Quidditch Question from the Spouse

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 17703

My beloved, who is dutifully *crawling* his way through book 1, has
appeared at my elbow with another unanswerable. Heidi and I put our
heads together and didn't know. So I decided to ask the list.

On Quidditch. Jan came in and asked if players are allowed to *hold* the
Quaffle. Heidi and I found the passage in QTA that indicates they do (p.
20), covering the older quaffles with holding straps, and how the new
ones have Gripping Charms. So they clearly hold it.

So then he asks if they hold it away from their bodies, or do they
"tuck" it under an arm? And if the latter, how can it be "taken" from
them by other players?

He says his mental image is one of soccer, where players pass the ball
from one to the other as they run down the field. In that case, taking
it is a matter of getting it when it's between players. But if the
Quaffle is held by one player while he/she zooms down the field, how
(other than pitching a bludger at them and making them drop it) does
another player take it?

Heidi then came back with the thought that she figured that if the
ball-carrier was blocked by another player, he or she must then throw it
to another. But Jan's been a pilot, and is familiar with thinking in
three dimensions. He said he could see how to block on a level plane,
but how could you do it effectively in the air?

I said that might be one reason Chasers were agile. But it was a good
observation and I wanted the opinions of Those Who Have Played Stuff,
maybe Those Who Have Flown Planes, and see what you all thought.

So--any thoughts on how the Quaffle could be taken, if it's being held
by one player during flight, and not passed among several?
Any thoughts on how one could effectively block a Quaffle-carrier in a
three-dimensional situation?
Anything revealed in an interview or chat that I don't know about, that
goes into Heidi's thought that a blocked player must throw the Quaffle?
Any other thoughts that this line of thinking led to?

Okay, that's it. I *did* tell him to read carefully. [Of course, I also
tell him to do the dishes; we take what we can get.]

--Amanda