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Tweak says, "lookin very Makey Outy tonight"

Graham Urqhuart (instagraham) wrote in neeps,
@ 2018-01-09 23:03:00

Entry tags:

! ic/ooc, # portree, ainsley galbraith, alasdair buchanan, bart roberts, graham urquhart, gwenyth miracle, lorna macfarlane, maggie macdougal, meaghan mccormack, sara scrimgeour, sebastian cavallero, torquil mctavish

IC/OOC: Portree Meets the New Consulting Coach
Who: Bart Roberts and a cast of dozen(s)
What: First Day Coaching
When: All day Jan 9th
Where: Portree Practice Pitch and offices.
Warnings:

Graham had an agenda prepared for Bart. It was going to be a busy day. The morning was going to be spent with management and the afternoon with the team. Lorna had the morning drills covered, possibly following Ellie's notes. She'd have no trouble keeping the players busy. At least it wasn't one of the days the charity practice, where half the team, including Lorna, were off with McGonagall.

10:00 Management meeting

11:00 PR (Gwen/Bart)(discuss any interviews he’ll do).

12:30 Team Leadership meeting (captain/field coaches).

13:00 Team Meeting.

13:30-16:00: Afternoon practice and one-on-ones.

18:00 Dinner with Bas and Graham

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	Re: Team Leadership meeting ecoutezmoi 2018-01-10 07:45 am UTC (link)
	Alasdair arrives early, bright eyed and bushy tailed, ubiquitous mug of tea in hand. He's keen to meet the man he's heard a lot about and warmly shakes his hand. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Team Leadership meeting

bbart
2018-01-11 02:25 am UTC (link)

Bart warmly shakes Alasdair's hand as well, and tells him that he's heard there's a wedding coming up, so congratulations. (Things he does not do: worry about Alasdair's loyalty because he's marrying the 'enemy' or whatever.)

Bart's interested in Alasdair's take on the players, especially the new kids and the reserves: what are they bringing to the table, what new moves do they have, how are they working together?

How is the turnover in Beaters affecting the team?

What does Alasdair hope to bring to the table as Captain when Lorna is off the pitch, and as Vice-Captain when she's on? How does he work with her in leading the team?

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Re: Team Leadership meeting

ecoutezmoi
2018-01-11 08:35 pm UTC (link)

Alasdair chuckles, saying that it’s no time soon yet, especially with them both being busy with plans for the Neep. However, he is visibly pleased with the congratulations, and it’s a refreshing change when you consider how badly Ellie took it on first go. He doesn’t mention that of course, though.

Alasdair admits that he has far more knowledge of the Chasers, but he’s knowledgeable on what the others do. He’s brought along the book where he’s been recording the plays he and the Chasers have been developing this season, colour coded diagrams for each player (he’s blue, Joy is yellow and Scrimmy is red) and ordered by what teams he think they would work best against. He’s thorough and methodical in terms of how he explains the thinking behind this, and there are a variety of notes about the various teams and their players as well as his notes from matches. The Chasers were the only position where they were all new at the start of the season, after all, but it would be hard to know that when you watch them now.

With the reserves, he thinks that Maddie is the toughest for an opponent as she wasn’t expecting to actually be a reserve this season, given her previous position. Amir is a good talent, but he could perhaps benefit from matches against weaker opponents or in dead rubbers to get some play time under his belt. Ainsley is a good Keeper, but it’s David who knows he has a lot to prove, given his last name. Fortunately, he’s a hard worker and willing to learn, and Alasdair mentored him to take his place in the match against the Falcons, where Ellie rested him before the Classic. That’s the only match he’s played, but he’s the more match ready of the younger two reserves.

The Beater issue, on the hand, is where he pauses and is more thoughtful. He glances over at Lorna before beginning, but not in a shady way - more that he’s thinking how to phrase things tactfully. “When Oighrig was injured, it was obviously a shock to the team, but having another strong beater captain felt like an easier transition, I think,” he says, nodding in Lorna’s direction. “So, given how things could have been, I think the team moved on from it pretty well. We’ll do it again, because that’s Quidditch.” He pauses for a moment, thinking of Luag, an old friend of his as well as teammate. “Full disclosure, Luag is a close friend of mine so my personal thoughts on it have an extra layer, but I think losing him as hit the team a bit harder in a way. Not just because of his relationship to others, and not even because of how many beaters we’ve changed over the season, but because there has been so much change across the team. The younger, less experienced members of the team benefited from the stable run we had after Lorna settled back in.” He gives her another respectful nod. Not just the Hufflepuffs of this team who can be loyal.

To that note, he starts with discussing Vice Captaincy. He discusses the primarily attacking role of the Chasers and the primarily defensive role of the beaters (though of course, this is sometimes mixed up depending on the course of the game), and how they’ve been working on synergy between his coordination of the Chasers and calling plays, and Lorna’s role in having an overview of the pitch, working to protect which members of the squad happen to be under attack, and discussing tactics for taking penalty shots (though this is usually him).

With Captaincy, he admits that he’s a more attacking player and Lorna’s the protective type, so it’s good when they’re both on the pitch to balance each other out. However, as Captain, he’d hope to learn from Lorna in calling beater plays that play to the strength of said beaters... and in honesty, they’re probably more similar than many might realise, in that protecting their team by disabling the plays of the opposing beaters is a preferred method.

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Re: Team Leadership meeting

ecoutezmoi
2018-01-11 08:35 pm UTC (link)

Alasdair is also a proponent of what he calls organised chaos, of which the Chasers are a prime example - wildly varying styles, but they’ve made it work and use the unexpected nature of it to confuse, distract and disarm other players. With Joy’s Aussie background, his French one, Pip being Canadian and many of the team being Scots, he’d like to develop training schemes where they all learn key elements of the way each other plays. Taking strength from each other’s differences so the “Portree style” is prepared for anything, something THEY know but unpredictable to others.

In terms of how he supports her leadership, they keep lines of communication open both on and off the pitch, and make sure the team know that they work together and are both willing to help. Neither will undermine the other to another player, but with Lorna being known for being fiery, war paint and all, Alasdair is the calmer and more level headed fellow (he doesn’t add that part, but all Bart would have to do is ask someone like Gwen or Maggie). In essence, the quiet lieutenant to her berserker general.

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	Re: Team Leadership meeting bbart 2018-01-11 10:15 pm UTC (link)
	Bart is nodding a lot, especially at the part about organized chaos. This is all good. Basically let's keep it up. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Team Leadership meeting ecoutezmoi 2018-01-14 09:12 pm UTC (link)
	Excellent! (Reply to this) (Parent)

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