So Slytherin hadn’t won the cup last year, and to be honest they hadn’t seemed to have that much luck in general, winning 1 and losing 2 games over the year - but she had grown into her position. Keeper. #6. She liked her place on the team, and Holly Tamesis was very very determined to keep it.

Over the past year, with Cameron and Patrick’s help she’d kept track of the number of goals she had allowed, and had been determined to do her best to let less and less goals happen in each game. Last year, she had been successful. 13 to Gryffindor. 9 to Ravenclaw. 6 to Hufflepuff.

She just needed to continue learning and evolving in her skill set. It didn’t hurt that she had had another growth spurt over the summer and she was now another few inches taller. She was getting tall, just like Cam.

Who she missed so she wasn’t going to think about him. Nope.

After tryouts for Chaser, Jó had quickly headed to the Castle for some lunch, knowing he needed to keep his energy up for the Keeper tryouts. Refuelled, he headed back down to the pitch, broom slung over his shoulder. He'd taken it with him, of course: didn't want anyone trying to sabotage it to gain their own spot on the team.

The sad part about that was that Jó seriously believed someone might want to. "Afternoon, sir!" he greeted the Flying Instructor, before turning to Holly with a cheeky grin. "'Iya, Holly."

Jackson had approached this try out with a bit more confidence than last year.
He was good at blocking... he had played American soccer for quite some time growing up. It was adding the broom that had proven tricky! After all of that though, Jackson was pretty proud of his progress over the summer and could only hope that it had amounted to something. "Hello, Professor!" he greeted. He was just on a loop today, saying hello at EVERY try out.

There was something nerve wracking about seeing the other Keepers from across the school piling in around her. Gulping, and nervously biting on her lip, she began to stretch as her eyes flicked upwards into the stands. She caught sight of Patrick and Avery in the stands and hoped that she would do them both proud. And Cameron. Though he loved her regardless of Quidditch. Which was important.

But so was quidditch, and she was totally keeping her spot on the team.

Grinning at Jó she nodded in his direction. “Hey… good luck.” She added, as she nodded at Jackson too. So far … she hadn’t spotted many Slytherin’s...

With Chaser tryouts done and a hearty meal settling in his stomach, Colin returned to the pitch for the next tryout session. The man had to admit that this was the tryout he was most looking forward to spectating. In his glory days he played Keeper, so he was, needless to say, going into the session expecting great things.

A smile was present as a number of students arrived. He hoped they were all rather energized from their meal, especially those who had already been at least once of the tryout sessions that morning.

"Good afternoon," the man responded to those that greeted him. Accompanying nods of his head were given to Tamesis, Kowalski, and Thomas as they joined the ranks. He was even surprised that only one 'professor' had been said. Within time he'd get used to the title, or the students would just settle on calling him 'Sir' or "MacKenzie' like he preferred. Professor was a term that, in his opinion, aged him (never mind the fact that he was old, but that was only a number in his opinion).

The moment the Captains were all accounted for and the hand on his watch struck 1 o'clock, the Flying instructor did not hesitate to get the session started. "Here we go, potential Keepers. The moment ye've all been waitin' fer: tryouts for arguably the best position on the team."

Naturally, Colin was beaming. They all knew of his legacy, yes?

"For those of you who participated in or watched the tryouts that took place this morning, the Keeper tryouts will be done a bit differently. Each of ye will take turns individually defending the hoops just like ye would during a match. Three of the dummies will be charmed to fly around like Chasers and they will be the ones attempting to score, and ye will need to block as many shots as you can within the ten-minute time limit given to ye."

The man did pause to allow for any questions to be asked, but he was confident there wouldn't be any. The Keeper position was pretty self explanatory after all. But one never knew.

"Put on the rest of yer gear, get some stretchin' in, and get into position at the hoops when yer name is called. Good luck!"

OOC: Hello, Keeper candidates! Welcome to your tryout session, and thank you for joining us! Colin and I are so pleased that you are here. For those of you who are interested in tryout out but have yet to post, feel free to join us at your earliest convenience. Don't forget to fill out the Quidditch Tryout form. This does need to be completed before tryouts end on May 18th in order to be considered for the House Quidditch team.

For the Keeper tryouts, your character will need to 1) defend the three goal hoops and 2) prevent the dummies from scoring as many times as possible. Throughout the tryout, you will be interacting with The Narrator account. The Narrator will inform you of the dummies' actions (the amount of passing between them, their speed, etc.), when the Quaffle has been shot by a dummy, and the outcome of your character's efforts. There may also be some other surprises along the way so keep your eyes peeled for them. This is all very open-ended, so let's have some fun with this! ^___^

Those trying out for the Keeper position will be called up individually by last name. Logistically OOC you all will be completing your tryout at the same time, but IC your characters will be at the hoops one at a time.

If there are any questions or concerns, please feel free to address them to Colin IC or myself OOC.

Holly grinned as the Flying Professor addressed them all, giving him a wave with a wiggle of her fingers. Her long, curly hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail and she didn’t care. Once the wind started whipping around her, it would be an even bigger mess, so she just needed it out of her face. So she could see and defend from the quaffles. Ohhh yes, she was focused. Focused and ready to make sure none of the other Slytherin’s took her position.

Defend the hoops from the dummies who would be acting as Chasers with the Quaffle. Got it.

Giving one last look up at Patrick in the stands, Holly finished off her stretching (though she’d already gone for a quick jog after lunch to start warming up) before pulling on the rest of her safety gear. Then she took a breath and started to jog on the spot. 10 minutes a person was a long time to get cold. Injuries could easily happen if you didn’t keep your own body warm.

