"Coach" Isis Carter
July 10, 2015 6:38 PM
Quidditch Match I: Aladren vs. Pecari by "Coach" Isis Carter
Isis was never the biggest fan of Quidditch, but she supposed that being the substitute made filling in for a Quidditch match her jurisdiction in addition to the work she did for classes.She was all for a little competition and athletics, but the dangers of the game in her opinion outweighed the positive benefits. She wasn’t sure why wizarding’s top sport was so brutal, but she supposed if the school was okay with sponsoring it, she would just go with it. And being the stand-in (stand-in) coach, she would just have to be as vigilant as possible.On the day the first match was scheduled, the weather was pretty ideal. It was maybe a bit colder than would be pleasant for the spectators (and prompted Isis to send memos to Aladren and Pecari captains Francesca Wolseithcrafte and Adam Spencer to have their team take precautions), but there was no troubling precipitation or heinous winds with which they would have to contend. All in all, not too bad a day to fly.
“Welcome, all, to the first match of the year!” Isis announced as the players came on the field. “Today we’ve got a fine matchup between Pecari, led by Captain Adam Spencer, and Aladren, led by Captain Francesca Wolseithcrafte.” Turning to the two captains, she added, “I’m looking forward to a nice, clean game. Please shake hands.” She wasn’t sure if that was necessarily a part of the pre-game routine followed by Coach Olivers, but it was important, she felt, as a part of sportsmanship. “As you know, once I blow the whistle, the game begins, and it will end only when the Snitch is caught by one of your Seekers.”
Isis paused to allow the fourteen players on the Pitch to get into position, saying a quick prayer for safety in her head as they moved. “Ready?” she asked rhetorically as she placed the whistle between her teeth. With a piercing chirp, she tossed the Quaffle into the air, and the game had begun. As she released the Bludgers, Isis only hoped the Beaters would falter in their arm for the duration of the match. Uneventful games were always the least painful.
OOC: Welcome, everyone! Make sure you stick to the site rules about realism, post-length, creativity, etc. as well as the Quidditch specific rules. Any OOC questions can be directed on the OOC board, where either I or Coach Olivers will get back to you in the most timely manner possible. Happy posting, and good luck to both teams!
Subthreads: I will not allow a loss. by <font color='tan'>Liliana Bannister, Keeper</font> with <font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>
Seeking again by <font color=blue>Clark Dill, Seeker</font> with <font color='tan'>Jamie Park, Seeker</font>, <font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>
Destruction, pain, etc. [Bludger @ Aladren Chaser] by <font color='tan'>Sammy Meeks, Beater</font color>
Just getting started. by <font color=tan>Capt. Adam Spencer, Chaser</font> with <font color='blue'>Capt Francesca W, Chaser</font>, <font color="blue">John Umland, Beater</font>, <font color='tan'>Ingrid W, Chaser</font>
Finishing it off by <font color=blue>Clark Dill, Seeker</font> with Coach
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"Coach" Isis Carter
Quidditch Match I: Aladren vs. Pecari
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"Coach" Isis Carter
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<font color=tan>Capt. Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>
July 15, 2015 4:35 AM
Just getting started. by <font color=tan>Capt. Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>
Adam was fairly confident in his team this year. Though they had lost three crucial players, he'd been pleased to have several new names on the signup sheet this year. Over the course of practises and team lunches, Adam had done his best to get to know his newer team-mates. Sammy, Ingrid and Joey seemed like nice kids and he hoped they'd get on with the others. Team unity was important, a lesson he'd learnt from his cousin and the previous captain.On match day Adam dressed warmly and headed down to breakfast early. He'd hardly been able to sleep the night before, his stomach knotted as it was. This would be his first match as captain and after that revelation had hit him he hadn't been able to function properly. During breakfast he felt as though he were playing his very first match as a first year all over again, but he kept on a brave face. He knew his team-mates would perform well; he just hoped he wouldn't disappoint them as their captain. He understood now why winning and losing had been so important to Rupert last year.
