SQL Snitch Tournament
Prof. Scarlet Leslie-Lewis
October 2015
Coming off a stressful Quidditch year, I was reluctant to be involved with the Summer Quidditch League (SQL). "But you have to run Snitch!" Well, I can't argue against good logic.
New seekers, Ciara Black and Scarlet Black, already won my heart when they asked for a practice match before the tournament officially began. Although no one won that match, their enthusiasm for finally having the opportunity to learn how to seek reminded me why the SQL Snitch tournament is so important.
Scarlet continued to impress me each match with her natural grid instincts. She tracked her opponents well and never used too many extra moves. She also has a great trivia base and managed to solve all the logic puzzles in her games. (Plus, she has a cool name!) As long as real life doesn't prevent her from playing, I believe Scarlet can add to the talented Ravenclaw lineup.
Ciara was completely mystified by the grid during the practice match. In her first match against Matilde Rayne, she proved that she now understood the grid by systematically checking every square. Her gridding improved tremendously, as she stalked Will Lestrange almost flawlessly (until she got distracted by logic puzzle). Ciara's solving speed and trivia knowledge is impressive and I hope to see her play for Gryffindor, assuming she can make a Quidditch match or two with her odd timezone.
After seeing the introduction to the first Snitch puzzle, Ryan Granger began spamming pictures of cute kittens in the SQL officials' channel. I was able to use one of those pictures when the discussion that led to MVP Mondays also included the suggestion to write Snitch match recaps. I decided to let the statistics speak for themselves. Since I used the same puzzle for the entire week, it turned out to be a nice way to compare solving speed.
Not unlike past Snitch tournaments, unexpected events occurred, leading to a handful of forfeits. Only one seeker failed show up at all. Overall, everyone was committed to playing and rescheduled when necessary. Tom Foster wins most dedicated participant. He did not have a computer for the majority of the summer, but showed up to all his games on his mom's iPad or his phone. He even stayed the entire 92 minutes in the longest Snitch match (ever?) against Thomas Lewis.
Rosemarie Halliwell had the worst luck with the grid this summer, hitting more Bludgers than her opponents and going after empty squares that ended up being just empty squares. Despite that, she made it to the elimination round and was knocked out by Will in the semifinal round.
Arielle Lemoyne was unlucky in a different way. In three separate games, she was one move away from catching the Snitch. And then there happened to be a solving break! It was both funny and unbelievable. Arielle was the only one from her group to play in the semifinals, where she was defeated by her co-captain, Mattie, in a close match.
The championship was a rematch of last year's finals – Will versus Mattie. It was a well-executed and exciting game, where they even managed to avoid some Bludgers in the playing field. Following a minor transcription error, Will was victorious over the reigning Snitch tournament winner by only one move. Maybe they will meet again next summer?
I've played in more than my fair share of Snitch matches, so I enjoyed having the chance to simply observe different playing styles this summer. Although there was some questionable gridding and strange strategy, I learned quite a bit. I am thankful for all the seekers who participated and I hope to see you (or play you!) in future Snitch tournaments.
Coming off a stressful Quidditch year, I was reluctant to be involved with the Summer Quidditch League (SQL). "But you have to run Snitch!" Well, I can't argue against good logic.
New seekers, Ciara Black and Scarlet Black, already won my heart when they asked for a practice match before the tournament officially began. Although no one won that match, their enthusiasm for finally having the opportunity to learn how to seek reminded me why the SQL Snitch tournament is so important.
Scarlet continued to impress me each match with her natural grid instincts. She tracked her opponents well and never used too many extra moves. She also has a great trivia base and managed to solve all the logic puzzles in her games. (Plus, she has a cool name!) As long as real life doesn't prevent her from playing, I believe Scarlet can add to the talented Ravenclaw lineup.
Ciara was completely mystified by the grid during the practice match. In her first match against Matilde Rayne, she proved that she now understood the grid by systematically checking every square. Her gridding improved tremendously, as she stalked Will Lestrange almost flawlessly (until she got distracted by logic puzzle). Ciara's solving speed and trivia knowledge is impressive and I hope to see her play for Gryffindor, assuming she can make a Quidditch match or two with her odd timezone.
After seeing the introduction to the first Snitch puzzle, Ryan Granger began spamming pictures of cute kittens in the SQL officials' channel. I was able to use one of those pictures when the discussion that led to MVP Mondays also included the suggestion to write Snitch match recaps. I decided to let the statistics speak for themselves. Since I used the same puzzle for the entire week, it turned out to be a nice way to compare solving speed.
Not unlike past Snitch tournaments, unexpected events occurred, leading to a handful of forfeits. Only one seeker failed show up at all. Overall, everyone was committed to playing and rescheduled when necessary. Tom Foster wins most dedicated participant. He did not have a computer for the majority of the summer, but showed up to all his games on his mom's iPad or his phone. He even stayed the entire 92 minutes in the longest Snitch match (ever?) against Thomas Lewis.
Rosemarie Halliwell had the worst luck with the grid this summer, hitting more Bludgers than her opponents and going after empty squares that ended up being just empty squares. Despite that, she made it to the elimination round and was knocked out by Will in the semifinal round.
Arielle Lemoyne was unlucky in a different way. In three separate games, she was one move away from catching the Snitch. And then there happened to be a solving break! It was both funny and unbelievable. Arielle was the only one from her group to play in the semifinals, where she was defeated by her co-captain, Mattie, in a close match.
The championship was a rematch of last year's finals – Will versus Mattie. It was a well-executed and exciting game, where they even managed to avoid some Bludgers in the playing field. Following a minor transcription error, Will was victorious over the reigning Snitch tournament winner by only one move. Maybe they will meet again next summer?
I've played in more than my fair share of Snitch matches, so I enjoyed having the chance to simply observe different playing styles this summer. Although there was some questionable gridding and strange strategy, I learned quite a bit. I am thankful for all the seekers who participated and I hope to see you (or play you!) in future Snitch tournaments.