Plus, she'd also have to beat out Anya, and she'd been fighting for the spot just as much and taking from her didn't seem right either. But still, she wanted to play Seeker. Chaser was fine and she had gotten to the first string ranks last year, that had been a lot of fun flying with Ness and Evelyn. They were gone now, and that made her a little sad. She was the only first string Chaser left from last year, would Leonor and Alexei try out again and move up from their reserved positions? According to the sign-up sheet, there were a few people that might try for chaser as well. Hansel and Ray and specifically wrote down for chaser, and a few others put in ‘any’ position. So there would be people to take over when she got the Seeker position.

Valentine arrived on the pitch on time and was ready to give it her best. She listened intently and her heart skipped a beat when the Coach explained the plan for the day. Last year’s first string players were to run a drill? She quickly reviewed her previous social calculations and looked around at the gathered students. She was still the only first string Chaser from last year here. She was supposed to run the drill for those who wanted to be Chasers. Meanwhile Jeremey was supposed to be training up his successors? She wanted that position. Was she destined to be a Chaser forever just because of Jeremy and fate? A deep pit seemed to open up within her, and threatened to consume some part of her. Was she going to fail Mama?
She did her best to push that all aside. Having a functional team so that they could all play was more important than what she wanted. It was fine. Each year it was getting harder to convince herself of that fact. She sighed and began the stretches and made it through the warm-up run. Val didn’t even pay much attention to the others throughout this process, her mind was fighting a battle about what drill to make the new students run, and how to still salvage her dying dream of ever becoming a Seeker. She missed having Ness and Eveyln at her side more than ever.

Once the warm-ups were complete, Valentine took her position in front of those who wanted to be Chasers, giving a quick wistful look over at the Seeker area. She gave her own group her best smile, which at the moment was half-hearted at best. “Hi all, welcome to Chasing. As you may or may not know, the Chasers’ job is to work together to get the Quaffle through the goals as many times as they possibly can, while doing what they can to keep the other team’s Chasers from doing likewise.” The normal drills for Chasers are passing drills, shooting drills and intercepting drills. We’ll be starting off with a passing drill.” This was the best starting place in her opinion. If they couldn’t work together and pass the ball around, there wasn’t much point in practicing the other skills. “For this, you’ll all be flying around and throwing the ball around to whomever you can find open.” Val did then manage one of her mischievous grins. “You’ve got a few minutes to practice that, then I’ll join in as the other team intercepting your passes and trying to make your job more difficult.” She threw the Quaffle to the closest person, “Get flying! Let’s see what you’ve got!”

2 Valentine Duell Chaser drills I guess 1490 0 5

Mab

October 16, 2021 5:18 PM

Why am I even here? by Mab

Mab had not signed up for Quidditch. She had never had much interest in Quidditch. She didn't watch the games. She wasn't close to any of the players. Several people on her Avoid lists were on the team, including but not limited to Anya, Billy, Rae, Valentine, and Oz. So she had not planned to join the Quidditch team either this year or at any time in the past or future. She'd had no interest or desire to do so. She was not a team player.

But after being made Prefect, she'd ended up in Hilda Hexenmeister's company a few times, and was mildly surprised to find she could actually tolerate the older Pecari's presence. This led to more than a few meals seated next to each other at the Pecari table when one or the other of them wasn't off with one of their non-Pecari friends or relatives. And that led to Hilda talking about her two interests: Dueling Club and Quidditch. The older girl was clearly more passionate about Quidditch and it came up more often. And every time it did, Hilda encouraged her to turn up at Try-Outs and, well, try it out (Mab's pun, not Hilda's).

And Beating actually didn't sound too bad. Violently hitting metal balls at people she didn't like actually sounded kind of fun, and it was somehow even socially approved?

The only drawback was that Billy was already Hilda's apprentice, which meant if she became a beater, she'd have to work with one of the people she wanted to hurl metal balls at. And after this year, when Hilda and Felipe would have graduated, they'd have to be partners (and, worse, Billy would have seniority and there was no way Mab was taking orders from him). It wasn't ideal or even tempting.

She had looked over the sign-up list on multiple occasions before deciding to come. Rae and Oz had also signed up to try for Beater. Either one of those would be a much better partner for Billy. It looked like Hilda already had the successor she was hoping to find. There was no need for Mab to be here.

Yet, for some reason, here she was.

