WINTER 2013
THE ROAD TO WORLD CUP TRAVEL TIME
SEEKER STRATEGY
WINTER 2013
THE LAZY WOMAN’S GUIDE TO FUNDRAISING
COMING SOON: A QUIDDITCH DOCUMENTARY THE HIGH SCHOOL TO COLLEGE TRANSITION
PRO QUIDDITCH? The future of our sport—and how we might get there
SLOANE VIOLA
Beater, Santa Barbara Blacktips
Quidditch Quarterly Winter 2013 Volume 1 • Issue 4 EDITOR IN CHIEF
Alicia Radford
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Alicia Radford
COPY EDITOR COVER CONTRIBUTORS
Eric Andres Monica Wheeler Logan Anbinder, Eric Andres, Laurie Beckoff, Alex Clark, Matt Eveland, April Gonzales, Dan Hanson, Harrison Homel, James Hosford, Brennen Lutz, Noa Medford, Alicia Radford, Katie Stack, Luke Zak Pages 16-17 photo credits: Laurent Hazgui, Deanna Edmunds, Matt Hudson, Allie Tyler, Michael E. Mason
RESEARCH ASSISTANT ADVERTISING
Alex Clark To advertise in Quidditch Quarterly contact, alicia.radford@internationalquidditch.org
Quidditch Quarterly is published by the International Quidditch Association. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the consent of the IQA. The International Quidditch Association (IQA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to governing the sport of quidditch and inspiring young people to lead physically active and socially engaged lives. Adapted in 2005 at Middlebury College by a group of freshmen on a lark, today the game has spread to over five hundred colleges across North America, Australia, and Europe. The IQA was founded in 2010 and hosts tournaments and events all over the world. The IQA is not affiliated with JK Rowling, Warner Bros, or Time Warner. Visit the IQA at www.internationalquidditch.org.
CONTENTS 16 12
42
Recent Events
Road to World Cup
Travel Time
Diamond Cup, Snow Cup
Mid-Atlantic, Europe, Midwest, Canada, Northeast, Australia
This season there have been more tournaments than ever before. The average team travels five times a year. Where do they go? How much does it cost? And can they keep it up?
62
50 56
Pro Quidditch
Lifestyles
Players’ Corner
Speculations about the future of our sport, and how we might get there.
High school to college transition; Updates from your penpal; A new documentary; The QQ interview: AAGT; A lazy woman’s guide to fundraising
Team profile: UCLA; Tournament travails: playing in tournaments; News from the referee front; Play of the issue; The starting seeker; The finishing seeker
Your sport, your future. Your convention.
Join the IQA at QuidCon 2013 for three full days of programming, all minutes from downtown Seattle. Here's just a taste of our formal programming workshops: • • • • •
Referee and snitch certification Fundraising Tournament planning and team management How to be a coach Branding your team: from making logos, to jerseys, to websites, and more • Hands-on tackling training and strategy for each position And that's not all. Get ready for a quidditch tournament, the Quidditch World's Fair exhibition, regional "house points" competition, pool parties, scavenger hunts, quidditch Jeopardy, the Sirius Black Tie Ball, sightseeing in downtown Seattle, and more.
SEATTLE
JULY 11-15, 2013
DON'T MISS THE PARTY! REGISTER TODAY AT QUIDCON2013.COM
EDITOR’S LETTER I
n September, I moved from New York City to Phoenix, Arizona, where it was still over 100° F during the day. I had Thanksgiving dinner outside on the patio. Even at its coldest, around Christmas, it never sunk below freezing during the day. And now, as I write this, it’s back to a sunny 80° F. Which is quite a change from New York! The weather was often on my mind as I put together this issue, whether I was choosing pictures from the Snow Cup in Salt Lake City (page 14) or asking players for winter playing tips (with answers ranging from “don’t wear cotton socks” to “bring Canadians” to “move somewhere warmer—like the Southwest US or Australia”). As a cold-weather lover, I’ve enjoyed living vicariously through the winter experiences of others, and I hope that wherever you live, you will too. There’s nothing that can quite compare with a beater battle in frigid weather, or better yet, a blizzard—as a two-time spectator at the Buffalo, New York Ives Pond Invitational, I can attest to that. This winter marks the culmination of the first round of this season’s regional championships, which for the first time were qualifiers for the World Cup in Kissimmee, Florida this April. In the United States, the Mid-Atlantic (page 18), Midwest (page 24), and Northeast (page 32) had their championships, as well as Europe (page 22), Eastern Canada (page 28), and Australia (page 36). This spring, the US West, Southwest, and South will determine who represents their regions at the Cup. Although these tournaments have been the most high stakes events yet, the atmosphere at every regional reaffirmed what QQ writer and IQA marketing director Logan Anbinder called “the community spirit of quidditch.” Through all of this sport’s miraculous growth (averaging 100% per year), we have remained an inclusive, welcoming, and unique community. That’s something to be proud of, and to be careful to continue cultivating in the future. I always say it, but it’s always true—this is our best issue yet, featuring the best photography to date from talented photographers around the league, a look at what professional quidditch could look like in the future (page 50), transitioning from high school to college quidditch (page 56), how to successfully prepare for and play in tournaments (page 64), and so much more. Enjoy! Alicia
SAY WHAT? Midd misses World Cup
It’s true—five-time World Cup Champions Middlebury College will not be attending this April’s Cup after going 0-3 in pool play at the Northeast Regional Championships in November, falling to Emerson College 80-30*, Stony Brook University 90*-30, and Vassar 60*-20. So who will take the Cup this year?
