Beater Training

1) an entrance post -

1) (Gryffindor Beater)
Pamela woke up a little after dawn. She was so eager to play as this would be her first match ever. She went ahead and did some warm-ups to get herself awake.

After a quick breakfast, she rushed down to the locker room. She double checked her cropped hair and grabbed her trusty Nimbus 2001. Then she got out her brand new beaters bat that her dad gave her as a congratulations gift. Heading out she noticed none of her teammates were on the pitch yet. That was okay, though. She wanted to get in some flying before anyone got there. She couldn't do any beater moves, as there was no bludger, so she just did a few laps around the pitch. "It's going to be a rough time," she thought. The rain was going to make visibility bad. "Thank heavens I'm not a seeker." The real problem was going to be the wind. Maybe it could be used to her advantage, though.

2) a mid-game post -
(Gryffindor Beater)
Pamela heard yet another "ding" and knew that they were now down 70 to 10. Muttering a few choice words, she knew she had to do something. The other beater had already been knocked off her broom, and was out of the match. Pamela knew it would be up to her. She saw that her teammates had the quaffle, and she breathed a sigh of relief. However, the other side's seeker seemed to have just seen something. "Well that's just great," Pamela said.

Just then she saw a bludger coming toward her. If she could get under it, she might just be able to hit it toward the other seeker. If nothing else, at least a distraction could be provided. Pamela dove a little before positioning herself beneath the bludger so she could get more power behind her swing. She pulled her bat back and took aim, intending the bludger to go upward and to her left. She heard a crack and felt the vibration all the way up her arm.

As she watched the bludger speed toward the unsuspecting seeker, she heard the ding. Looking, she saw that Gryffindor had score. The bludger barely missed the other seeker, who had moved just in time, but he did get distracted and lost the snitch in that instant.

(I hope it's okay for me to do this class. I wasn't sure since you said to put Ravenclaw Beater)

Thank you! I really appreciate the feedback. I thought that I had messed up that last paragraph in the second post, but I'd seen similar things happening, so I wasn't sure. I hadn't even noticed these classes until yesterday. They're helpful, as I want to try out for my house team when the time comes.

[Ravenclaw beater :]

Shausto strolled into the Ravenclaw locker room, a piece of buttered toast in hand. Her first match, there was no way she was going to be late for this one. As she lazily licked her fingers clean, the small watch on her left wrist caught her eye, showing her that she still had a good while until the rest of the school would venture into the stands. Shausto pulled on her slightly short robes, hoping her ankles didn’t show too much below the sapphire blue fabric. “Not that it would matter much in this wind” she thought as she stepped onto the field. Not being used to flying in powerful winds with poor visibility, Shausto decided to take a few laps around the pitch, just to get used to the broom. A few simple maneuvers were all she knew, she hoped it would be enough. Shausto clumsily landed after getting the hang of her broom and strode back into the locker room to pick up her new club, taking note that the skies looked as if it were about to downpour at any second. She reemerged a moment later, club in hand, and shot off into the gloomy skies.
_ _ _ _

Shausto watched from afar as the opposing team’s main chaser zipped down the field towards the goal, moving too fast for her own eyes to follow. But her ears couldn’t miss the chime marking their successful goal. Cursing under her breath, Shausto flew higher searching for a bludger against the gray skies to take out her anger. Finally while speeding up to strike a bludger on the other side of the field, she noticed her fellow keeper having some trouble with his broom. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t shift her broom back to the center of the goal posts, and the opposing chasers were approaching the posts quickly. Searching every person within her field of vision, Shausto eventually saw a young student in the stands with a wicked look in their eyes pointing their wand at the keeper’s broom. Within the second, Shausto had made up her mind and urged her broom faster towards the speeding bludger. She came up behind and twisted her broom alongside the black ball, taking aim just above the student in the stands. Squinting to see slightly better through the gloom, Shausto released a burst of energy striking the bludger, hoping her aim was true. The ball whizzed feet above the stands a second later. Shausto smiled to herself as the keeper regained balance just in time.
_ _ _ _

The chime of another goal from the other team caught Shausto’s attention, bringing the score up to 80-80. A blue blur shot by, Shausto realized, their team’s seeker chasing down the snitch. Shausto turned to take in the rest of the game for a second, observing the other team’s seeker attempting to follow Ravenclaw’s, but to no luck. He was only on a Shooting Star after all. Confident in their own seeker’s ability to out-fly their opponent, Shausto focused on the now noticeable bludgers headed towards the center of the field, right towards the Ravenclaw chasers. Realizing she couldn’t stop both of them, Shausto used quick judgment to choose the far bludger to hit. It was moving faster and, if both kept moving at the same speed, it would hit the chaser with the quaffle in mid-air. There was no way she was going to make it, but Shausto pushed her broom forward. If she didn’t try, the chaser would get beaten by that bludger. As she neared, she extended her right arm, attempting to stop the bludger with that if necessary. Now, coming up alongside the bludger, and mere yards from the group of chasers, Shausto felt the blinding pain in her arm, as her swung missed the ball by inches. The bludger however did feel the resistance of her arm and changed direction to the other end of the pitch. Just before she stumbled to the ground and dropped her bat, she heard the distant scream of another unsuspecting chaser, facing the consequences of the other bludger she had disregarded.

