Quidditch Training ( Dana )

[Savannah Johnstone R7]

Early Monday afternoon found Savannah on the Quidditch pitch in her practice uniform. She had gotten permission from Madam Hooch to use the pitch to train a new player for the Ravenclaws. Savannah sat down on the Ravenclaw trunk while she brushed the bristles on her broom while awaiting the arrival of Dana, a 5th year. All Savannah knew was that Dana had never played Quidditch before, but she wanted to try for the team now. It was Savannah’s duty to check her out to be sure she could play well enough to not embarrass the team, after all they were still in the hunt for the Quidditch cup and no rookie was going to ruin it for them.

After a brief waiting period, Savannah saw the figure of another person entering the stadium, it had to be Dana as no one else should be in the stadium at this time. “Alright lets do a few warm up laps before we start training” Savannah said as she mounted her broom and waited for Dana to do the same. “Alright you first, I’ll follow you.” She’d start her off with the Quaffle and see how she did with that, if she couldn’t do that maybe they could use her as a keeper.

[dana]

Dana still wasn’t sure what on earth made her think about joining the quidditch team. She didn’t mind heights when it came climbing upwards for example. Problem rose when she had to get down on earth again. But at least she was good enough to control a broom now – her cousin had given her some absolutely hellish lessons, but now Dana knew the basic principals of controlling a broom.
Once again the thought of why she had decided to do it passed through her head as she entered the quidditch pitch with Kris’ Nimbus 2000 in had to meet Savannah Johnston. A Ravenclaw 6th year and the new quidditch team captain. She had agreed to supervise Dana to see how good – or at this case how bad – she was.

“Hi,” Dana greeted Samantha with a small smile before listening to her words and muttering as if to assure herself, “A few laps before practice. Alright, I can do that.”<br>Dana mounted her broom and looked into the sky for a moment before pushing off with the broom. Taking a few moments to adjust to the movement of the broom, Dana leaned forward and sped off circling the pitch a couple of times, keeping her attention on the banners of the houses she flew by, so she wouldn’t get insecure suddenly. Dana didn’t mind being taught – in fact she probably needed a LOT of teaching when it came to quidditch, but she was patient and under no circumstances was Dana a quitter. So she just let out a deep breath and prepared herself mentally to whatever Savannah had in store for her.

[Savannah Johnstone R7]

Savannah half watched Dana fly around the pitch, there really wasn't much to it, anyone could fly about. Instead she spent this time opening the Ravenclaw chest and taking out the set of tiny hoops. "Engorgio" she said while waving her wand at the hoops, in turn each hoop swelled to a large size. Next Savannah sent the hoops away with several "Exterminatio" charms. One by one the hoops were sent to various spots on the pitch no more than 5 feet off the ground until all 20 had been sent away. The trail of hoops led from one goal hoop down to the other.

"Dana!" Savannah yelled as she put her wand away and took the red Quaffle from the box. When Dana finally arrived, she tossed her the Quaffle. "Alright, that's a good enough warm up, now we have to get you into serious Quidditch training. Any fool can fly, but to play Quidditch you have to be able to fly fast and be agile while in flight. This drill is to practice swift flying. I want you to take the Quaffle and fly through each hoop as fast as you can. You'll have to do some hard zig zagging on some of the hoops, but try to not slow down too much. When you get down to the end, throw the Quaffle through a goal hoop then race back here through the hoops again." Savannah then took out a timer and set it to zero and looked at Dana. "What ,you nervous? If you are nervous, just remember, you have to... GO NOW!" Savannah then hit the button starting the timer.

[dana]

Dana had started to feel competent enough when Savannah called her and tossed the red Quaffle towards her. Catching it with both hands Dana grimaced as soon as the ball touched her hands. This would most certainly not work during a match. Not to mention that the broom had jerked a little when she let go both hands, it would just slow her down and give the other team a very good chance to steal the Quaffle from her. Twirling the red ball in her hands Dana listened to Savannahs instructions.
Fly there, throw the Quaffle, fly back the same way – sounded easy enough. At least Dana told herself that quietly in her head.
“Do I have to…” Dana started to ask, when Savannah yelled that she had to go now.

Pushing the quaffle against her stomach and the broomstick and holding it steady with her right hand, Dana leaned forward, using her left hand to guide a broom. Dana was right handed, but now the driving-lessons with a muggle-car paid off as there she often had to use her right hand to steer. Giving Dana enough practice to use her left hand as effectively.
Leaning forward Dana memorized the order in which the hoops were. Center, left, right, right, left, centre, left Dana missed, left, right, left Dana missed again and it went on like that until all 20 had passed and then goal-hoop came. Dana sent the quaffle flying towards the hoops turning a bit sideways as she excited the last hoop from the centre heading towards the most right goal-hoop. The quaffle went in but only barely and Dana had to slow down a bit before she managed to throw it, loosing valuable seconds once again.

Feeling much better without the Quaffle she had decided to leave where It landed, Dana did a sharp turn practically on spot. The Quaffle had been extremely uncomfortable against her body and now Dana happily placed her right one on the broom again, but still using her left hand for guiding the broom. Feeling a lot better now without the Quaffle Dana flew back with missing only one hoop this time. There were 20 hoops all together and going with a Quaffle Dana had missed 5 almost 6 hoops. So altogether that was 7 hoops missed from 40. The last missing came rather from doing a too sharp turn before she completely reached the hoop itself than from missing it altogether.
Dana grimaced as she turned sideways sharply as she reached Savannah, so she was now hovering in the air besides her. Dana had no idea how long it had taken but she doubted the time was any good either. But she most definitely didn’t seem to be Chaser material. Maybe Keeper might work? Dana pushed the thoughts away and turned to see what Savannah had to say.