Off with a flash A female beater at the Midwest Regional Championships flashed an opposing male chaser—who was promptly caught off guard and reportedly dropped the quaffle. In the heat of the moment, no call was made by the head referee, but since then there has been debate about whether that should count as unsportsmanlike conduct, illegal interaction with another position, or even whether it was against the law. It turns out topless ladies are legal in Ohio, where the regional took place, but QQ recommends we keep quidditch classy by keeping clothes on.
Quidditch hits primetime Well, not quite. But at 11:00pm EST on January 13, for the first time in history, full quidditch games were broadcast on TV and streamed online. BCSN, a cable network based in Northwest Ohio, broadcast a best-ofthree series between Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, Ohio) and the University of Toledo (Toledo, Ohio). BGSU trounced rookie UT 3-0, which only became an official team this fall. But that’s not what people will remember about this moment. They’ll remember the slow-motion replays, sports announcers who actually understand and can analyze the game, and the snitchcam in the upper left-hand corner. Eighty people paid $2.95 to watch the live stream, which is more viewers than BCSN has gotten per month for any of their other programs. A DVD of the games is available for purchase at http://bit.ly/10oeITr. Next step: convincing other local networks that quidditch makes good TV. Texas A&M vs. University of Texas, anyone?
IQA certifies almost 100 head referees The IQA’s head referee certification program has certified 90 head referees around the United States and Canada since QuidCon in July. Every official match must be officiated by a certified head referee paid $12 per game. As of December 2, 2012, the IQA referee development team (RDT) has successfully been able to staff over 65 tournaments with certified head referees. “The RDT is extremely proud of this number,” said Alex Clark, RDT coordinator. “Especially since we started with no budget, and not a single certified head referee at the beginning of this season.” Read more on page 64. 6
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
OUR PICKS Top Uniforms Steel City Quidditch Club One of the United States’ newest community teams has some of the best uniforms. Clean and understated, these uniforms are as gorgeous as they are intimidating. “We’ve been getting so much awesome feedback on them,” said Matt Panico, SCQC captain. “It’s nice to know they were worth it.”
Carleton University This Ontario university’s uniforms are bold. The raven mascot dominating the front is both tasteful and memorable. For extra points, the team should consider getting matching black shorts. What’s the common denominator here? Row West, a Canadian clothing company that specializes in uniforms for rowing teams.
?
How much do quidditch uniforms cost? Uniform costs are all over the board, ranging from $12-$15 for simple t-shirts with team logos printed on the front and numbers on the back, to $53 per jersey for the Steel City Quidditch Club jerseys pictured above. But most jerseys fall within that range, from $20 (Santa Barbara Blacktips, pictured on the cover of this magazine), to $35 (Marquette, on page 24), to $45 (the University of Kansas, on page 65).
Best New Trend Regionals shot glasses This year, every player who stays at the IQA hotels for regional championships gets a free shot glass with the tournament’s logo on it. The shot glasses are courtesy of the IQA’s travel partner, All About Group Travel (read about them on page 59). These are sure to become collectables, so if you have the opportunity, snatch one up at one of the regionals this spring.
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013 7
OUR PICKS
Best Moment University of Texas chaser Kody Marshall nearly flies through the hoop scoring this goal against UCLA at the West by Southwest Interregional Showcase in Abuquerque, New Mexico in November. (PHOTO: LAUREN CARTER)
RELEVANT
Winter quidditch tips With World Cup only three months away, how do you train and play in the winter? Players from around the league answer. • Before practice or a game, jog first to get your body acclimated to the weather. • Get a breathable neck warmer to cover your mouth. It warms the air before it goes down your windpipe, saving your lungs. And don’t wear cotton socks—your toes will freeze. Wear multiple pairs of wool socks. • Icy bludgers sting when they hit exposed skin, and all the balls will seem somewhat deflated due to the cold air. You might want to reinflate them to some degree. • Games have lower scores, because everyone’s slower and beaters are comparably more important (depending on how cold their hands are/ how bulky their mittens, it’s harder to quaffle-block bludgers, too). Bigger people who can power through have more of an advantage than speedy folks, since everyone’s slower (although it depends on the consistency and depth of the snow). • Keeping your center of gravity low will help you keep balance on ice. • Don’t stop moving. Even when on the sidelines or between matches, just a little bounce without moving helps. And when it is between matches, team (or interteam) cuddle piles are probably the greatest things ever. • PVC pipe gets exponentially more brittle below 60° F, so be careful with your hoops, because if they were going to snap it would be right now. • Move somewhere warmer.
