Y31 Beauxbatons Quidditch Try-Outs

[Brendan Fulke]

With yet another victory under their belt against the Hogwarts New Zealand team, Brendan was overjoyed. They were on a winning streak, and he was looking to keep it that way for some time, even after his eventual departure from the school. It was something to be proud of, to compete internationally and have a win against a completely foreign team, on their own turf. The team had done well, and though it was sad to see a couple of the old faces go, particularly with Jessica among them, he was looking forward to having new faces on the team to train up and continue with Beauxbaton's legacy. With Rojas stepping up to take the title of co-captain, Fulke was especially confident. After all, it was her who had brought them their victories in the end with her exceptional seeker skill.

Fulke stood waiting on the Quidditch Pitch for his team, and its future members, to arrive. His broomstick lay across the grass, accompanied by the chest containing each ball used in the practice. Before too long a crowf had gathered for the appointed meeting time, and the redhead began. "Welcome to this year's school tryout. If you don't know me, I'm Brendan Fulke, chaser and one of the team's captains. With me here is Elvira Rojas, our seeker and new co-captain. If anyone has any questions during the try-outs, feel free to speak to either one of us and we'll answer as best we can. Let's move on! If you were on the core team last year, as usual you won't need to try out again. Alternates on the other hand will in order to secure a core spot, or return as an alternate. We have two core availablilites - Chaser and Beater, but even if you don't manage to make the spot, we are still looking for alternates to help gain experience and replace graduating members in the future. I'm sure a lot of you know we tend to compete with our Quidditch rivals in New Zealand at the end of each year, so do your best to impress us and earn a chance to play internationally. That's all from me. Elvira?" He stopped to give his co-captain a chance to speak herself before they kicked off.

Player	Position[/td]
Brendan Fulke	Chaser (Co-Captain)
Jamie Derouin	Chaser
Available	Chaser
Fletcher Mercier	Beater
Available	Beater
Celine Lussier	Keeper
Elvira Rojas	Seeker (Co-Captain)
Available	Alternates

[th colspan="2"]Beauxbatons Team[/th] [th]

Out of Character:

Anyone on the team line up last year (as posted above) can get their spot back by posting in this topic. If you were on the team last year but no longer wish to be: please send a PM informing me, or simply don't post, and we will fill your spot.

If you try out keep a few things in mind:
- If you don't have your OOC name connected to your character, please add it to the post in an OOC note. We'd need to contact you on your main account for announcements and games, since the Beauxbatons side accounts (understandably) don't get checked as often.

- Please keep in mind that the game you are trying out for won't be for a while, since it will take place at the end of the IC school year. There will be three or four practice sessions in between, which are are just as important as matches since it's the only experience this team gets before the actual game, and participation is vital to retaining the Beauxbatons Quidditch team on the site. Keep in mind that you are expected to participate in the practice sessions as well as the final game.

- Please make it clear which year your character is in, whether in your tryout post or in your member title. If your member title still reflects the previous year, we ask you to update it for clarity's sake. You may also benefit from registering on the Other Students List as Other Students are not assigned yeargroups as HNZ students as, in order to keep up with where your character is at.

 

[Elvira Rojas]

As Elvira stood here with Brendan at the start of try-outs, she felt a mixture of emotions. She was still elated about their win, happy that she had managed to get their team to victory once again. She also was still a little in shock that she was standing here, as the co-captain of the team. But she also couldn't help being sad that Jessica wasn't here anymore. The kiss the two had shared at the end of the match was a magical memory, and she was sad she wasn't here with the older girl now. Though taking over her position as co-captain felt nice, like she was holding onto a part of the girl she liked even though she had graduated. But a job like this also required a lot of focus and discipline, something Elvira didn't always have. She was glad Brendan was with her, as he was a stable and reliable presence on the team. She stood at his side as he talked, listening and nodding along. When he asked if she had anything to add, she was somewhat caught of guard. "Uh." She started, glancing at him in mild panic. "Don't... fall off your brooms?" Then she cleared her throat, as she realized she couldn't get away with just a joke if she was going to be a good co-captain to Brendan. "I mean, being a part this team is a wonderful opportunity. Don't be discouraged if you try out and get an alternate position, that is how most of us started out. Alternates are desperately needed, because nobody knows what might happen to any of us." She gestured to the rest of the team. "So show us what you can do, and try to have fun if you can. I don't doubt that we can beat Hogwarts New Zealand for the third year in a row." She added with a grin.

 

[Theodore Lacroix]

The previous tear had been nothing short of amazing. Theodore had gotten to go to New Zealand - New Zealand, a place he'd barely even knew existed until he'd started attending Beauxbatons, with how tucked away the tiny island was on the other side of the world. And they'd won! Granted, he had watched it all happen from the sidelines and hadn't been too much actual help to the team's overall victory, but he was so excited and pleased to be a part of it all the same. Despite being an alternate, and having to try out again this year, he felt like a real part of the core team, and had high hopes to take on Elvira's role when she was gone. He didn't expect to do as well as she did, but he was going to try his best to live up to the standard and continue on Beauxbaton's victory after all of the older students had graduated and moved on.

