HOL Special Seminar

The Magic Behind Quidditch

Referee and Player Training
(WQL Qualifications)
by
Professors Blue and Xanthos
=======================================


Lesson One: Skills of an HOL/WQL Quidditch Player
Coach Xanthos of Ravenclaw
For those of you that have played Quidditch at HOL either through the house league or through WQL … have you ever stopped to think what skills each player has?  I know we can look at the stats of a player.  But what kinds of skills does each player have?

Which ones can you improve?  Which ones can you nothing to change?  Which ones can you do a little but not much?

One day during practice I went into Oliver Wood mode and came up with list of skills for an HOL Quidditch player.  All players would do well to analyze themselves in regards to these skills.  Captains and Coaches in particular should look at these things.  I have ranked them in importance as I see them.

Feel free to agree or disagree with me.  You will be tested on what I present here.  But I encourage you to consider adding your comments, corrections or suggestions to the end of your homework assignment.  Perhaps I have forgotten something.  Maybe I could make things clearer by organizing it better.  Let me know after you read the material and complete the assignment.
 

    • 1. Power
    • 2. Speed
    • 3. Accuracy
    • 4. Focus
    • 5. Team Emphasis / Sportsmanship
POWER
Knowledge is Power.  This is how much trivia you know.  Some people tend to specialize in certain books or areas of knowledge.  Some are weak in movie trivia for example.  You have to actually know the answer in order to do much of anything in HOL / WQL Quidditch.
SPEED
This has many parts to it.  Some are things you can work on a little others you will be rather powerless to do much about it.  Harry is fortunate to have one of the best brooms money can buy.  Others are not so fortunate.  Some simply have better luck than others in this skill.  There are things you can do to improve or hinder the performance of your broom (computer.)  Some may find it necessary to borrow a friends broom or to use their Dad’s old broom while visiting him.  Here are some of the sub categories related to speed.
  • 1. Speed with which the player can think of the correct answer
  • 2. Typing Speed
  • 3. The players broom
    • a. Computer
    • b. Modem
    • c. Internet service / traffic the player is experiencing
ACCURACY
Knowing the correct answer and entering it in quickly is of course key to the game.  However, without accuracy all of that was wasted.  You all know the one letter rule and that “dodge” must be spelled correctly.  Remember that correcting one word and putting an asterisk after it will not make your answer correct.  Saying: “professor*” after having two spelling mistakes will not give you the correct answer.  You need to redo the whole answer and only have one mistake.  Reversing two letters counts as one mistake.
FOCUS
Are you able to remain alert and ready to answer when it is your turn?  Are you focused enough to not answer when you are not supposed to?  (This saves you from getting warnings of fouls called against you.)  There is an element of endurance here also because most matches last about one hour.  Are you ready to “dodge” the bludgers?  Can you keep focused on the game even if your team is losing or winning by a great deal?  Can you keep your focus even if the other team scored three goals in a row on you?
TEAM SPIRT / GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP
Remember that Quidditch is not about individuals.  It’s about a team trying to defeat the other team in the game of Quidditch.  It’s meant to be fun.  There will likely be one team that wins and another that loses.  Victory is not due to one individual’s performance.  Defeat cannot rest on one person’s shoulders either.  The team needs to stick together and neither blame: a) themselves, b) other team mates, c) the referee, d) the internet.  Also, the team should not complain / taunt the other team / house because this could lead to warnings of fouls during the game.  A Quidditch player should attempt to remain positive no matter what the circumstances are.  Sometimes we grow more in hardship even though it is painful at the time.  However, it is also important to not gloat to much in victory.  Celebrate your victories.  Mourn your defeats.  But don’t harm yourself or others in the process.
These are the skills of the HOL / WQL Quidditch player as I see them in order of there importance.

Are you ready to take the Quiz for this unit?
 



MAIN CLASS PAGE
======================================
©2002 - CRTeel & HOL - Hogwarts Online
All names from the Harry Potter books
belong to J.K. Rowling
Page for Entertainment purposes only
No profit sought or gained