UTAH CRIMSON FLYER DAKOTA BRIGGS TACKLES THE GREEN TEAM’S DAN HANSON AT SNOW CUP. (PHOTO: MONICA WHEELER)
Contributers: Alan Black, Alex Clark, David Hoops, Clare Hutchinson, Jen Jewell, Devin Sandon
RECENT EVENTS
SOUTHWEST US
OCTOBER 27 • SAN MARCOS, TEXAS
Diamond Cup
PARTICIPATING TEAMS: TEXAS STATE, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AUSTIN QUIDDITCH, TEXAS A&M, SILVER PHOENIXES, BAYLOR, SHSU, RICE, TEXAS TECH, UNT, UTSA (PHOTOS: LAUREN CARTER)
JANUARY 5 • SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
Snow Cup
14
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
PARTICIPATING TEAMS: SANTA BARBARA BLACKTIPS, UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO, UTAH CRIMSON FLYERS, QUID PRO QUO, “MERC TEAMS:” WHITE, BLUE, GREEN, ORANGE, PURPLE, BLACK. (PHOTOS: MONICA WHEELER)
THE R O A D
TO
WORLD CUP
November 3-4 • Roanoke, Virginia
MID-ATLANTIC BY LOGAN ANBINDER
A
s the IQA’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Director, I had the privilege of serving as tournament director for our regional championship. I’d served as tournament director and assistant tournament director for various tournaments before, but the MidAtlantic Regional Championship (MARC) had a very unique sense of setting the stage for the future, due in part to its nature as a qualifying tournament for World Cup VI. Quidditch is still very young, and until the beginning of this season we were hindered in many of our advancements simply by that nascence—in the search for our identity as a sport, we had difficulty articulating many of our long-term desires, much less our plans for accomplishing them. However, the MARC and its fellow regional championships brought players together en masse to articulate our desires for the sport, not just in terms of competition but also in terms of community and 18
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
event planning. By doing so, this year’s regional championships have gone a long way towards giving structure to those goals, and illuminating the path ahead for the league. This season wasn’t the first to feature regional championships, which debuted in the spring of 2011. Although that iteration of tournaments also served as marquee events within each region, those championships were much more self-contained. This year, since the number of teams across the country
has skyrocketed, the IQA decided to ratchet up the intensity of regional championships by having them serve as qualifying tournaments for the World Cup. “As the IQA continues to experience substantial growth and team development, the World Cup must necessarily include fewer of the league’s high-level teams,” explained Harrison Homel, the IQA Teams Director. “In light of this development, [transforming] the regional championships into
TOP: A VILLANOVA CHASER CHARGES UPFIELD. OPPOSITE: TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR LOGAN ANBINDER ADDRESSES THE CROWD AT THE OPENING CEREMONIES. (PHOTOS: DEANNA EDMUNDS)
professional events becomes increasingly important.” Each region received a certain number of World Cup bids, based on proportional team density throughout the world, and the top finishers from each of this year’s regionals will receive a spot in Kissimmee. To players who attended regionals from both years, the changes were obvious. “The difference was vast,” said Sarah Woolsey, a member of the 2012 MidAtlantic Regional Championship’s planning committee as well as president and beater on Maryland Quidditch. “[Last year’s regionals were] very much like a school tournament,” and a “culmination of the season.” This year, as landmarks on the way to the world championship, regionals featured several changes. The first change to strike my Regional Championship Committee (RCC) and me came upon meeting the representatives from the Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau. In my previous experiences, facilities managers treated quidditch with attitudes ranging from skeptical to indifferent. However, the members of the CVB, and the department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, actually matched our own enthusiasm for the championship. Our RCC knew that the new regional bidding process instituted this past year, in which the IQA worked with sports marketing firm OAN to solicit bids from
cities, meant that only locations that were strongly interested in hosting a quidditch tournament would even be considered. But even with this foreknowledge, I was extremely impressed by the CVB and PRT’s excitement for the event, as well as their understanding of our goals. Other tournament hosts, when they thought at all about quidditch as its own entity, classified it in the all-too-familiar category of “just for Harry Potter fans.” The hosts at Roanoke understood our need to emphasize competition, and to run the tournament just as we would any other sporting event. “Roanoke County enjoyed the opportunity to host the [Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship],” said Doug Blount, Director of Roanoke County Parks, Recreation, and Tourism. “This was a unique opportunity that allowed Roanoke County to host a new sporting event that the Roanoke Valley had not seen before.” This support made communication in the lead-up to the tournament much simpler, as the RCC never had to go out of our way to stress the importance of field lining or medical services. This kind of arrangement with our host city proved invaluable, as it did for all the fall regionals, and set a new standard for cooperation between tournament organizers and facilities managers. I’d known (and duly advertised) that the MARC would be the Mid-
Atlantic Region’s largest tournament to date, but nothing brought that fact home quite like seeing all the teams assembled during the opening ceremony. Regional championships are high-stakes tournaments—and yet from the players high-fiving the snitches as they ran down the line, and dancing along to the processional music played by the on-site marching band, the MARC could have been any weekend scrimmage between local teams. The regional championships certainly introduced new standards for tournaments, as they did with respect to working with the CVB, but they also reaffirmed the belief in the quidditch community that hard-fought battles on the pitch end immediately at the boundary of the ellipse. Every team that attended a regional championship this fall was witness to the fact that even as the significance of the matches deepens, the friendship between players remains intact. This ideal is often cited as one that makes our sport unique, and to see that it persisted even in such circumstances, not only at the opening ceremony but throughout the weekend, represented a strong endorsement of the league’s continued focus on community. In 2011, I tremendously enjoyed playing in the Empire Classic, last year’s Northeast Regional Championship, before the Mid-Atlantic Region was established. However, the 2011 regionals
“As the IQA continues to experience substantial growth, the World Cup must necessarily include fewer high-level teams. In light of this development, transforming regional championships into professional events becomes increasingly important.”
MID-ATLANTIC REGION: EIGHT WORLD CUP SPOTS Standings
Rank
Villanova University University of Maryland QC Pittsburgh Penn State University Johns Hopkins University Virginia Commonwealth University University of Richmond QC Carolinas
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
conveyed a sense of existing in a vacuum. This was not at all to the detriment of the organization or gameplay of each individual tournament, but the fact that they were much more loosely grouped together caused the focus in each region to be largely introspective— without the common goal of World Cup qualification, teams competed against others in their region and paid less attention to the results from other tournaments. This year, though, players from MARC were deluged with Facebook comments and Twitter posts by players from other regions moments after their games ended. The transformation of regional championships into World Cup qualifiers has narrowed our league’s
Win Percentage
Avg. Adjusted Pts Diff.