Joining the others on the pitch, Theo listened to Brendan speak, and Elvira give her ten out of ten advice on not falling from your broom. To be fair, it was strongly recommended to stay on a broom to give your best performance. He chuckled quietly to himself, and once introductions were over and the balls were released, the youth let the captains know he was going for alternate Seeker again, which went without saying, and mounted his broom to pursue the snitch. He'd done well during the practices the prior year, and had even surprised himself by catching the snitch a few times, so he hoped to be able to repeat his performance again now, and prove that he was someone worth being kept on the team. Theo was thankful that a lot of the faces around him were familiar as well. Only two players had graduated, leaving most of the team he knew intact.

The snitch was elusive, no surprises there. Typically the position of Seeker was frustrating and lengthy, or at least felt lengthy when all that was involved was flying around in circles trying to spot a tiny golden orb that never seemed to make an appearance, but the reward was worth it. Catching the snitch was the best feeling Theodore had ever experienced. There was so much pride, relief and validation in the act that made all of the time spent hunting for it worthwhile. Zagging out of the way of an incoming bludger, Theodore breathed a sigh of relief, glad that it had just been aimlessly accelerating around on its own that time. If Fletcher had been the one to send it his way, or even Maia, he may not have been able to avoid it so easily. He didn't know how the beaters had such an easy time of hitting the moving iron balls in mid-air, let alone to aim them at another person in particular. Theodore did not have the coordination for that, nor the upper body strength to swing a bat hard enough to have much of an effect, which was fine by him. The smaller and nimbler he was, the easier it would be to keep up with the snitch.

Speaking of the snitch, a glimmer of gold light caught Theo's attention, and he wasted absolutely no time deviating his course and accelerating in the direction he'd seen it. Sure enough, there the snitch was, flittering around in the distance without a care in the world. The boy urged his broom on to keep up with it, tuning out the other players on the field to focus all of his attention on that one snitch. It was too easy to lose sight of, and for a few brief moments, he did, until another glimmer reflected by the sun gave off its location again. For a couple of minutes, the snitch had him on a wild chase around the pitch, avoiding bludgers and other players as he lapped it a few times, hand outstretched until finally, after what felt like an age, his fingertips brushed its mettalic surface and he curled them inwwards, securing the ball in his grip. "I did it!" Holding it aloft, he drifted back over to Brendan and Elvira, and showed the latter that he'd caught it. Her approval meant more than the chasers, even if he were the oldest.
​

 

[Cheryl Campbell]

Cheryl had really enjoyed playing and practicing with the team last year. But she wanted to have a real position in the team so she had to try out again this year. She knew there were some free spots and she wanted to go for the chaser spot ofcourse. She could play their winning game against Hogwarts and that was amazing. It was a short team and she wanted to win again this year. Cheryl made her way to the field and smiled as she saw Brendan and next to him Elvira. Elvira was now co-captain and she figured she would do good. When it was her turn to try out she smiled and felt confident. She had to rock this. '' Hi I'm Cheryl. I want to try out for the Chaser position again. '' She could explain more about her experiance but figured they knew, so she didn't had to do that.

Cheryl took her broom inside of her hand and mounted it. Than she flew quickly into the air and found her balance to play. She quickly flew away as the quaffle came into the game. Cheryl saw the quaffle and catched it as the first. She smiled and went to the other side of the field. When she came closer she threw him hard and missed by a tiny piece. She was a bit dissapointed but figured she would do good further. And she was right he blonde managed to score a few times again and cheered as the quaffle went through one of the hoops. When she was ready she flew back to the ground again and thanked the captains. Cheryl really wanted to get the spot and she hoped she did good.

 

[Grace Martinez]

Grace had done a lot of thinking before coming to a firm decision. She wanted to do something while she still had a lot of time left at Beauxbatons and Quidditch sounded like a lot of fun. Her parents had encouraged her to try out this year when she had brought up her newfound passion over the summer. They had even bought her a broom, which she held tightly now as she walked across the pitch where others were. She took a deep breath, feeling nervous. She didn’t want to be nervous, but she couldn’t help herself. She was probably the youngest person trying out. She tried not to think about that though as she listened to the two captains, grinning at the girl captain’s joke. Even if Grace got on the team as an alternate she would be ecstatic, since she knew how much alternates were valued in a team, but it would be best to get on the team. She was going to try out for a position that was available. "I’m Grace Martinez, trying out for Beater." When she was ready, she nodded towards the captains before she mounted her broom, holding her beater’s bat in her hand as she flew in the air. She might only be a third year but she was going to play her best.