When it was her turn, she huffed out thankfully, stretching her neck and rolling her shoulders and arms before getting onto her broom and kicking off.

Here we go.

Out of the mechanical dummies that were present, only three of them came to life. As soon as a Quaffle was released into the air, one of the dummies sped toward the red ball and made its way down the pitch. Its fellow dummies also followed suit, and the three began to pass the Quaffle from one to the other.

The middle dummy was in possession of the Quaffle. Then the left dummy, he right dummy, the left dummy again, and back to the middle dummy.

It did not take very long at all for the trio of dummies to fly their way to the end of the pitch. There was some distance between them, though they continued passing to each other as they inched closer and closer. The middle dummy pressed onward, making it seem as if it were going to make an attempted at scoring... but last-minute it chucked the Quaffle to the left dummy, which then aimed and released the red ball from its grasp...

The Ravenclaw prefect got a smile and a nod as he joined them, and Holly a wide grin. "Luck? I don't need luck," Jó replied. He had skill, and that made all the difference.

Rolling his shoulders a little, Józef turned his attention to the Professor. Of course, this morning at Chaser tryouts had been tough, but this was his domain. Colin MacKenzie was everything Jó could hope to be in a Keeper - a literal living legend. And he was about to judge his ability. But the Gryffindor wouldn't let the nerves get to him. He couldn't.

Individually defending the hoops whilst the dummies acted as Chasers. It sounded simple enough, but Jó eyes the dummies suspiciously even so: it couldn't be that easy, so he knew that these dummies were charmed to be good. He didn't bother watching the other Keepers, though, instead focusing on warming himself up and getting ready to be the BEST Keeper Colin MacKenzie had seen since he last looked into the mirror.

Had the Professor asked if there were any questions, Józef would have no doubt said, any tips?, but for once the boy kept quiet until it was his turn to kick off from the ground and defend the hoops.

Another Keeper tryout complete, another one to go. The metallic dummies that had been present since the earlier tryouts were still present, continuing with their flying as another person was called to enter the scoring area.

The Quaffle was still being tossed from dummy to dummy to dummy. With no one present in the scoring area, however, they had no reason to venture toward the hoops. Faster and faster the Quaffle was tossed to and fro, preoccupying themselves until they were triggered to dash straight for the goal hoops...

Three dummies. Okay, that was just like there being three chasers. That was fine, she could do this. Rolling her shoulders, she moved further up into the air to hover between the goals, all the while her eyes watching the rhythm that the dummies were moving. Her knees grasped the broom as she watched, one hand close to the broom handle but not touching it. She had long figured out how to use her core muscles to help her when she was hovering and flying. She constantly thanked her 10+ years of gymnastics.

As the dummies moved closer to her, not passing, her eyes narrowed slightly. She’d seen the Chasers on the team last year doing something similar - a feignt… but which way would the dummy throw? Her eyes looked at the other two, trying to figure out who was closer and more likely to score… then she made a guess based on the fact the dummy on her right (the left dummy)... but that didn’t help her stop the goal, that only told her which one of the three she needed to look out for - so she moved to the side, now protecting the middle and right goals more than the left as she hoped she was right.

And she was right, the right dummy now had the quaffle. Which meant she just needed to catch it. Easy. Watching the dummy for slightly movements in its broom, she raised her own broom and moved it to the side a little move, her own hands now stretching out to block most of the hoops - that dummy wasn’t scoring if it was the last thing she did.

... Except she was too low, she could see where that Quaffle was going, and she'd just miss it!! She leant backwards, quickly raising her broom upwards, then her hands wrapped around the Quaffle, holding it close to her chest as she caught a glimpse of the top of the far goal behind her. Oft. That was close.

Sneaky dummy. Sneaky.

The dummies appeared to trace the Quaffle with its metallic eyes as it soared through the air, getting closer and closer to the hoops... for a split moment it seemed that their tactic was going to work in their favour... but then the goal was saved, barely. They had been so close.

Now, determined more than ever, they immediately flocked next to each other when the red ball was back in play. As they flew the ball was passed from one to the other with lightning speed... back and forth, back and forth, from the first dummy to the second to the third and back again... they inched closer and closer until all three were on the edge of the scoring area and started to separate slightly... the Quaffle still darted from one until the other...

Without any indication, one of the dummies faked a pass and tossed the ball at the hoop it was closest to...




OOC: Tryouts will be coming to a close today at 11 PM EST (roughly 9ish hours from the time of this post). Get your posts in now while you still can! ^___^

It was no secret that Colin had high expectations for the Keeper hopefuls. Having spend a far amount of his life has a Keeper, that was to be expected. Needless to say, he saw quite. a lot of potential out there. At the end of the day, however, it wasn't him that needing to be impressed, but rather the Captains who were standing beside him, taking detailed notes (well, all of them were besides García).

Suddenly feeling his stomach to rumble, he looked down at his watch and took note of the time. It was nearly time for the second tryout session to come to a close. After the last Keeper hopeful completed their session, the man reached for his whistle.

TWEET!

As the sound of the whistle echoed through the air, the three dummies came to a stop and obediently returned to their original positions on the ground, returning back to their idle state. There they would remain until it was time for the Chaser tryouts.

"That'll be the end of this tryout session, ev'ryone. Excellent defending out there," he called out. "Captains will be postin' up rosters on yer common room noticeboard sometime next week, so keep an eye on that. Time for ye lot to hit the showers and get yerself some lunch."

OOC: Thank you all for participating in the Keeper tryouts! I hope you all had fun. Feel free to post your character leaving the pitch at this time.

Quidditch rosters will be posted sometime on Sunday, March 19th, so keep your eyes on the lookout. ^___^