100% 88% 86% 67% 71% 67% 63% 63%
59.70 67.45 43.46 37.30 27.31 39.56 22.19 8.77
collective focus and emphasized the importance of maintaining a close-knit community, not just of individuals, but of teams worldwide. Of course, while it’s far from the entire story, I’d be remiss not to mention the drastic streamlining of gameplay that did occur at each regional. Not only were these tournaments the first time that the IQA’s certified refs came out in force, but the game play department’s scheduling standards ensured that each team had a fair shot at the World Cup. At the MARC, as at the other regionals, hoops, balls, and brooms were all regulated to strict standards, and field managers ensured that games stuck to schedule. While there are many more
factors behind regionals’ lasting impact than just these gameplay improvements, it’s entirely fair to say that they played a tremendous role, not just in setting the stage for World Cup but creating a new standard for all tournaments to follow. With just a couple months having elapsed since the IQA’s first regional championships, and more on the way in the spring, it may be too soon to fully evaluate the impact that these tournaments will have on the league culture. However, in hindsight the championships will prove to have been an important point in the consolidation of IQA culture—a chance for players to assess their collective goals, and a chance for the league to work to reach them. ■
Logan Anbinder is a member of the Silicon Valley Skrewts, and former president of Maryland Quidditch. He serves as the IQA’s Marketing Director. 20
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
TOP: UMD SHUTS OUT VA TECH. OPPOSITE CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: QC PITTSBURGH FIGHTS DUKE. KUTZTOWN SCORES AGAINST UMD. VCU WATCHES FROM THE STANDS. (PHOTOS: DEANNA EDMUNDS)
October 13 • Lesparre-Medoc, France
EUROPE BY NOA MEDFORD
T
his October, I had the opportunity to travel to the town of Lesparre-Medoc in Western France to represent the IQA at the European Regionals. Six teams, five from France and one from Italy, competed in a round robin tournament for the chance to represent their country at World Cup VI. Upon arriving at the event site, everyone was excited. Friends were reuniting and anticipation for the day’s activities was growing. One thing I wasn’t used to, however, was that instead of greeting everyone with hugs, the French culture greets people with kisses on the cheeks. Needless to say, I may have overstepped my boundaries hugging French strangers. The atmosphere was upbeat and exciting. Opening ceremonies began with all the teams lining up on the field, as the national anthems from France,
22
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
Italy, England, and America were played. Finally, the games began! Parisian teams dominated the tournament. Phénix was the undefeated victor, and the Paris Frogs (Paris, France) took second place. The game between Phénix and the Frogs was also the closest game of the match, decided by the snitch grab. The final score was 50*-20. After a long day of rain and sweat, the Mayor of Lesparre-Medoc presented medals to all the teams at the closing ceremonies. Thanks to all the teams for traveling, and to Ingrid Vezy and Hugo
Rhaps for organizing the tournament. Michele Clabassi, the captain of the Milano Meneghins, summarized it best: “I think what made the tournament great was that the small issues that might have come up in the organization didn’t ultimately matter. At the end of the day, what everyone really cared about was playing some great quidditch, having fun, and getting to know new people and learning about new cultures.” Even if we didn’t share the same language, we shared quidditch, and that goes beyond what words can express. ■
TOP: THE QUIET BEFORE BROOMS UP. OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: ANOTHER SCORETHROUGH-THE-HOOPS PLAY. NOA MEDFORD FENDS OFF SEEKERS. TRADITIONAL SNITCH SHENANIGANS. (PHOTOS: LAURENT HAZGUI)
EUROPE REGION: ONE WORLD CUP SPOT Standings
Rank
Paris PhĂŠnix Quidditch Paris Frog Quidditch Milano Meneghins Quidditch Anthena Lesparre Quidditch Nantes Quidditch Toulouse Quidditch
1 2 3 4 5 6
November 10-11 • Warren County, Ohio
MIDWEST BY LUKE ZAK
I
t’s the morning of November 10, and over four hundred people are beginning to find their way to Heritage Oak Park in Mason, Ohio. Teams are unloading their caravans, staff is arriving from across the nation, and some last-minute overnight crews are finally making their way to the scene of the largest quidditch tournament since World Cup V. The air is fresh and exciting, but these twenty-three teams know that this year, regional championships are serious business. The camaraderie is strong between many teams in the Midwest, palpable in the strength of the group chant at the conclusion of the brief opening ceremony: CORN! And trust me, though it was easy for the athletes 24
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
to hold out that one-syllable yell, as soon as the moment of regional pride ran out of breath, teams began to withdraw and make a game plan for victory. Only ten teams would make it through to World Cup. Though many people across the league predicted that only a handful of powerhouse teams were capable of taking
home the title of Midwest Champions, there was definitely a hefty realization of the shift to a more competitive frame of mind for the majority of the teams present. Curtis Taylor, captain of the quidditch team from Marquette University, acknowledged this mental transition at the tournament, stating, “The atmosphere this year was a lot
MARQUETTE GETS PUMPED UP PRE-GAME. (PHOTO: ALLIE TYLER)
more like a sporting event than in years past. The teams all looked great in new uniforms instead of homemade stuff, and overall the competition was more directed to the ultimate goal of Florida.” Fully recognizing this change in the way teams approach quidditch, it is no surprise that after their great showing at last year’s World Cup, Marquette stepped up their game and realized their potential at last, as the team won first place at the Midwest Regional Championship. Taylor explains, “I would say Marquette played our game and really worked to stay focused, win, and move on.” He continues, describing his
off against Ball State University in the semi-finals, the match was close to going either way. In the end, Marquette ended up pulling the snitch and earning a spot in the finals. The true shocker, though, was who they faceed off against in the championship match: Bowling Green State University. This team, BGSU, which placed 18th out of 18 teams at Midwest Cup 2011 and then went on to garner a 0-4 record at World Cup V, completely turned their team around, becoming a strong force to be reckoned with. The team has grown a lot as a whole, though anybody watching can tell that the athletes are united and
are few words that can describe the atmosphere of Midwest Regionals this year. It was electric and gave many teams an added boost on grueling day two.” In fact, it may have helped give BGSU the boost they needed to beat the odds, taking down top teams like Michigan State University and the University of Kansas along the way to the finals. “The championship game had a massive crowd that definitely acted as an eighth man for our team, which we greatly appreciated, and were very humbled by the support,” recalls Daugherty. Despite the team holding its own for the first part of the match with the cheers
Taylor remains cognizant of the talk putting the likes of the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, or Louisiana State University at the top of the World Cup predictions. However, “If there is any team to take out a Southwest powerhouse and win it from the Midwest, I feel that we have the best chance and most complete team to do so,” says Taylor confidently.
