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SPOILER!!: Individual responses SPOILER!!: Evan Quote:
Originally Posted by Chelliephone  ........ Flips.
Flips and tricks.
Well no wonder Kazmi wanted them to wait on dinner, because if they weren't sick at the idea they certainly would be after a couple of flips through the air. Evan glanced up at the net again, hoping there was also a level of enchantments somewhere in there that made you fall slower. Kind of like the giant treehouse, which he had tested once or twice.
So... if he could get up there successfully, maybe the falling off of his broom thing could look like an intentional trick and... be almost successful for a lesson. Though Kazmi seemed to just appreciate effort from the students as opposed to perfection, a small relief to the Ravenclaw. Raising his hand, he waited to be called on before attempting an answer to the next question. "Loops or rolls could be useful in Quidditch to either intercept a Quaffle or," perhaps even more importantly, "be used as a dodge tactic for an incoming bludger." You know what, Kamran would take a few of these uncertain glances. At least if they were looking at the net, they were factoring it in as a potential safety... well... a potential safety net.
"Very good, Mr Nam. Moves such as the Sloth Grip Roll are used in just such a way, to avoid bludgers." Plenty more moves where that came from. SPOILER!!: Ash Quote:
Originally Posted by astrocat Ash raised her hand. “If someone was flying straight at you and you couldn’t get out the way, you could roll over and they might miss.” Also, it was just FUN. That was a great reason to do tricks.
She still wasn’t worried about throwing up. Like she said, she forgot her lunch. What she was worried about was falling. “How many injuries a year are caused by people messing up broom tricks?” "Yes, Miss Fox, good. Very beneficial in the avoidance of obstacles in general." As in, outside of Quidditch and other sports, as Nam had touched upon. Just flying around, in lessons, for travel. In sports too, to avoid other people, just as Fox herself had said.
Kamran made to move on to the next student, but paused. "I don't have the exact statistics to hand, I'm afraid," he said, in answer to her question. "Very difficult to pin a number on that kind of thing, as injuries are often healed up on site, and aren't necessarily recorded." Maybe Peralta could provide an estimation for the school population, if she had access to old infirmary records. He'd look into it. SPOILER!!: Dahlia Quote:
Originally Posted by Kolyander Given the amount of times Lia had crash landed into the ground, a pool of water, collided into someone else or had some other mishap on a broom, it was a wonder she still got on one. Yet she did and she enjoyed it. She learned from her mistakes and she got better. Quitting wasn't something she liked to do, it wasn't a part of her active nature. Flying gave her something else to focus on, a chance to clear her head of everything and pay attention to only the broom and sky around her.
As for tricks well..
"You might preform tricks just for the fun of it or to show off what you can do.. maybe for a talent scout if you're trying out for a team," she answered having raised her hand. Though she probably would focus more on simply playing well and not so much showing-off. Kamran was pleased someone had mentioned this particular answer, and ultimately not surprised it had come from Donovan. Given she was someone with her fair share of... collisions... under her belt, plus her general demeanour, Kamran was sure she was one of those who saw enough fun in the sport to keep at it regardless.
"Good answer, Miss Donovan. Sometimes, 'just for fun' is reason enough." Fun is the function. Put the fun in-... no. No dad jokes. He would resist. "And, sometimes, even showing off has its place. Making an impression." SPOILER!!: Hamsteed Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie Clearly the professor did not share the same enthusiasm that Atlas carried for Falling With Style. No accounting for taste, after all. Something that dad said sometimes and was usually directed at the third year whenever he over shared about Divination assignments and reading...so Atlas knew that it was not exactly a complimentary turn of phrase.
The thing with flips and tricks and all that were that they required a certain sort of athleticism...something which this Flamsteed was not in possession of. This summer when Aries had wanted to take up surfing and Atlas had tagged along to not feel left out and also to try and impress Aunt Minnie had resulted in wipe out after wipe out and never once had he managed to stand up or take a knee on his board. Save for the practice while they were still on land and in the hot sand. The only time any sort of aerobatic movements were employed were when it was beneficial and necessary for whatever robotics competition he was in...and even then it was mostly to look cool or tack on some additional bonus performance points.
Though something DID come to mind.