Bel sometimes talked about Quidditch. It came up sometimes when they were practicing martial arts in the training room. Bel had preferred seeker, and that glory hound of a position did seem like a good fit for her adoptive mother. Mab wasn't interested. Derry of all people (both of them, in fact) had been a beater, which was far more of a stretch to Mab's imagination and she had trouble reconciling either Derry with Hilda's description of what a Beater does. It was a further nail in the coffin burying her chances of trying out for that position. If the Derries liked it, she couldn't imagine she would.

Bel had said she'd also played Chaser, too, until the seeker position opened up on her school team. Bel was hardly a prime example of a team player either, so if Bel had managed it, maybe Mab could, too. It was actually Chaser stories that usually came up when the subject of Quidditch came up during training sessions, often hilarious, sometimes brutal, and usually they surfaced when the topic of study was making intentional fouls look accidental. The best Chasers (according to Bel, who could not be called an unbiased source) were very aggressive players. There were apparently 700 different fouls possible in the game, including at least one that forbids attacking another player with an axe - which meant somebody did that at least once before it was declared illegal and Mab thought she could be at least that creative. In all truth, it was this official foul that was the deciding factor for why she was even here today. She'd have to check the official rules to see if there was anything about crossbows or flails.

And Hilda had said the team was badly hurting for Chasers, too, having lost their best two Chasers to graduation last year.

Sadly the one remaining was Valentine, but Val - according to the sign-ups and Hilda - would rather be a Seeker, so after Jeremy was gone, maybe she'd be out of Mab's hair. Also Rae signed up for Beater or Chaser, so there was a good chance Mab might be stuck with her, too. On the other hand, there was a fair chance that in practice and intraschool games, Mab might get to play in opposition to them, and that might almost be fun. (Cobbing was the excessive use of elbows, which meant there was a level of elbow use that was acceptable - the trick would be finding that balance, but practice would be when she gets to test those boundaries, right?) Gus and the first year both signed up for anything, which put them in high likelihoods of ending up in the Chaser pool, too, but they at least weren't on her Avoid lists (yet). Hilda's little brother was there, too, but if Hilda was okay, maybe he would be, too.

Leonor hadn't signed up either and, when asked, had expressed disinterest in returning as a Chaser. Though Leonor would have been preferable as co-Chaser to any of the other options available, Mab had still been undecided about this whole thing when they talked about it, and she hadn't made any effort to convince her roommate to try-out with her. Before heading out today, though, she had left a note telling Leonor what she was doing, in case that might shift her opinion toward reprising her position from the previous year, though she kind of doubted it would.

Last year's other Chaser reserve had been Alexei and his name hadn't been on the sign-up sheet either, so, other than Val, and possibly Hilda's little brother, it didn't look like experience was going to be a strong advantage for any of the incoming Chaser potentials. Mab was the oldest of all of them, and probably the most physically trained, so she didn't expect to have any trouble landing a first string spot even without prior Quidditch experience.

When the Coach called the try-outs to order, Mab listened through the rundown of what they were doing, then dropped down into some stretches and strengthening exercises. Limbered up, and with a few reps of sit ups and push ups behind her, Mab started the run. She kept in shape for her martial arts, and running had at one point in time been a survival necessity, so she never let that be a skill that withered from disuse; she usually jogged around the school three or four times a week. She made good time around the pitch, mixing quick sprints with a more steady jog.

Flying was going to be her weak point. It wasn't something she did a lot of in her spare time. She had never been bad at it, but neither was she going to be impressive. Since she started considering Hilda's suggestion to try out, she'd been getting out in the mornings before breakfast to get back into practice, but getting her speed and maneuvering control up to top form was definitely something she was going to have to work on over the next weeks and months.

After the run, she took to the air without incident, but her lap of flying around the pitch was nothing of any particular note. She landed near where Val was gathering the Chaser hopefuls together. Val remained surprisingly on topic and not-annoying during her instructions, and Mab found herself re-evaluating the other girl's need to be avoided. Tentatively, she re-slotted Val more toward the bottom of the Avoid When Possible list. She mentally made this change in pencil so it could be reversed easily if necessary.

Then they were in the air, and the Quaffle was coming right at her. She caught it without too much trouble. Mab took the few moments to familiarize herself with the heft and size of the Quaffle, which she'd never personally held in her own two hands before. She didn't think she'd have a problem with it. She could get a good grip on it, and it fit nicely under her arm. She flew a few paces then tossed it on to the next person. She had a decent arm and aim, though balls weren't what she usually threw (she mostly practiced with darts and throwing knives, though she did vary this out with frisbees and the occasional ball when Reilly wanted to play catch), but it flew the distance between herself and her schoolmate without deviating too far off its intended course. She'd have to account for wind though, in the future, if any picked up, because the ball had a fair amount of surface area.

