Captain of Quidditch

[Joywitch M. Curmudgeon]

No: HPFGUIDX 29509

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., raolin1 at h... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., epoch2 at i... wrote:
> >    After Gryffindor's fantastic defeat of Slytherin in book 
three, 
> > Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, finally securing the 
> > Quidditch cup for Gryffindor, Oliver Wood was finally able to 
leave 
> > Hogwarts, secure in the knowledge that his name was finally to be 
> > etched into the Cup. 
> 
> 
> In SS when Harry joins the team, Wood is a 5th year -- the same 
that 
> Harry will be.  By making Harry the captain (after all, he's also 
the 
> star player) the team can have some continuity until he graduates.  
> You're right in thinking that pretty much the whole team will 
> graduate, so having some continuity in the captain becomes even 
more 
> desirable.

The difference, though, is that when Wood is captain in his 5th year 
he is also the oldest player.  All the other team members are 
younger -- Harry the 1st year, the twins are 3rd year, the girls are 
3rd or 4th year (since they are all still there in GoF).  When Harry 
is in his 5th year, the twins and maybe some of the girls will still 
be on the team and will be 7th years.  Would they want a younger 
student as captain?

This brings up another thing about the Gryffindor Quidditch team in 
SS/PS -- does it make sense that the team members are all 5th years 
and younger?  Weren't there any Gryffindor 6th and 7th years who 
played Quidditch?  Isn't this a tremendous disadvantage for 
Gryffindor -- all their team members are 15 or younger, whereas the 
other House teams probably have lots of 16 and 17 year olds.

--JMC