Journal created:
on 10 August 2005 (#7980116)
Updated:
on 3 February 2011
Name:
Witch School Phoenixes
Membership:
Open
Posting Access:
All Members , Moderated
Team Photo (with our prefect) from The Witching Hour (2005)
Information on the Witch School Phoenixes APQA* Team
Quidditch History
The Phoenixes, the mascot of the famed Witch School, are by far the youngest team to participate in APQA's Salem Tournament. In fact, the Phoenixes are the youngest team in professional Quidditch, having just been formed, at least in the flesh, last week.
In the early 1990s, a group of brilliant, extraordinarily Muggle-friendly — some might even say "obsessed" —witches and wizards spent night after sleepless, caffeine-fueled night discovering Muggle "technology." This group, who called themselves the "Interwebarians", was led by the pioneer Ed Hubbard, a wizard known for his audacity and love of splitters. The Interwebarians spent most of their time exploring "computers", the "internet" and "electronic mail"; the rest of their time, usually in the wee hours of the morning, was spent in marathon gaming championships. The group went through more than their fair share of that Muggle device known as "the Nintendo."
Eventually, as with all great inventors of the age, the Interwebarians concocted a genius plan for exploitation of the internet. Combining their wizarding heritage with their Muggle knowledge, the Interwebarians founded an online school of magic, the Witch School. Wizarding students from all over the world access the "site" and learn magic remotely with the help of Ed Hubbard and his staff. While this does present something of a challenge in practical magic — the newspapers had a field day with the child who turned his mother into a porcupine with no recourse until his father returned home — the wizarding world has finally accepted the new educational model as the norm, and enrollments are booming.
Everything has a dark side, however, especially things born out of the "technology bubble." While the Witch School's students spent their days and their internet access learning Transfiguation and Charms, they spent their nights in a far more controversial pursuit: online Quidditch. Parents frequently found their children bleary-eyed and dazed, staring at a screen of brooms, Quaffles and referees at all hours of the night. Unplugging the computer frequently led to hexes being thrown and many hours of de-gnoming the garden. Sadly, none of this discouraged the children from that addictive and terrible nocturnal entertainment. Students eventually started writing codes and cheats for faster brooms, Bludgers that never struck their players, and unearned points. Grades slipped, tests were failed, and parents and the Witch School alike threw up their hands.
In a radical move — and one still not accepted by polite wizarding society — the Witch School, rather than banning online Quidditch (and really, they couldn't once they discovered that their staff had written the "code" for the online Quidditch forum), encouraged it. The School formed teams and leagues, and scheduled time during the day for competition. While this hasn't been entirely successful in banishing that dark underbelly of night-time addiction, the problem is significantly lessened, and parents have stopped sending Howlers to the School. (Though, the School was quite pleased to discover that the owls could not locate the "internet.")
In a somewhat silly move, however, the American Professional Quidditch Association failed to realize that the Witch School's Quidditch team was merely a technological gimcrack. APQA issued the School an invitation to join the Salem Tournament. In a somewhat sillier move, the School accepted the invitation, and formed an actual flesh-and-blood Quidditch team just last week. Everyone is quite looking forward to seeing the newest team in the League take a crack at the Passaquapqua Prize.
*APQA = American Professional Quidditch Association
Team Members:
(name and numbers)
CHASERS:
Cait (17)
Becca (08)
Pete (37)
BEATERS:
Kat (14)
Lyn (42)
KEEPER:
Swish* (19)
SEEKER:
Christa (27)
* Denotes team captain (Yay Swish!)
Information on the Witch School Phoenixes APQA* Team
Quidditch History
The Phoenixes, the mascot of the famed Witch School, are by far the youngest team to participate in APQA's Salem Tournament. In fact, the Phoenixes are the youngest team in professional Quidditch, having just been formed, at least in the flesh, last week.
In the early 1990s, a group of brilliant, extraordinarily Muggle-friendly — some might even say "obsessed" —witches and wizards spent night after sleepless, caffeine-fueled night discovering Muggle "technology." This group, who called themselves the "Interwebarians", was led by the pioneer Ed Hubbard, a wizard known for his audacity and love of splitters. The Interwebarians spent most of their time exploring "computers", the "internet" and "electronic mail"; the rest of their time, usually in the wee hours of the morning, was spent in marathon gaming championships. The group went through more than their fair share of that Muggle device known as "the Nintendo."
Eventually, as with all great inventors of the age, the Interwebarians concocted a genius plan for exploitation of the internet. Combining their wizarding heritage with their Muggle knowledge, the Interwebarians founded an online school of magic, the Witch School. Wizarding students from all over the world access the "site" and learn magic remotely with the help of Ed Hubbard and his staff. While this does present something of a challenge in practical magic — the newspapers had a field day with the child who turned his mother into a porcupine with no recourse until his father returned home — the wizarding world has finally accepted the new educational model as the norm, and enrollments are booming.
Everything has a dark side, however, especially things born out of the "technology bubble." While the Witch School's students spent their days and their internet access learning Transfiguation and Charms, they spent their nights in a far more controversial pursuit: online Quidditch. Parents frequently found their children bleary-eyed and dazed, staring at a screen of brooms, Quaffles and referees at all hours of the night. Unplugging the computer frequently led to hexes being thrown and many hours of de-gnoming the garden. Sadly, none of this discouraged the children from that addictive and terrible nocturnal entertainment. Students eventually started writing codes and cheats for faster brooms, Bludgers that never struck their players, and unearned points. Grades slipped, tests were failed, and parents and the Witch School alike threw up their hands.
In a radical move — and one still not accepted by polite wizarding society — the Witch School, rather than banning online Quidditch (and really, they couldn't once they discovered that their staff had written the "code" for the online Quidditch forum), encouraged it. The School formed teams and leagues, and scheduled time during the day for competition. While this hasn't been entirely successful in banishing that dark underbelly of night-time addiction, the problem is significantly lessened, and parents have stopped sending Howlers to the School. (Though, the School was quite pleased to discover that the owls could not locate the "internet.")
In a somewhat silly move, however, the American Professional Quidditch Association failed to realize that the Witch School's Quidditch team was merely a technological gimcrack. APQA issued the School an invitation to join the Salem Tournament. In a somewhat sillier move, the School accepted the invitation, and formed an actual flesh-and-blood Quidditch team just last week. Everyone is quite looking forward to seeing the newest team in the League take a crack at the Passaquapqua Prize.
*APQA = American Professional Quidditch Association
Team Members:
(name and numbers)
CHASERS:
Cait (17)
Becca (08)
Pete (37)
BEATERS:
Kat (14)
Lyn (42)
KEEPER:
Swish* (19)
SEEKER:
Christa (27)
* Denotes team captain (Yay Swish!)
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