team’s approach at the event. “We weren’t looking for the flashiest wins or the most amazing blowouts, but we just wanted to get the W and advance.” It was a challenging feat, considering that Marquette Quidditch was perhaps the team with the largest target on its back going into the tournament. Marquette’s athletes brought everything they had onto the pitch. In it to win, the team put on an impressive show, running their pool and then rounding off the championship with an undefeated record for the weekend. Having to face
empowered by an incredible presence on the pitch: Daniel Daugherty. His play and involvement in the league even got Daugherty recognized recently. “In one year, Daugherty helped turn his team into a regional powerhouse, and became one of the most talented players in the nation,” says Ethan Sturm on the quidditch news website The Eighth Man. “For all of these reasons and more, he has earned the title of The Eighth Man’s Sportsman of the Year for 2012.” When asked about his experience at the event, Daugherty says, “There
of the crowd and Daugherty at the lead of the effort, the score slowly started to slip out of grasp and the tournament was over when the BGSU seeker snatched the snitch and ended the game in Marquette’s favor. With an unmatched physicality and fantastic game play, there is no doubt that this team from Wisconsin deserved to take home the gold. Not too surprising, Michigan State University, the University of Kansas, and the University of Minnesota made it through this year’s qualification process, rightfully claiming the berths that each Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013 25
MIDWEST REGION: TEN WORLD CUP SPOTS Standings
Rank
Marquette University Bowling Green State University Ball State University Michigan State University University of Michigan The Ohio State University Illinois State University Purdue University University of Kansas University of Minnesota
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
of these three teams earned by advancing to the Sweet Sixteen at World Cup V. Additionally, the remaining Midwest teams that progressed into bracket play at the last World Cup qualified as well—The Ohio State University and the University of Michigan. And last, but not least, veteran teams of the region Ball State University, Illinois State University, and Purdue University—who took home the title of World Cup V D2 Champions last year—will also join the others on the international stage in Kissimmee, Florida.
Win Percentage
Avg. Adjusted Pts Diff.
100.00% 85.71% 83.33% 83.33% 80.00% 71.43% 50.00% 71.43% 50.00% 50.00%
86 63 88 22 76 30 -22 37 75 30
When contemplating the weekend and the prospects of the competition this April, Taylor says, “I was very happy with my team as a whole. We worked well together and proved that we are a very tough and explosive team that people need to look out for in Florida.” That said, he remains cognizant of the talk putting the likes of the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, or Louisiana State University at the top of many World Cup predictions. However, “If there is any team to take out a Southwest powerhouse and win it
from the Midwest, I feel that we have the best chance and most complete team to do so,” says Taylor confidently. On behalf of the runners-up, Daugherty tells me, “We are preparing for World Cup both mentally and physically day-in and day-out. We have seen and heard about many teams and how good they are.” But, though the impending tournament may be daunting, the BGSU co-captain still knows what is most important. “We are just excited to get the opportunity to play against amazing players on the biggest stage.” ■
Luke Zak is the IQA’s Midwest Regional Director and the founder and former president of University of Minnesota Quidditch. 26
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
TOP: A BALL STATE KEEPER GETS SOME MAJOR AIR. OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: MICHIGAN STATE GUARDS THE QUAFFLE. THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN FIGHTS FOR A GOAL AGAINST MINNESOTA. THERE'S NOTHING LIKE A QUIDDITCH PITCH IN THE MORNING. BGSU CHASER DANIEL DAUGHERTY DEFIES GRAVITY TO DEFLECT A BLUDGER AGAINST KANSAS. (PHOTOS: ALLIE TYLER)
November 11 • Kingston, Ontario
CANADA BY HARRISON HOMEL
D
o you remember your first tournament? Not the commute, or the bracket, or even the winner, but that feeling. The one that stays with you, long after you’re back to real life. Excitement you can’t resist, joy you can’t contain, and just a touch of the magic you were hoping to find the whole time. The rush of competition and the warmth of a new community. From then on, there’s no going back—teams get cemented, new events get planned, and quidditch takes on a life of its own in the minds of participants and spectators alike. In my experience, every future tournament approaches that feeling with varying levels of success. In many ways, the Canadian Cup, the IQA’s regional tournament hosted at Queen’s College in Kingston, ON, felt like that first time. A passion for the sport and a joyful embrace of its pageantry could be felt everywhere on that beautiful and crisp fall day. The tournament began at 9:00am, with 11 of the 13 teams and organizers on a march around the distinctly Hogwartsian Queen’s campus. As the march began, two things happened: first, McGill and their associated community team showed up in the nick of time, literally dashing from their bus to the end of the column, 28
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
and second, the campus erupted in song. To dorm residents and American observers, this latter phenomenon was both truly unexpected and likely better than any Tim Horton’s for a Sunday morning wake up. The quantity and variety of unique songs, chants, and cheers possessed and proudly belted by
the Canadian teams is astounding. As they marched, snitches running to and fro along the column, the world was to hear them all. To anyone who hadn’t yet realized it, it became immediately apparent that this regional qualifier was about more than just qualifying. It was an impressive start, and the main event was
TOP: MCGILL WARMS UP BEFORE A MATCH. (PHOTO: ERICA ANDERSON AND JOSH WALKER) OPPOSITE: MCGILL BEATER TONY LIU GRABS A BLUDGER. (PHOTO: NINA PATTI) A QUEENS CHASER CHARGES UPFIELD. (PHOTO: PROVIDED)
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013 29
OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: THE QUEEN'S BAND AND BAGPIPERS. NINA PATTI OF MCGILL. (PHOTO: ERICA ANDERSON AND JOSH WALKER ) UOTTAWA TAKES THE QUAFFLE UPFIELD. (PHOTO: TEGAN BRIDGE) THE SNITCH HIGH-FIVES MCMASTER UNIVERSITY'S STARTING LINE BEFORE BROOMS UP. (PHOTO: MCMASTER QUIDDITCH)
just getting started. Back on the two fields of play, round robin games started out strong. In the first three rounds, four teams won dominant victories that would set the tone for the day: Queen’s over University of Toronto Scarborough 140*-10, University of Ottawa over McMaster College 200*-10, Carleton University over Ryerson University 170*-10, and McGill over University of Toronto 190*0. These teams, three of whom entered with a serious reputation and World Cup experience under their belt, quickly became the sides to beat. Almost every game saw fierce competition, though, in a uniquely Canadian way: defensively. Bludger control was all-important in most of the match-ups, with beater strategy and controlling momentum trumping chaser play and concerted scoring drives with impressive frequency. From the sidelines, it was particularly easy to get caught up in the action. Not only were the players, many sporting war paint and chanting along with their benches, putting on a fine showing on the pitch, but you were never alone in cheering them on. Hundreds of attendees stopped by to join in the festivities and to root on their (sometimes newly adopted) favorite teams. Excellent announcing kept the fans both engaged and educated throughout the day. Family, friends, passerby, and locals from Kingston gave the event an atmosphere of enthusiasm that electrified the day’s events—and the teams themselves. It of course didn’t hurt that the home team, playing in their first real tournament, was keeping up with the powerhouses of the region. Queen’s College boasts the “tricolor spirit” (think school pride on steroids), and it was certainly on display at the event. Fans of all ages, most bedecked in the aforementioned tricolor of red, blue, and yellow, came out in droves to passionately support the local squad. Leaving the pitch, that feeling still pervaded. Boo Hoo the Bear, the beloved Queen’s mascot, who spent his day at the event,
mingled with spectators and pumped up his team. The Queen’s Jugglers worked the crowd. At the concessions table, Honeydukes-themed treats were for sale, and on a practice field, children and families took pictures with brooms. At eleven o’clock, the tournament paused for a very poignant reminder. It was Remembrance Day, a federal holiday to commemorate those who died in World War I. With all participants and attendees gathered, a poem was read and a single trumpet blew a mournful salute to the fallen. Many teams presented homemade wreaths, and a moment of silence was held. This somber ceremony gave important perspective and pause during a whirlwind tournament, and was an artful tribute to those who came before. By mid-afternoon, the table was set. Topping the list was Ottawa, followed by Carleton, McGill, Queen’s, Fleming, Canada’s Finest, Algonquin, The Team Who Must Not Be Named, McMaster, Ryerson, Toronto, Scarborough, and Guelph. The semi-finals were hardfought, loud, and passionate affairs. Queen’s extremely quick chaser line could not match Ottawa’s tight team play, and this experience earned Ottawa a spot in the finals, 70*-10. Meanwhile, McGill, who had shown up just in the nick of time, was struggling to stay ahead of the game. In their match with Carleton, an intense tit-for-tat developed and a spectacular snatch from the latter led to overtime. McGill refocused and found dominant footing in the overtime period, cinching it 140*-90. As the sun began to ride low in the sky, and the final games of the day were about to commence, another touch of that magic presented itself. The Queen’s 100-piece band, complete with a complement of bagpipers and dancers, marched onto the field. Once again gathered, the collected attendees appreciated the spectacle before them before joining in themselves. When the band began the school’s war chant, spectators and players alike began
to dance and sing with a fervor that did not reflect the long and tiring day. Flush with excitement, teams and spectators returned to the field. In the final consolation match, for the coveted third bid at World Cup, an extremely intense game ensued. Queen’s and Carleton found themselves extremely well-matched, and the Canadian preference for dominant defense became key. When a snatch threw the lengthy game into overtime, the score stood at just 40-40. Then, it was the snitch’s turn for defense: as the squads continued to trade possession beat after beat, the runner held off both seekers for the entire five minutes. The game ended 5040, thanks to a Carleton point that had snuck through at about the three-minute mark. When McGill faced Ottawa, sparks flew. These established teams both played a controlled game that showed their experience and aptitude for teamwork. Moving as one down the field, each showed capable offenses and thematically impressive defenses. McGill’s offense had been unstoppable all day, though, and that trend held and won them the title, at 90*-10. As the winners received their trophy, a true surprise for all but the organizers was revealed. Queen’s alumna Lee D. Wetherall, MBA, presented the victorious McGill with a $500 reward for their performance. This gift only provided extra fuel for the joy and excitement of the moment, expended when a chant of CAN-A-DA, taken up by what seemed like all present, was raised to the clear night sky. That first-tournament feeling was there, that night, in a way that is difficult to describe. It may have been the combination of whimsy and sport, it may have been the pristine weather or the castle that played backdrop, it may have been the attitude of the teams and spectators themselves. Whatever that magic formula, the Canadian Regional achieved it, and showed, in the process, everything that quidditch can be. ■
Harrison Homel is the IQA Teams Director, occasional QQ contributor, and wearer of many hats. He also occasionally participates in real life. He graduated from UCLA in Spring 2012 and hopes to run away to Russia in 2013. 30
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
“As the sun began to ride low in the sky, and the final
games of the day were about to commence, another touch of magic presented itself. The Queen’s 100-piece band, complete with a complement of bagpipers and dancers, marched onto the field.”