After nibbling on a bit of toast and jam and spending far too much time wondering if Ginny would come watch him - er, them - Adam led his team-mates to the pitch. He'd received a memo from the stand-in coach, Professor Carter, to take precautions on the weather, but Adam didn't think it necessary. It was a bit parky, but nothing that would hinder their flying. It was a lovely day despite the chill and would hopefully make it easier to aim bludgers and find the Snitch for his respective team-mates. Only Liliana would have to cast a warming charm if she were too cold sitting at the hoops.
Adam glanced at his best mate and his little brother, both on the Aladren team. It was just a little funny that he and Jack were on opposing teams just like Francesca and Ingrid. Though Adam couldn't yet speak for Francesca and her sister, he knew he and Jack fit their houses well. Whilst Adam was warm and passionate, Jack was cool-headed and usually quiet. Adam was glad to see his brother enjoy the sport as much as he did, if not more. Despite how busy Adam was with all of his responsibilities, he was glad to have some sort of stress-reliever. That is, excluding game days.
There was hardly any time for a pre-match speech, but Adam was all right with that. He nudged the new members with an encouraging smile. "You ready, Sammy?" he asked. "Just keep that bat in hand and you'll be unstoppable." Beating was a difficult job in Adam's mind, but this muggle-born had picked it up much quicker than he'd expected. "Ingrid, keep with what we've practised and you'll do brilliantly." Much of his work with the Chasers had been understanding the others' movements to make passing the Quaffle much easier and smoother. He'd also worked on different scoring tactics with them in the hopes that they would be able to score their first goals during this match. "And Joey, keep your body warmed up just in case one of us needs out." He pat Joey on the back and went to Professor Carter when she called. He was looking forward to seeing how the new members would do on the pitch in a real match.
"May the best team win," said Adam as he shook Francesca's hand, the corners of his mouth twitching in an attempt to hide his smile. He was proud that they'd both made it this far: both Head students, both Captains of their respective teams. However, with their siblings joining them in play, it was going to make an interesting match. As Adam mounted his broom and waited for the whistle, he wondered whether or not Ginny would show up to cheer for them. He hadn't mentioned the incident at the tree to her yet, though it still coloured his cheeks slightly at the implications. He had to learn how to let go of these emotions and feelings when it didn't seem as though she fancied him.
As soon as the whistle blew and the Quaffle went up, Adam soared forward and snatched the leather ball out of the air. He made his way immediately towards the Aladren hoops. He already heard the crack of a bludger but didn't have time to see which team had hit it. He glanced around for an opportunity to pass early on in his journey to get around the Aladren Chasers, and when he found an opening to a team-mate he quickly tossed the Quaffle towards a brown-clad Chaser and soared ahead to make himself open for another pass.
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<font color=tan>Capt. Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>
Just getting started.
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<font color=tan>Capt. Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>
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<font color='blue'>Capt Francesca W, Chaser</font>
July 19, 2015 1:37 AM
Wait until we're warmed up by <font color='blue'>Capt Francesca W, Chaser</font>
It was a good job that Theodore had overtaken her in height over the summer, otherwise she thought she might have had some kind of hysterical fit as she looked at the teams. It was true, she had Leonidas, Clark and John who were all reasonable sized humans too but the Chasers… the Chasers were so tiny. Up until this year she’d always had one person older than her on the Chasing team and whilst she had theoretically accepted that those days were over, it had been a bit of a shock to realise that the other two were both way down the other end of the spectrum. It would have been terrifying (and still, somewhat, was) but Adam had a bunch of first and second year replacements too. She and Adam… the big grown ups, surrounded by their teams of tiny children. She found it hard to believe that the two of them had ever been as small as their new team-mates looked to her.“The new Beater is going to be their biggest weak point,” she told her team in the locker room. “John, run her ragged. Break her.” She had considered carefully where to assign this job. The gap between Leonidas and the second year was larger. He would have an easier job of running rings around her, maybe get her sooner. But that left John facing off against an older, more experienced student, one who traditionally took the role of defending the Seeker. That was a big risk. It would also show a severe lack of faith in John, and she wasn’t willing to make any of her team look weak. He had two years’ worth of experience over Sammy Meeks, albeit only one as a Beater, and was probably bigger, stronger and more accurate. He could handle her. It was just that Leonidas would undeniably flatten her, and that was what she wanted.