Grace was alert the entire time of the game, as she saw a bludger that was either coming her way or had the potential of hitting one of the other players she got to it before anyone got injured and hit the ball as far as she could, surprised to have so much strength in her arms, since she had a small figure. Grace hit more bludgers, every time not losing sight of it because she did not want to be hit. She grinned at her success, her heart was pounding in her chest as she hit another one that was about to hit the Seeker. She sent him a thumbs up, before racing to find another bludger. Grace's energy didn’t waver, she only felt more adrenaline as today must have been her lucky day, since she hit every bludger that came her way save for one. She totally missed that one. When the captains called time Grace flew back down to the ground and returned the bat. "Thank you guys!" she called to Elvira and Brendan as she left, hoping she had done really well. ​

 

[Jamie Derouin]

Jamie was very happy to be back! He loved quidditch and certainly winning against the hogwarts house had been good. He grinned and waved at the captain before he just hopped onto his broom and shot up into the air. This would be a good day he was sure. He couldn't wait to see the new additions to the beauxbatons team.
​

 

[Fletcher Mercier]

Fletcher had been very excited for the tryouts today, and even though she already missed the members that had graduated, she was looking forward to meeting the others that would soon be joining them. Mounting her broom she flew off into the air, ready to help out with the practises, and curious to see who would become her new beater buddy.
​

 

[Celine Lussier]

As Celine stood with the rest of the group attending the tryouts she gave an encouraging smile to her friend Elvira, who was the newest co-captain of the team. Celine was happy for her, and even happier that it wasn't herself who had to deal with the pressure of organising the rest of the team for their practices and other various responsibilities. It would be fun to watch Elvira do it actually, Celine thought, and the corner of her mouth curled up in a smile at her friend's initial attempt at an encouraging speech. 'Don't fall off.' Trust Elvira. Given the okay to head up into the air, Celine immediately flew off to the hoops to give the people trying out for chaser a more realistic experience of attempting to score in a game.

 

[Maia Huang]

Maia walked onto the Quidditch Pitch, her broomstick in one hand and a Beater's bat in the other. She was a little nervous for today but was sure that everything would be fine. The girl walked over towards her teammates and greeted them happily. She was glad to be back on the Pitch and could only hope for the best today. She was an alternate still so wasn't sure yet if she would be on the team again this year. There would no doubt be a couple of new people present at the try-outs so needed to do everything she could to secure that core spot. She leaned on her broomstick while she listened to both captains speak and chuckled at Elvira's attempt at a joke. She was happy for Elvira. If someone deserved the role of captain it was definitely her as she was the reason they had won the match against New Zealand last year. Once both were done talking, Maia headed over to the two captains and smiled widely at them. ''Hey, I'm trying out for Beater again,'' she told them.

She climbed on her broom and kicked herself off. Even though the two captains already knew what she could do thanks to the training sessions last year, Maia was determined to show them that she was the best candidate for the empty spot. Tightening her grip on the Beater's bat in her left hand, it took the fifth-year some time to find herself a bludger to focus on. Maia swerved through the air, avoiding the other students flying around while she was chasing the bludger from one end of the Pitch to the other. When she was finally close enough that she was confident that she would hit it properly, the fifth-year stretched out her left arm and swung the bat hard against the iron ball. She watched it as it went towards her target, and smiled happily when it made contact. After the hit, Maia moved to the other end of the Pitch again so she could work on her defence. Participating in the training sessions last year had been a ton of fun, especially with Fletcher who was just as competitive as she was. However, she had mainly focused on attacking the other members of the team rather than defending one from the bludgers - except for that one save which she swore she could still feel whenever she would move her shoulder all the way up in the air. She continued to work on her defence until the captains told her to stop. Sweaty and slightly bruised the girl flew down to the ground and said her goodbyes to the team, heading back to the locker room.

 

[Brendan Fulke]

Out of Character:

This closes soon! If you have any character you're still thinking of having try-out, now is the time!

 

[Nadine De Rosier]

Nadine was extremely excited for this day. She LOVED flying and Quidditch, so the possibility of being able to take part of the team really made her happy. A part of her had wondered if maybe she should have waited a year, but she was good already and was sure she would be able to assist as an alternate at least. The team had been so amazing last year, and she had been happy to hear about their victory against Hogwarts. Theodore was only a year above her, and he had been a second year last year. So maybe she wasn't too young.

She smiled happily as the captains both said a few things, waiting for her turn to prove herself. She was eager to show them what she had, though she knew the other chasers were much better than her. When it was her turn, she waved. "Hi! I'm Nadine. Trying out for chaser!" She said brightly before getting on her broom. She kicked off, looking around for the quaffle. After a few moments she got her hands on it and made her way to the hoops. Trying to focus, she attempted to score. It missed. Nadine flushed angrily and grabbed the quaffle again. This time, she didn't stop to think for so long and simply threw it on instinct. To her relief, she scored! She did a little loop and tried again. In the end, she had scored a two more times. Though the first miss still grated on her a little as she flew back down to the ground. She hoped the captains hadn't stopped watching her after that first try.

 

[Brendan Fulke]

Out of Character:

Try-outs are now closed! Thank you for participating. The team will be posted up on the on-topic forum soon, and PMs will be sent out to players with more information!