EASTERN CANADA REGION: THREE WORLD CUP SPOTS Standings
Rank
McGill University University of Ottawa Carleton University
1 2 3
Win Percentage
Avg. Adjusted Pts Diff.
100.00% 80.00% 75.00%
93 106 73
November 17-18 • Newport, Rhode Island
NORTHEAST BY KATIE STACK
B
oston University emerged as the victor in a fierce northeast battle at the historic Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island. The fort, which has been known by many names since its completion in 1700, played host to 24 teams from the northeastern U.S. (a region that includes the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut) in the region’s first qualifying tournament. The region, known as “the birthplace of quidditch,” is home to many of the IQA’s oldest and some of its most formidable teams, so many in the quidditch world expected the competition to be fierce. And fierce it was. Boston University had to face many of its familiar Boston-area foes in order to grasp the championship trophy, including Emerson College in the championships (the BUQ and ECQ rivalry is a familiar one) and Tufts University in the semi-finals. Hofstra University from Long Island, New York, was the other team to finish in the top 32
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
four. Two of quidditch’s top names, Middlebury College and Vassar College, did not advance far enough in the tournament to guarantee a spot in the 2013 World Cup VI, ensuring an early non-Middlebury World Cup victory for the first time in the sport’s history. As impressive as the competitive play was, though, it was not the only aspect of the quidditch game on players’ and spectators’ minds throughout the weekend. Teams also seemed to compete to be the most creative: Vassar arrived with bright pink hair and the New
York Badassilisks were covered in green and yellow facepaint; the University of Vermont, with beautifully tye-died jerseys, played one of their games with their arms forced into Tyrannosaurus Rex-like poses; the Syracuse University team strutted through the opening ceremonies march with their capes, and many teams wore new and stylish jerseys with pride. The event hosts, the University of Rhode Island’s Rhody Ridgebacks, led the opening march behind the tournament organizers. They did not
TOP: EMERSON SCORES A GOAL AGAINST BOSTON RIOT. OPPOSITE FROM LEFT: NYU CELEBRATES QUALIFYING. BU WITH THE TROPHY. (PHOTOS: MICHAEL E. MASON)
advance as far as they would have liked in the tournament bracket, but for them, the competitive gameplay was not the only measure of success. “We loved the venue, were happily greeted with smiling faces left and right, and we had a lot of people step up all weekend…We didn’t win any games, which is a bit of a bummer, but we played well and managed to score,” Zara Collier, team captain and assistant tournament director, said. The team was on site days early to assist with setup and was hard at work weeks before the event to encourage press attention and gather support from their school administration: dedication that proved worthwhile when the event remained on schedule, suffered very few major injuries, and was presented with seemingly limitless volunteer assistance. The inability to qualify doesn’t change the team’s plans for the rest of the season; the team will continue to compete, and many players plan on attending the World Cup to support their regional teammates. Tournament director and former Northeast Regional Director Kristina Moy professed similar admiration at the URI and volunteer assistance, as well as the overall final outcome. “The Northeast Regional
Championship I think was a great first big regional event to get some of the best teams together to play quidditch. It certainly increased talk to get conferences going, and more tournaments where old and new NE teams can play each other… I hope in the future, we’ll be able to have more tournaments like this,” she said. URI and the Northeast Regional Championship Committee weren’t the only ones preparing for the tournament, however. Individual teams did their best to fundraise and train in order to arrive in Rhode Island in top competitive form. Hofstra, a known strong competitor in the northeast region that ended up finishing the tournament in fourth place, practiced three times a week in the months preceding and entered into as many tournaments and scrimmages as possible. “Our goal was first and foremost to win our pool, which was not easy, as all four of our games were against very good teams. After that, our second goal was to qualify for the Cup, which upon completion, removed a lot of the pressure,” said Jake Archibald, Hofstra captain. After the regional, Hofstra already had plans in place to begin training for the World Cup in April. A unique feature of the northeast
region is that teams in existence for over six years can be seen competing with brand new organizations, both equally capable of taking the match. This type of situation was experienced first-hand by spectators who watched the rise of the Macaulay Marauders, a new team from a small New York Honors College that no one expected to qualify for World Cup. The Marauders, however, always had their goals and the relevant obstacles in mind. At the very beginning of the academic season, captain Jenna Jankowski explained, the team held a meeting to determine whether play would be competitive or for “love of the game.” “The answer was unanimously both,” she said. As a result, the team began serious strength and conditioning routines, encouraged by a strong turnout from the freshman class that resulted in 12 new players. The captains knew that a more rigorous practice schedule was also necessary, although it was difficult because their honors college is diffused among seven different campuses. The team participated in as many tournaments as possible before the regional championship, making sure the new players received an adequate amount of playing time. The Marauders actively Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013 33
“We watched teams like Texas and Baylor, and asked ourselves how they became so good, and realized it’s because they had no choice. The amount of talent contained around them has forced those teams to either get better or die.” —SHENUQE TISSERAS, MACAULAY
