Harry's innate abilities

[mitchbailey82]

No: HPFGUIDX 45052

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Grey Wolf" <greywolf1 at j...> wrote:
> Let's start with Quidditch. Harry knows how to fly -perfectly, it 
> seems- from the very first moment he grabs a broom. McGonagal even 
> mentions that "not even Charlie Weasley" could have catched the 
> rememberall "without a scratch". Harry, obviously, does not work 
(much 
> less hard) for that capability. I myself would love to be 
a "natural" 
> at my favourite sports. But I'm not, and not even thorugh practice 
I've 
> been able to improve all that much - which was what I was refering 
to 
> in that quote above.
> 
> In the same line, I have to mention that so far, I have seen 
several 
> mentions of his capabilities as a quidditch player having been 
> inherited from his father. Leaving aside for a moment that I don't 
> think that that sort of ability is actually genetic, I have to 
point 
> out that the skills required for a chaser and a seeker are so 
different 
> that you cannot really compare them.
> 
> A chaser combines (as Harry mentions) basketball abilities with 
some 
> minor dodge flying abilities, but normally it's pretty 
straightforward. 
> From the descriptions of the game, and what we see in the CTTMNBN, 
a 
> chaser mostly has to be capable of passing and receiving the ball 
and 
> shooting to score while flying. While certain amount of dodging 
would 
> be welcomed (especially when playing against Slytherin), it's not 
> altoghether necessary (and of course, the Beaters are there to 
protect 
> you from the bludgers).
> 
> On the other hand, a seeker requires an amazing concentration in 
the 
> middle of the chaos of the game, to seek out a very small and very 
fast 
> ball. It requires, above all, flying capabilities to turn at high 
> speeds, and extremelly fine control of the broom's direction at 
such 
> speed... or a sharp turn of the snitch would put you out of the 
chase. 
> You don't have to know how to fly with a quaffle, or how to pass it 
or 
> receive it: you only have to be capable of finding, following and 
> catching the snitch. And of course, you've better be nimble of body 
and 
> mind.
> 
> In conclusion, I don't think that Harry's flying abilities are 
> inherited from his father. As I said earlier, I don't think you can 
> actually inherit that sort of abilities (any more than you inherit 
any 
> other sport ability), but even if you can, the sort of knack Harry 
has 
> to catch small, fast moving things isn't all that close to his 
father's 
> knack to put a red floating ball through a 15 meter high hoop.
> 

Now me:

I'm sure that you can inherit sports abilities, now I'm not that much 
of a sports fan (I'll get back to that) so lets take singers many 
offspring of singers have followed in their Dad's/Mum footsteps - 
both of John Lennons son's have released their on albums and most 
recently Ozzy Osborne's daughter has released her first single - so 
if singing can be inherited why not sport abilities?  The only 
example I can think off in sport is Damien Hill - I believe he 
followed in his Dad's footsteps - Yes I know that this was formula 1 
but I bet that many of you sports lovers can provide better examples. 
I'm sure my fellow Brits will be able to quote several footballers 
that have followed in their parents footsteps and maybe even a few 
cricketers, I'm sure that you Americans can name several American 
Footballers, basketballers (sooo much better than Netball :-)) and 
base ballers that have also followed in their parents footsteps, and 
I'm sure that some of you will be able to mention a few golfers, 
athletes, swimmers etc. But all I can quote is the above Damien Hill.
And I'm sure that not all children that followed their parents into a 
sport actually play in the same position that their parents did.

Now the only cannon we have to support the fact that Harry may have 
inherited his skills from his Dad is from Sirius in POA - he says -
 "you fly as well as your Dad" or something along those lines (even 
though I've read the books several times I can't quite remember the 
exact phrasing of this I must bring the books into work with me !! on 
second thought maybe not - I do actually need to get some work done 
occasionally ;-)) Now although this could be a generalisation it can 
be argued that there has to be at least some similarities between 
Harry's style of flying and his Dad's for Sirius to make this 
comparison.

Also although JKR stated in an interview that James was a chaser in 
the movie it is stated that he's a seeker - although I know that the 
movie industry has a habit of chopping and changing great books to 
suit itself, it has been argued that both could be true and that 
James could have played in both positions.
Something along the lines of he could have started out as a chaser 
(arguably it's easier to become a chaser simply because their are 3 
chaser's compared to 1 seeker) but when the teams current seeker left 
James could have been changed from team chaser to team seeker. (Ok 
there's no cannon there but it's an explanation) My sentiments being 
that until its written in a book we have no concrete proof that James 
was never a seeker.


Michelle