The trouble with Quidditch

Ken Hutchinson klhutch at sbcglobal.net
Mon May 21 14:28:36 UTC 2007


No: HPFGUIDX 169051

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at ...> wrote:
> 
> All I am saying is that more players complicates
> practice and dilutes the captains time and attention.
> Some captains might not mind, and feel having the
> reserves always at the ready is a bonus. Other captain, 
> like Harry and Wood, might want to concentrate on the
> main team, and merely keep in mind who would work for
> a substitute. 
> 

That is all true but there are compensating advantages to wasting time
on the B team. Team captains often seem to serve for multiple years,
they aren't all 7th years. Everyone wants to win this year but when
next year comes you will want to win then too. So developing talent on
your B team is critical to your long term success and from the
Hogwarts staff's point of view it is an important skill for budding
young leaders like Quidditch captains to learn. Secondly, as someone
who played team sports in his small town Wisconsin high school, I am
completely baffled as to how you even hold a practice without a B team
to scrimmage against. There are some things you can work on in drills
of course but it takes real game play against opponents to hone them
to a competitive level. And there are many things that can only be
learned during actual game play.

The match that Slytherin had delayed because of Draco's injury, which
we all *know* not suspect was healed by then, is completely
unrealistic. No one gets to delay matches because of injuries anywhere
but Hogwarts. Unless you want to forfeit, you have two choices: you
can play hurt or you can play a substitute. At a school this is
another chance missed to teach a life lesson. In life, not every
important deadline can be pushed off, in fact most cannot. Quidditch
players have to learn that too if they are to succeed in life. It is
another case of the plot requirement to hammer home an image of
Snape/Draco/Slytherin trumping plausibility.

Ken






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