“They’ve also got a first year on the chasing team,” she didn’t like to admit it, but Adam’s Chasing team looked stronger than hers, with one big, one medium and one small. After being part of the well-oiled Aladren machine for so many years, it was terrifying how easily that balance had totally shifted. Overall, the match mattered more than any individual element, but she did not want the Pecari Chasers easily outclassing them, as a matter of personal pride. “She doesn’t give in easily, but the flip side of that is that she’s a bit of a risk taker. We can use that to our advantage by pinning her into corners - that goes for the Chasers and the Beaters.” It felt a little dirty and underhanded using her knowledge of their backyard skirmishes against Pecari but, she reasoned, she would have analysed Ingrid’s playing sooner or later, tried to find her weak spots. This just gave her a small head start. Besides which, Pecari would be training her, changing her… They would go back and forth with who had the advantage. And she had the Pecari captain’s little brother. Adam knew Jack, and would be sure to use that. “You guys have done great in practise,” she addressed the two beginner boys, “Just keep that up, and you’ll do great out here too.” It was the one element of her speech that she wasn’t totally convinced was true but there was no difference, no doubt or falter in her tone as she gave her encouragement.
“Their Seeker may be Clark’s age, but he’s fresh off the bench. Advantage us. And Theodore’s always come up best against Liliana, or whatever combination of Chasers they throw at him. Let’s get out there, and show them.”
Aladren had lost within living memory. Only two years ago, in fact. It had stung her at the time but she was somewhat grateful for it now. It took off some of the pressure. In spite of that though, Aladren had a good legacy. Overall, they’d been on top. As a rule, she tried to suppress the urge to analyse statistics because ninety percent of the ways she could cut it said that everyone was expecting her team to win. It was sometimes a comfort but more often than not just a headache, especially when she looked at how different the team was now to those she’d won with.
She stepped forward and shook Adam’s hand, a genuine smile crossing her face as she did so. It was a funny friendship, always being in competition like this, but somehow each thing managed to make the other better.
“Indeed” she nodded, at his wish that the best team should win.
She retook her place. This she could do. This bit. She’d done this so many times, and if she just kept a level head, put the captainly stuff out of her mind and did her bit as Chaser… The whistle blew and she dived into the scrum for the Quaffle, but Adam came away victorious. She pursued him. It was only fitting that the two of them marked each other.
The crack of wood on metal. She had the better Beaters, she told herself. It forced her to keep her eyes on the Quaffle. She wondered whether it was that noise that prompted him to pass. Either way, she was rewarded for her focus, as she took the opportunity to put on a burst of speed, stretching out to grab the Quaffle from mid air.
She changed direction sharply, the Bludger that had been hit going wide as she sped off in the other direction. She had done her bit, but now the concerns came creeping back. There was no Anthony to pass to. She had worked Jack and Louis hard. Every practise, she found some improvement, some reason to be pleased with them. She tried to pull those feelings back to the surface now. Yes, it would be hard with Joella and Adam being so much older than the two of them, but they couldn’t be everywhere at once. Ingrid was just as inexperienced, and would have to be marking one of them. There was a way in. A chink in the armour.
She kept alert for her fellow Chasers, as well as trying to keep an eye out for hazards. Although, frankly, she’d take getting within comfortable passing range for now, finding someone without a Pecari player immediately on top of them. Spotting an opportunity, she threw the ball firmly in the direction of the blue-clad player.