"Well...I know in robotics competitions, bot battles, using serpentine movements make it much easier to hit the target than if it was moving in a single straight line...which is basically what he already alluded to," he offered with a point at Lisa's brother Evan. He did pause to glance at Lisa again though because like...was she okay? "...plus...they can be crowd pleasers when you successfully perform a trick." Again, speaking from his robotics competition experiences. As Flamsteed spoke, Kamran nodded slowly and attentively, catching on rather quickly (if he did say so himself) to the connection between 'bot battles' and flying tricks.
"Right, good, Mr Flamsteed. Evasive manoeuvres." And then a small quirk of a smile. "It's very pleasing to the eye, when a trick is executed well." Not even perfectly but, as Flamsteed said, successfully. Though he had to wonder if the boy appreciated technical precision more, or imprecise but nevertheless impressive style. He certainly struck Kamran as one who might appreciate either, to varying degrees. SPOILER!!: Bella Quote:
Originally Posted by Nordic Witch Bella liked watching quidditch matches so the phrases that Prof Kazmi threw at them like the roll and loop-the-loop were thankfully not alien to her. She knew what the tricks could do in tight quidditch matches. They were helpful for both seekers and keepers. It was of course useful in dire real life situations to avoid collisions in the air or on the ground like if you are cycling or something. Bella felt safest with answering with the seeker line. Raising her hand she said "If you play as a seeker in a quidditch match the roll, flips, and loops I've seen are very useful when the seeker has to avoid getting hit hard by a bludger or to avoid colliding/crashing with the opposing seeker in the hunt to grab the snitch. Seeker's can be very fierce against each other so tricks can sometimes be the difference between grabbing a snitch or not." "Good, Miss Connolly. Tricks and moves like those I mentioned are usually covered in practices and training for team sports like Quidditch for very good reason." A lot of moving parts, and a requirement to be able to use whatever means necessary to get out of the way of something, or someone. Especially when the somethings were brutal little bludgers. "There's a certain amount of daring required in a Seeker, in doing whatever it takes to get the snitch. One of many reasons it helps for a Seeker to be so agile, as you say." And, you know, the fact that the golden snitch was as well, but that was a given. SPOILER!!: Claudine Quote:
Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19 Kami was quite welcome. Claudine bobbed her head in acknowledgement and as the man moved on, kept up with each answer provided. It was fascinating to have a bit of insight into why her fellow students liked flying. So…
Flips and tricks.
Claudine, in all honesty, hadn’t tried to much of either. Evan mentioned dodging a bludger, which was the first thing that came to mind. Almost immediately, she thought of something else. “During very bad weather, flips or a trick could help to dodge lightning.” No one wanted to get hit with one of those. Kamran scratched his chin, considering. Some of these kids seemed a little preoccupied with lightning; not just Blaze, of course, but it did seem to come up fairly often. Then again, that was understandable. It was true, no one(??? hopefully) wanted to get struck by lightning, and yet here they were learning to go up into its domain. Though they were probably safer from it up there than down on the ground, truth be told.
"Yes, Miss Blaze," he said, decisively. "Another kind of obstacle to avoid. Though you would have to have-" Don't say it, Kamran Kazmi. Do not say it. "-lightning fast reflexes in that case." Or do. That's fine too. "And a lightning fast broom." Enough. SPOILER!!: V Quote:
Originally Posted by kayquilz See? Flying was her subject. It would always be her favorite. It was just so PRACTICAL. No notes, usually, and just...Professor Kazmi was AMAZING did he know. Victoria did not feel dumb in flying like in other classes.
And when he mentioned flips and TRICKS she nearly did a cartwheel. BUT SHE HELD IT IN. Her hand FLEW up. "Flips and tricks are useful because they give your stomach that WHOOOOSH nice feeling you get when you do exciting things. It's the best feeling ever. It HAS to be good for your soul. And body, probably," she said with a nod. Professor Kazmi did know. Professor Kazmi liked to believe so.
Okay, but Kamran liked this answer a lot, even if it wasn't one of the more technical ones. "Absolutely, Miss Gellar." At least as far as he was concerned. "We could maybe call that a benefit for emotional health too. Releasing certain brain chemicals by giving us a little rush." Kamran didn't know the exact specifics, but that wasn't an invitation for anyone to start talking about science. Again. Please. "Good for the body, good for the soul, as you say. A source of happiness." SPOILER!!: Valentina Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady of Light Exhilarating. Valentina nodded thoughtfully at the professor's response. Yeah, she found it exhilarating in a way too.
