Sports Highlight 🧹🏅 The Beltane Festival

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

Hello Citizens! My name is Helena Corey–I’m a sophomore witch at AOA–and I’ll be taking over the sports section for Feliks. I’ll do my best to bring you the best sports-related news and updates, so I hope we’ll get along.

Let me start first by welcoming our new students this year! I’ve been made aware that we don’t have any transfers in 2022, so if this is your first year at the Academy, then you’re certainly a freshman. That being said, I feel obligated to inform you of an upcoming tradition that takes place every May, and that is the Beltane Festival.

Enchanters may recognize this as a yearly feast that celebrates the transition from spring to summer. Our Academy hosts a weekend-long festival with food stalls, live music, and tryouts for our athletic clubs–and that is the focus of this post, Citizens. I’m here to remind you that if you have any interest in sports, you can try out at the festival for a chance to join our esteemed teams. The deadline to sign up is Friday, April 29th, before school lets out.

The Beltane Festival is also the precursor to another weekend-long event held at the beginning of August called the Lúnasa Games. I’ll update you on those dates sometime in July. For now, read on to learn about the tryout dates and times for each club, and please remember that these times are in EST and UTC. Here’s a handy guide to help you convert them to your local time zone.

Feel free to use the links below to skip ahead:

The Magic Striders Football Team
The Mad Howlers Basketball Team
The Heavenly Devils Baseball Team
The Blue Dreams Volleyball Team
Track & Field
Swimming
Other Athletic Clubs
Beltane Athletic Tryouts Schedule

The Magic Striders – Football

Coach: Professor Cynisca

Captain: Mihangyl Sarren

Co-Captain: Sage Bloodworth

Football is the most popular sport in the world, and here at AOA, we take it seriously. If you’re quick on your feet and have a pair of cleats already broken in, then we’d love to see you at the football field on April 30th. Tryouts start at 1am EST/5am UTC and will only last for 45 minutes, so please be on time and dressed in your school athletic wear.

Following the festival, football practice will begin on June 4th–the first weekend of the second quarter–and be held twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The Mad Howlers – Basketball

Coach: Professor Mnemosyne

Captain: Omari Leonard

Co-Captain: Penjani Mbola

Basketball and baseball are tied for second as AOA’s most popular sports. Both are action-packed, with every game keeping the audience at the edge of their seats. Basketball tryouts will be held in the gymnasium on April 30th from 2-2:45am EST/6-6:45am UTC, so please bring your own sneakers and AOA gym clothes.

Practices start October 1st (two months before the fourth quarter ends) and take place twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The Heavenly Devils – Baseball

Coach: Professor Mnemosyne

Captain: Brielle Ocampo

Co-Captain: Gabriel Caruso

If you prefer running around a diamond as opposed to up and down our indoor court, then you should meet us at AOA’s baseball diamond at 2am EST/7am UTC on April 30th. Tryouts last for 45 minutes, and we will provide helmets, bats, and baseballs, so please don’t bring your own! All you need to have with you is a pair of cleats and gloves.

Practices will start May 6th, the week after tryouts, and will take place twice a week on Fridays and Sundays.

The Blue Dreams – Volleyball

Coach: Professor Kendall Hartley

Captain: Nereus Pierson

Co-Captain: Yolette Saint Vil

Growing in popularity among the magick community is the sport of volleyball. While the dark dimension does not have any beaches, our schools do boast gymnasiums that double as both basketball and volleyball courts. Saturday, April 30th is when the tryouts for the Blue Dreams takes place, starting at 3am EST/7am UTC. You just need your sneakers and gym clothes. Volleyball practice will take place every Wednesday and Saturday beginning July 2nd.

Track & Field

Coach: Sensei Arima Hirosue

This may be a little hard to follow, but bear with me: for the sport of track and field, tryouts will be split into three separate events. All three events will take place on Sunday, May 1st; the first will be a relay race at 1am EST/5am UTC. Next is the hurdles event at 1:20am EST/5:20am UTC, and finally, the miscellaneous track and field activities at 4am EST/8am UTC, which will continue until the end of the festival. These are preliminary tryouts–the secondaries will take place the following Saturday, May 7th, at 2am EST/6am UTC. You only need to participate in one event, and you’ll be considered for all of them. The odds are in your favor! Just make sure you bring your own sneakers and wear AOA’s athletic wear.