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<font color='blue'>Capt Francesca W, Chaser</font>
Wait until we're warmed up
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<font color='blue'>Capt Francesca W, Chaser</font>
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<font color="blue">John Umland, Beater</font>
July 21, 2015 11:46 AM
And have thoroughly analyzed the situation. by <font color="blue">John Umland, Beater</font>
The temperature was a little lower than was quite comfortable to just stand in, but since he wasn’t going to be doing that and his sister knew how to dress for much colder weather than this, John wasn’t concerned about it as he tried to drink his tea and find one of his gloves at the same time before the Quidditch match. Having played in what he thought had to be almost every variety of weather the charms on Sonora were capable of throwing at him, John knew he would much rather be cold than hot and thought most of the team shared that preference with him, which meant the weather was really nothing to worry about. It might even be an advantage if the new Pecari Seeker was obliging enough to be from somewhere constantly, searingly hot, but he knew better than to hope too much for that or for it to prove beneficial even if he was. He couldn’t imagine it was as hard to get used to this as it was to heat. Heat was just draining.The Seekers, though, weren’t really his problem. Unless something really weird happened, his Seeker interactions would end with wishing Clark luck before Francesca’s speech. He had another puzzle to solve, one he was doing his best not to underestimate. He thought he had been underestimated last year, after all, so there was no reason Pecari’s new Beater shouldn’t be more formidable than she looked, too.
“No problem,” was still the response it seemed natural to make to Francesca’s directions about the proper handling of the new girl, though. He was at least a year older than her, probably closer to two since his fourteenth birthday was already a thing of the past, had experience in the position, wasn’t a Pecari, and had, he’d discovered, something of a knack for the broad category of tasks that Beating skills fell into. He did not think he would have much trouble proving himself the better Beater.
"Straight back to the caves. Two thousand years of cultural development straight down the drain,” his brother Paul had commented when John mentioned his new Quidditch position and membership in the archery club in the same conversation last Christmas. Mom had quickly come to his defense, saying it was probably really no more than five or six hundred years and offering (after the conversation somehow took an extended detour into frozen Inca mummies and the history of sun worship before Paul brought the Cold War into it; John hadn’t completely understood everything that was being said and certainly couldn’t remember how it had taken the turns it did) to look for some books she’d had at university which included discussion of the tactics associated in various centuries with medieval weapon versions of his sporting goods. ”I don’t know enough about it to know, but it might be useful to you, dear, if I can find them.”
John loved his mother because she was, well, his mother. She made sure his needs were met and sometimes went out of her way to do things just because they made him happy, both of which he understood were fairly typical human mother behaviors and expressions the biological impulse to make a bunch of little copies of oneself and then to make sure said copies survived long enough to make little copies of themselves that preserved some scraps of the image of the original. He loved the specific person who was his mother, though, because of conversations like that one. He had friends who had to sneak and hide their books because their parents were that concerned that they’d Get Ideas, but his mother casually offered to do what she could to help him get better at whacking cannonballs at people (after, of course, they had a nice chat about mummies and how the end of regular mummy production had somehow led to their odds of experiencing nuclear annihilation over their after-supper tea) because she knew it wasn’t like that. John was averse to the idea of really hurting anyone who wasn’t trying to hurt him or his, but since Quidditch injuries didn’t constitute ‘real’ harm in his book, he was indifferent at best/worst to the part of Beating that involved hitting people. It was the quality of concentration he experienced while doing it that he enjoyed, taking in everything at once but using it all instead of being overwhelmed by it because his goals were usually, in the end, relatively simple: hit X, not Y, to achieve Point One. It could get more complex – it really was sometimes like what he imagined a game of wizard’s chess would be like if the pieces had to play their parts without a controller, each trying to figure out what the other was going to do so he could be in the right place to back up a move and take out an opponent – but even then it was a lot more manageable, at least for him, than the kind of thinking required for Chasing had been. He liked knowing where the Bludgers were.
In the air, he quickly came to know that his opponent had reached one of them first, but John was calm today and quickly realized that she had no idea what to do with it. For one thing, she had one hand on her broom, which meant she both probably wasn’t much of a flier and couldn’t put her full force capability behind the Bludger. Even if she hit an Aladren, she wouldn’t do much damage unless his teammate was seriously not paying attention at the time or panicked in the moment, neither of which he thought was a serious danger. For another thing, too, instead of defending the Bludger, keeping him away from it and positioning herself for the next hit, she was already hurtling off toward the other Bludger. Maybe she had a heck of a plan, but most likely, she was just excited and not thinking tactically at all.