Oh and then he mentioned flips and tricks. Valentina had never tried anything fun because she always worried that she'd fall off the broom somehow. It was SCARY in a way, ok. But she really didn't want to share that with the class, it was a little embarrassing. "They can be used to show off too!" Nichols didn't need to worry, though, of course, saying so had never been much help in assuaging worries, which was why Kamran avoided saying it as much as he could. The net was not necessarily always a comfort, at here might be used to it by now, at least, given some of his lessons last term.
Anyway. "Precisely, Miss Nichols," Kamran said, agreeing with a nod. "Which is just as good a reason as any, given the appropriate context." Hopefully he didn't need to go into what the appropriate contexts were. Not with Nichols, at any rate; she was not the trouble-making sort from what he'd seen. Kamran liked where all their heads were at so far. And maybe, just maybe, starting off on that positive note might have set them up ready for the activity.
"Excellent answers, thank you all for your input." Kamran took up his own broom from where it stood against the rack of spare school brooms, mounted up, and kicked off a few feet to hover in the air. "Today, we'll be trying out loop-the-loops, a vertical circle in air - good for avoiding obstacles, doubling back, expressing enthusiasm, the works. To perform this move, you pull up on the handle of the broom while flying forwards, and keep doing so. Don't pull too sharply or you'll stop, but for a tighter loop, you'll need to pull it further back." Kamran scanned their faces, looking for any signs of panic or confusion. He anticipated some would feel a little overwhelmed with information, but if so, they needn't worry. "Keep accelerating, and when you're the right way up again, level the broom back out." Difficult to judge when they weren't used to it, but again, shouldn't be too much of an issue today. "A quick visual demonstration."
Kamran flew up higher, and a short way away from the group, then doubled back to pass in front of the students again. As he did so, he did one neat loop-the-loop, in a large enough circle that they could hopefully note the mechanics of it as well as they could. Then he circled back, and hovered in front of the students once more. "This move can be complicated by overthinking, as the mechanism is similar to slowing down, and I won't deny it can be daunting to deliberately fly upside down. So..."
He drew his wand, and with one semi-complicated wave, a batch of lights - numerous glowing orbs in green and purple - were released, flying up above the net and spreading out over the available space, leaving short light trails behind them. With another wave, Kamran dimmed the lights in the Training Area just enough that the purple and green orbs stood out a little brighter. Twilight had deepened a little, but it was still far from full dark.
"For this activity, mount your brooms, and fly up and over the net. I want you to pick one of the lights - green for a basic introduction, and purple for those of you who want to be put through your paces - follow it, and keep up with it until you complete the move." The lights, the students would find, would lead them through the necessary steps to perform loop-the-loops at good speed, and Kamran was hoping that focusing on the lights rather than the fixating on technique would ease them into it, until they were used to how it felt. He was asking a lot from them, especially the less confident ones, he knew, but had every faith. "These lights shouldn't lead you to crash into each other, but do be mindful of those around you, and don't assume everyone is following theirs perfectly. Remember to keep your speed up, focus on following the lights, and remember, if you fall, that's what the net is there for." And Kamran. That was what he was there for too, should anything go wrong.
"I'd like you to all try and complete at least one loop-the-loop; remember, I ask for effort, not perfection. If you have any questions, the sooner you ask them, the better. Otherwise, up you go." Kamran raised his whistle to his lips and gave it a quick blast, to send them on their way. He'd hang around down here for anyone with concerns about the activity, before joining the others to keep an eye out. OOC: Apologies that this is slightly earlier than billed. Something's come up and I have to get some sleep before an appointment tomorrow morning. Feel free to catch up with any missed questions as usual.
- Students have been asked to follow one of the light orbs flying around above the net, and follow it closely until it leads them to complete a full loop-the-loop
- I won't be RPing the actions of the lights, you can decide the specifics
- Green lights will lead your characters on simple, easy loop-the-loops, of average height and speed
- Purple lights will be more challenging and less predictable, anything from tighter, faster loops, multiple in a row, or loops with larger circles of a greater height, and varying speeds, tending towards being faster
- The lights will fly all over the Training Area above the net, and shouldn't lead anyone to crash into each other but that doesn't necessarily account for human error
- Feel free to have your students fall or collide with each other but please avoid serious injuries
- The lights are dimmed, and it's still twilight, so visibility should generally be okay
- You can do this activity in as many or as few posts as you like I'll be posting throughout the activity as Kamran observes. If your character needs him, just approach or flag him down. We'll move along in around 72 hours from the time of this post (1am-ish BST on 20th September). PM or VM me with any questions. And have fun!
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