[Savannah Johnstone R7]

Watching Dana fly through the obstacle course was torturous and Savannah cringed every few seconds as Dana failed to pass through the hoops, which was a rather simple exercise. She finally returned a good minute slower than most others could manage. Biting her lip, Savannah looked Dana over while trying to think of something encouraging to say, but she didn’t find too much. After several seconds of nothing, she finally just gave up searching for a compliment. “Alright, so flying isn’t for you, maybe you can be a keeper, they don’t have to fly much. Lets try out some keeper stuff. You go to those goal hoops over there and I’ll throw some Quaffles at you.” Savannah then took out her wand, “Accio Quaffle!” She called and the Quaffle flew across the pitch and soared to her fingertips.

Flying up towards the goal hoops, Savannah waited for Dana to get in position. “Alright, we’ll start out easy” she yelled as she held the Quaffle and then tossed it towards the center hoop, she hoped Dana could at least stop the Quaffle, otherwise this would be just a wasted afternoon and she’d simply have to tell Dana she stunk too bad to be on the team.

[dana]

Dana grinned as Savannah tried to say something positive about her flying.
“Flying isn’t my thing? That’s an understatement of the year,” Dana stated calmly flying towards the goal-hoops and positioning herself in front of the centre one. Dana hadn’t played Quidditch before but she had had years of practice at muggle ball-games. Volley-ball, basketball, even soccer – basically every game there was that consisted of throwing and catching balls. That was Dana’s forte – she had a quick arm, lots of practice at throwing a ball and her forte was noticing the ball and catching it.

Savannah held the ball and Dana looked at it calmly – it was usually a move of the hand that showed you where the ball was directed. Usually a person’s eyes gave it away as well, but Dana decided to watch Savannah’s hands right now, as she was an experienced Quidditch player.
A moment later the Quaffle was loose and Dana just inched forward and a bit higher catching the Quaffle easily with a smile, making it appear almost as if she hadn’t even moved. It had been easy to catch the ball – when playing with friends in summers, then Dana was always irreplaceable player as she seemed to be able to catch even the trickiest balls. Grinning Dana twirled the quaffle on a finger for a moment, before she tossed the Quaffle back without any effort and waited for Savannah to try shooting at the goal-hoop again.

[Savannah Johnstone R7]

Savannah was hardly impressed by Dana catching the Quaffle she tossed at her, no one was going to toss at her during a game. What she needed was to test this girls reflexes. Catching the quaffle with her left hand she let it go and took out her wand and summoned 10 small balls from the Ravenclaw chest. As they flew towards her she slowed them down and lined them up in a row next to the Quaffle. "Engorgio" she repeated and each small ball grew to the size of the Quaffle. "Alright, lets see how fast you are then, are you ready?"

Savannah though didn't wait for a reply, waving her wand she sent the Quaffle hurtling towards the far left goal hoop. As Dana gave chase to it, she waved her wand at the blue ball and sent it flying off towards center hoop, the next yellow ball went towards the left hoop, then a green ball went after the right hoop. Savannah continued this pace until she had sent the Quaffle and all 10 balls at the goal hoops.

[dana]

Dana watched curiously as Savannah charmed some balls to be bigger – about the size of the real quaffle. This was when it would get challenging. Dana didn’t like flying with the quaffle, but catching the ball shouldn’t be too hard.
As Savannah hurtled the quaffle towards the left goal hoop Dana dived to make the rescue. Pulling to stop just in time to catch the quaffle Dana threw it back, before realizing that it had just been a waste of time as the 10 other balls were whizzing towards the goal hoops one by one.
Dana grinned and positioned herself in front of the centre hoop catching and dropping the blue ball heading there and being just in time to catch the green ball in front of the right goal-hoop. Now this was something Dana enjoyed – ball-games were always fun when there were enough people who enjoyed the game and gave their part.

Dana almost let her mind wander off to different ball-games she was so used to play during summers as she caught different balls, letting them drop on the ground. Dana started humming quietly – for some reason this always helped her play better.
Only one of the balls almost escaped Dana’s hands and flew in. Dana just managed to hit it, so it hit the hoop just under the circle before falling on the ground. It had been a close call, but it wouldn’t have counted as a score.
Dana looked down at the 10 balls there and let a content smirk appear on her lips. This went rather well. Maybe keeper would be a good position to play? Dana’s turns had been a bit shaky and flying still a bit jumpy, but she had managed. She most certainly would need practice, but at least she seemed to have some potential to start building on. Or she has just been miraculously lucky.
It had been a rather rough technique, but Dana had saved all goals. Besides there was only one quaffle at the real game on the whole, so there a situation like that wouldn’t raise.

Dana fixed her pony-tail that had became half-loose as she looked up to see what Savannah thought or what she would want her to do next.

[Savannah Johnstone R7]

Savannah cast the final ball towards the goal posts and watched Dana maneuver about on her broom blocking all but one of the balls. Waving her wand she shrunk the colored balls and sent them back down towards the trunk as she flew over to Dana. “Not bad Dana, you’ll make a fine keeper. I think that should be good enough for today, I’d like you to come down to the pitch though and keep practicing blocking the hoops. We have one last game and if we beat Gryffindor, we can win the Quidditch Cup.” Savannah then flew down towards the trunk where she soon secured all the lose balls and returned the trunk to the locker room before she made her way back up towards the castle.