For a second, though, as he flew after the first Bludger, John hesitated. If both of the Pecari Beaters ganged up on one Bludger, it could put Leonidas in a touchy position and endanger Clark. The girl’s total incompetence might even work to Pecari’s advantage under those conditions, since there was no telling what she would do. If he left a Bludger just rocketing around among the Chasers, though, and free to go wherever it wanted, there would be trouble too, but the last thing he wanted was both Bludgers and all four Beaters to end up near his Seeker. ‘Take out the Seeker’ might be Rule One, but ‘do not make it easier for the other guy to do the same’ was a strong contender for Rule Two.
For a second, John considered the possibility that New Girl was not totally incompetent and had just pretended she was in order to lead him into a trap, the sort where it was either lose the Queen to a bishop or take the bishop and promptly lose her to a pawn. If they had really been practical, after all, John and Leonidas would have secured both Bludgers and both concentrated on injuring Park until he had to leave the field; the traditional division was just to minimize injuries and make a better game for the audience. Pecari had lost so often, though, that they might not care about a good show anymore and might really be trying to win. John didn't know Spencer, but he did know Spencer was at least intelligent enough to hang out with Francesca off the Pitch, which meant he might be smart enough to plan all that and set it in motion.
Grimacing, he caught up with the Bludger Francesca had dodged and hit it toward a Pecari who looked just dim enough to possibly try to stop her from passing the Quaffle to another Aladren. Right now, he had to address this. He could keep an eye on the rest of the situation between hits. If Leonidas got in trouble, John would go help and leave the Chasers to their fates; if not, he’d just make the Pecari Chasers do a good impression of bowling pins and then go arrange for Mr. Park’s extended hospitalization.
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<font color="blue">John Umland, Beater</font>
And have thoroughly analyzed the situation.
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<font color="blue">John Umland, Beater</font>
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<font color='tan'>Ingrid W, Chaser</font>
July 24, 2015 4:50 AM
Just act on instinct by <font color='tan'>Ingrid W, Chaser</font>
She had made first string. Not only was that awesome in itself but it meant that Adam liked her, or at least had been impressed with her flying (which, to Ingrid, were equally exciting things). She knew she owed a lot to Joella, for giving her another chance after she’d fluffed her first pass, and it wasn’t something she would be forgetting any time soon.
On the day of her first match, she felt unexpectedly nervous. She’d been nothing but excited about the thought of playing for so long but now… A real match, in front of the whole school, and they’d had to draw Aladren first which meant playing her brother and sister. She had nibbled some fruit at the breakfast table before remembering how hungry she always got at Quidditch camp if she tried to get through the morning on just her normal breakfast, so loaded up a plate with eggs and toast. It didn’t sit very comfortably on top of the butterflies though.
She stepped out onto the pitch, wondering whether they’d made it bigger since she was last standing there. It definitely felt it. Or maybe she just felt smaller… As Adam gave her some pre-match words of encouragement though, her face broke into a wide smile. If Adam thought she could do brilliantly then she could. She would.
The match kicked off and Adam came out of the fray with the Quaffle. She hadn’t managed to do much more than blink but that was ok. The scrum was a tough bit, and the main thing was that Pecari had the ball.
She tried to follow Adam closely, ready to receive his pass but she was still too far behind when Francesca snuck in and got it. She turned around, latching on to her sister as she zoomed past, although keeping an eye out for Joella doing the same, prepared to put herself into a more supportive position. It made sense for the older Pecaris to mark Francesca, as she was the most experienced Aladren player but Ingrid wasn’t going to shy away from it if she happened to be in the right position. Francesca knew how she played, which was a disadvantage, but the same disadvantage could be turned back on her; Ingrid knew her too.
Unfortunately, she didn’t know John Umland, and quite how likely he was to aim a Bludger her way. Ingrid could be a little on the wreckless side but she wasn’t a complete idiot, and as the heavy iron ball came pelting towards her, she knew that the best course was to drop out of its way, even if that meant losing the lock down she’d had on Francesca. She swerved, letting the Bludger sail on past and find itself a new friend, returning her attention to the game just in time to see the Quaffle arrive in someone else’s possession...
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<font color='tan'>Ingrid W, Chaser</font>
Just act on instinct
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<font color='tan'>Ingrid W, Chaser</font>
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