Practice for track and field takes place every Monday, Friday, and Saturday beginning May 9th.

Swimming

Coach: Professor Kendall Hartley

On Sunday, May 1st is when our swimming tryouts will take place at the Academy’s indoor pool. It’ll be divided into five events, with the first beginning at 1:45am EST/5:45am UTC, and the rest following one after the other over the course of an hour. The first four events are relays for each of the following styles: breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke, and freestyle. The final event will be dedicated to diving tryouts. Unlike track & field, you must participate in the swimming events that you would like to be considered for. Please bring your own water bottles–the school will provide Academy-sanctioned swimsuits, swim caps, and goggles.

Following the tryouts, the first swim practice will take place on May 27th and repeat every Friday and Sunday.

Other Athletic Clubs

Yoga Club

While the Yoga Club does not require that you try out in order to join them, they’ll be participating in this athletic festival by way of an educational booth. There, you can challenge club president Sage Bloodworth, vice president Galiana Franco, and members Cinnamon Swan and Jean-Noël LaRue to either a flexibility contest or health trivia. The first five winners will receive a Thanks-A-Latte Café gift card, each one worth 30.00 in your homeland’s currency. While you get to choose your two adversaries, be warned that you will need to ace both tests in order to win the prize, so choose wisely! As a member of this club, I recommend you stop by and put your skills and knowledge to the test. Our booth will be open all weekend for the festival.

Parkour Club

Every year, our school’s Parkour Club hosts a scavenger hunt for all who wish to join. Participants must sign up by April 29th and will receive a message on Enchat with a hint as to the club’s first meeting place. Once there, you’ll receive another clue from Sonny Robinson, the club president. With that clue, you’ll set out on the hunt for more clues in various places across campus until you manage to arrive at the secret location where the parkour tryouts will be held. If you can find the secret spot before 3am EST/7am UTC on May 1st, then you’ll have earned the chance to try out for the club! Those who meet President Sonny’s standards will receive a secret reward and an invitation on the spot.

High Flyers Club – Broom Riding

Are you an Enchanter who is fanatical about broom riding? Are you particular about the wood your besom is carved from, the varnish used, the enchantments infused, and the threads used to hold it all together? If either of those applies to you, then I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve raced your broomstick in a L.O.R.E.-sanctioned safe zone before. If you’re a witch or fairy with a need for speed and some sick aerial skills under your belt, you should try out for our school’s broom riding troupe: the High Flyers Club!

The High Flyers Club will be hosting a race around campus this Sunday, May 1st at 2:30am EST/6:30am UTC. Competing in the event will get you noticed by club president Abena Clarke, so be sure to do your best! While winning the race does not necessarily mean you’ll be invited to join the club, the winner will receive a trophy and the title of “King/Queen/Monarch of the Lúnasa Games,” meaning they will act as host for the next festival.

Beltane Festival Schedule – Athletic Tryouts

sport	date(s)	starts est (utc)	ends est (utc)
Football	April 30	1 am (5 am)	1:45 am (5:45 am)
Basketball	April 30	2 am (6 am)	2:45 am (6:45 am)
Baseball	April 30	3 am (7 am)	3:45 am (7:45 am)
Volleyball	April 30	4 am (8 am)	4:45 am (8:45 am)
Parkour Scavenger Hunt	April 30-May 1	1 am (5 am)	3:30 am (7:30 am)
Track & Field (Relay)	May 1	1 am (5 am)	1:10 am (5:10 am)
Track & Field (Hurdles)	May 1	1:20 am (5:20 am)	1:30 am (5:30 am)
Swimming	May 1	1:45 am (5:45 am)	2:45 am (6:45 am)
High Flyers’ Broom Race	May 1	2:30 am (6:30 am)	2:40 am (6:40 am)
Track & Field (Misc)	May 1	4 am (8 am)	6 am (10 am)

Table of events, dates, and times at the Beltane Festival 2022

Friendly reminder that normal club activities will be paused for the entirety of that weekend. All students, staff, and their families are welcome to attend to festival. Have a friend enrolled at a different school? No problem! Invite them to join us for one or both nights. We’ll have yummy food, athletic events and games to watch, activity booths from our various clubs, and live music performed by our Academy’s infamous punk band Empty Obsessions, so there’s no limit to the amount of fun we’ll have!

Thanks for joining me this evening! I hope you have a nice weekend, and we’ll see you at the festival. Blessed be, Citizens.