[hmm..rereading that im not sure if I like it so much..
Questions: can I do that with the keeper’s broom, make them have problems with the broom? or is that something that they need to have mentioned in an earlier post?
also: is it a foul if i actually hit the student? that really would be a much better distraction…XP]
[oh and can I make that other chaser get hit by the other bludger or is that illegal too?]

1) an entrance post -

It's mid-afternoon on a rainy Friday. The temperature is in the sixties, and wind blowing quite harshly. You are the first to come on to the pitch.

Elements to try to fit in:
- getting ready (being in the locker room, getting on your robes, taking your broom and bat, etc)
- your eagerness to play
- the difficulty of the weather conditions
- what you'll do until others arrive (Remember: the balls haven't been released, so you can't just whack around a Bludger. Try practicing some flying manouvers or anything else you can think of!)

[Slytherin Beater]

Ziggy sat in the library, reading Quidditch through the ages before the match. When she had 10 minutes untill game time, Ziggy put down her book and made her way to the quidditch pitch. Ziggy was fairly nervous as this was her first game ever. Well, slytherins last game was ment to be her first one but she had been too ill to play. Ziggy squared her sholders and marched onto the pitch, through the storming rain, noticing that no one else was there. Ziggy's sholders slumped as she made her way to the locker room. Hoping that she didn't have the time wrong, Ziggy chanded into her quidditch robes. She got herself toaltally ready for the game and tried to physk herself up. This was proving difficult due to the lack of her team, lack of opponents and the awful weather. Ziggy wasnt a heavy girl so she was slightly worried she would be blown off course in the wind. Whilst waiting, Ziggy decided to mount her Nimbus 2000 and fly around to get the hang of flying in the tricky conditions.



2) a mid-game post -

Most of your team has arrived, and the opposing team is up 70 to 10...mega OUCH. Your Chasers are in possession of the Quaffle, and are passing it among the three of them as they fly down the pitch. But wait - could that be an opposing Chaser trying to nudge his or her way in and grab it? Or is it a Bludger that's racing towards them from above? Is the Keeper too well protected by its team for your Chasers to score? Or is it something that only YOU know (ie: make something up)? YOU decide!

Elements to try to fit in:
- evaluating the situation
- the process of getting a Bludger/flying over/whatever you need to do before directly interfering
- the actual interference (ie: taking aim and hitting the Bludger/using body as a shield (it happens...)/whatever needs to be done
- the aftermath (remember: you can't god-mod (control other people's actions), so make sure to not put something like -

Elana swung her bat at the Bludger, knocking it right into the Chaser's broomstick and causing her to fall.

Instead, try something like this -

Elana swung her bat at the Bludger, sending it towards the Chaser's broomstick, hoping it would hit and knock the Chaser off course.

See the difference?)

[Slytherin Beater]

Ziggy sat on her broom in mid-air, watching the match progress. The opposing team was up, by alot. Ziggy wasnt particually worried by this because the slytherin seeker, Violet, was her close friend and one of the best seekers around. Violet could easily make up the difference in the scores with a capture of the snitch. Ziggy's attention was drawn by the slytherin chasers, heading down the field in what seemed to be the hawshawd attacking formation. The other teams chasers were intimidated but their beater wasnt. He hit a bludger directly in the center of the slytherin chasers. Ziggy could not help but admire his aim, but quickly snapped out of it when she realised that the slytherin chasers were consentrating too hard on their formation, so hard they failed to notice a bludger being sent to wards them. Ziggy leaned forward on her bromstick and flew to meet the oncoming bludger. She hit it with a loud CRACK, and sent it flying towards the other end of the pitch. That way the other teams beaters couldnt try that move again! Ziggy turned on her broom so she could watch slytherins attepmt at scoring.
3) a near to the end post -

Your team has scored, and the Keeper has done a great job blocking goals, so the score is now tied 80-80. There are a number of things going on at once: Your Seeker has her eye on the Snitch, but the other Seeker does too! Your Chasers are speeding down the pitch with the Quaffle for another goal, but both Bludgers are headed at their formation! Your other Beater was hit and is in the Hospital Wing, so it's up to you!

Elements to try and fit in:
- evaluating the situation
- making your choice
- solving the problem
- the aftermath

[Slytherin Beater]

Ziggy watched in alarm as two bludgers were dent at the slytherin chasers. She was about tho fly off to help them when violet fell into a dive. ''Óh my god, she's seen the snitch'', Ziggy wispered. The only problem was so had the other seeker. Quickly making p her mind, Ziggy flew to protect her chasers, one of the bludgers was coming more quickly than the other so she focused on that one first. With all her strength, she aimed it at the other teams seeker, protecting her chasers and hopefully giving violet increasd odds on catching the snitch. Ziggy watched as the bludger approached the other seeker, praying it would hit. But Ziggy paid for her lapse in concentration. She had put herself in the path of the bludgers, to get better aim. But now she was watching the progress of the first bludger, she had all but forgotten about the second one. The crowd gasped as with an ear splitting crunch, the other bludger made contact with Ziggys head, rendering her unconcious. The last thing Ziggy could remember was falling before a muscular set of arms caught her as she drifted, more slowly now, towards the ground.