OOC: Hilda is mine so off screen discussions with her are not god-modding.
Leonor's plan to drop the team discussed with her author.

1 Mab Why am I even here? 1473 0 5

Hilda Hexenmeister

October 21, 2021 9:33 PM

Beater Drills by Hilda Hexenmeister

Hilda felt it was a little bit unfair of the coach to spring the running of drills on the senior players with no warning, especially the ones for whom English was not their primary language. However, Hilda had been running drills for Billy since he joined the team, and her Quidditch vocabulary had been the first set of English words she had mastered, so she felt confident she could handle this. Also, it helped that she ran the drills in Dueling club, so that was another reason why she felt capable of handling this even with it being dropped on her so suddenly.

She did the warm-ups distractedly, trying to decide on her opening speech and then which drill or drills to make the beater hopefuls attempt. There were quite a few of them, she'd been pleased to see when she looked at the sign-up list earlier. Oz and Rae had named the position specifically, and Gus and Tisenna had more generally declared themselves interested in 'anything'. 'Anything' usually went to a Chaser position, but Gus had some mass behind him, so he might actually make an alright Beater. Hilda would give Tisenna a fair shot, but with a slew of third year options, a first year girl seemed an unlikely candidate unless she already had some experience in the position, and it didn't sound like she did.

Tisenna had been instructed to try Seeker first, so Hilda set the ones who came her way first to doing some basic accuracy drills, practicing smacking bludger sized balls (they looked like bludgers but they didn't have the blood-thirsty enchantments on them) at a target using their bats. It was harder than using real bludgers because real bludgers would hit anything you hit them close to while these would only hit what you actually aimed them at properly. "Try hit target. This is aim drill, not power drill. We make target move later." For now, it simply hovered a few dozen feet over the ground, far enough away from the goals that they wouldn't interfere with the Keeper or Chaser try outs. "For now, practice easy. Like this." She tossed her bludger-like ball into the air and on its descent smacked it toward the target where it thunked right into the center of the straw circle. After a moment, it floated sedately back to her hand. The targets were enchanted to send the balls back the way the came. "After hit target, the ball come back. If you miss, it fall, you get." Then she set one of the five targets to start moving in a slow steady up and down. "Billy, that is for you." He was experienced enough that he did not get to start at the easy setting.

After a little while, she had the full set of everyone trying out for beater. "This is Beater Drills," she informed the group. "I am Hilda. This Felipe," she indicated the other seventh year first string player. "We are first string Beaters." She did not imagine that changing this year. "Beaters attack other team. Beaters defend team from other team attacks. Bludger is our weapon." She held up her fake bludger. "Bat is our tool." She held up her bat. She looked at Felipe to see if he had anything further he wanted to tell them about what was expected of a Beater, either in overview or for specific skills. Without having had time to script a speech, her own explanation had been pretty bare-bones.

When Felipe had said all he was going to, she resumed speaking, "For drill, attack target." she pointed again at the targets. She set the targets of the people who had already been practicing to start moving up and down as Billy's had been. Billy's was now changing directions in a more unpredictable manner. For now, all three were moving at a predictable pace, though she would change that up later. "Felipe and me give advice. Go." She made sure the newest newcomers all had bats and fake bludgers and directed them to try hitting the non-moving targets.

She closed with, "Felipe has more good English. Give him your questions."

1 Hilda Hexenmeister Beater Drills 1433 0 5

Billy Cobb

October 21, 2021 10:01 PM

Bring it on! by Billy Cobb

This was gunna be great! Ray was trying out, Gus was trying out, and Oz was trying out! It was going to be an amazing team! Billy got to the pitch early as usual. It was in his favorite place after all, not inside the school. He waved and cheered as folks showed up to try-outs, then turned to pay attention to the coach once the instructions started. They sounded a bit odd for try-outs, but not that much different for him. Hilda and Felipe were going to make sure he knew how to be a Beater. Well, if he didn't by now, it was their own fault. Hilda especially had been making sure he knew what he was doing.

He went through the warm-ups like always, running felt great and flying around on the broom was awesome as usual! He met up with Hilda and Felipe and took a position with the others trying out. He snickered at their opening task, that was so easy. Then Hilda made his target move when everyone else got stationary one. "Fine, no problem." he responded to Hilda. This didn't really make it that much harder. His first shot at the target missed, out of practice. He retrieved the ball and quickly got back into the routine. The rest hit and got progressively closer to the target.

During the actual drill the target was moving more like he was used to. "This is fun, ain't it!" He called to the person trying out next to him as he swatted his ball into the target.

2 Billy Cobb Bring it on! 1519 0 5