sought out challenging matches against known competitors like Hofstra, and studied the techniques and histories of other quidditch “greats.” “We watched teams like Texas and Baylor, and asked ourselves how they became so good, and realized it’s because they had no choice. The amount of talent contained around them has forced those teams to either get better or die,” Shenuqe Tisseras, a Macaulay player, said. Macaulay proved the team could bring the high level of competition necessary to succeed in the northeast region, despite a few setbacks and tough matches. Their starting seeker faced an injury early on in the tournament, and it took a game or so for the players to reach their stride and feel comfortable on the pitch. The
players are already looking to the spring with new training regimens and serious fundraising efforts, so the other regions should not forget about this newcomer. In the end, all teams were impressed with the high level of professionalism showed by the IQA Northeast Regional Championship Committee staff and their partners, All About Group Travel, the Fort Adams Trust, and the Rhode Island Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Marauders called it “one of the bestorganized tournaments” they’d ever been to, and Hofstra was equally impressed with “how well it was run, and how smoothly the game play went.” Most teams loved the opportunity to spend time with their quidditch “families” in a unique and inviting setting; the
tournament provided a sense of cohesion previously lacking in the region most saturated with quidditch teams. The main tournament complaint was the strength of the wind so close to the water and the effect this had on the far-too-lightweight quaffles. Collier believes the site remains promising for future events, though. “I think this tournament showed the IQA what can happen when we work well with a particular site. The Fort really wants us back next year, and with how well everything ran, I think the idea of keeping the NERC here, will continue growing the sport of quidditch,” she said. confidently. And really? Quidditch in a fort? You can’t beat that. ■
Katie Stack is a Boston University graduate with a love for traveling, sandy beaches, and all things magical. She is the IQA’s Membership Director. 34
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
JENNA JANKOWSKI AND SHENUQE TISSERAS FROM MACAULY HONORS COLLEGE CELEBRATE QUALIFYING FOR WORLD CUP. (PHOTO: EMILY PAOLILLO)
NORTHEAST REGION: 11 WORLD CUP SPOTS Standings
Rank
Boston University Emerson College Tufts University Hofstra University Macaulay Honors College SUNY Geneseo Boston Riot New York University University of Rochester Rochester Institute of Technology University of Massachusetts
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Win Percentage
Avg. Adjusted Pts Diff.
100.00% 85.71% 83.33% 85.71% 50.00% 66.67% 50.00% 66.67% 60.00% 71.43% 62.50%
95 71 88 83 15 7 -7 15 32 33 9
EMERSON SCORES AGAINST BU. (PHOTO: MICHAEL E. MASON)
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013 35
December 1-2 • Sydney, Australia
AUSTRALIA BY JAMES HOSFORD
Q
uidditch, with its wide variety of athletes and the necessarily compact aggressiveness of tournament schedules, is not a sport invented with the intention of being played in 37 degree Celsius heat, especially when humidity adds another five degrees. Four games within a seven-hour period is never easy, particularly for skeleton squads from faraway lands. The challenge is only amplified in such extreme heat.
But such were the conditions at the QUAFL Cup, Australia’s regional championship. But don’t let this atmospheric melodrama deceive you, were you stupid enough to not be there. It was hot, as is summer’s wont in Australia, but it did not define the day. Heat was the enemy over which the spirit of quidditch triumphed. The intense weather of the day even necessitated a controversial extreme heat policy, involving the implementation of a drinks break at the ten minute point in each match. Although this would prove to be a clearly justified and popular step and made little difference to the grand scheme of the game, it was nevertheless an interesting new tactical curio for teams to ponder. Above anything, the weekend will be remembered for the on- and off-field triumph it was, as ten teams from the furthest corners of the nation gathered 36
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
for Australia’s biggest and best quidditch tournament yet. Ten teams of every geographical background and wildly varying experience levels competed in the tournament: the reigning champion University Of New South Wales (UNSW), the impressive underdog University Of Western Sydney (UWS), the nation-topping powerhouse Newcastle Fireballs, the forgotten pioneer Australian National Nargles and everybody’s favorite adorable Warriors of Wollongong reconvened. Twelve months had passed and the five teams who inaugurated Australian quidditch at QUAFL 2011 returned, much improved and advanced but with unchanged spirit. Joining the fray for 2012 were the hosts, the Macquarie Malaclaws, looking to complete their meteoric rise with a very plausibly possible QUAFL triumph. The Melbourne Manticores and James Cook University Galleons
of far North Queensland flew in, ready to resume their Cairns Classic rivalry. From faraway Western Australia came the Perth Phoenixes, as they had for July’s Midwinter Cup, once again acting as a talisman of growth and dedication. Completing the ten were the mysterious rookies, the Unspeakables, fresh out of the University of Sydney and ready to impress. For the first time ever, Australian quidditch saw play on two simultaneous fields, set up side by side. Both matches kicked off within seconds of each other and it was truly a sight to behold. Two pairs of rivals started the tournament in two very different matches. UWS and the Nargles, twice opponents at QUAFL 2011, went straight to the top of their game. They tussled in a rugged defensive encounter, defined early by the beater contest and by the clear level of experience on show.
LEFT: MACQUARIE AND NEWCASTLE CHASERS TUSSLE OVER THE QUAFFLE. RIGHT: THE SNITCH USES A LARGE BRANCH TO FEND OFF THE SEEKER. (PHOTOS: MATT HUDSON)
Meanwhile, it was a different story on the lower field. In the much-vaunted Pool A opener, hosts Macquarie once again faced off against the top seed Newcastle Fireballs. But from the outset it was a curious and ill-tempered game. Macquarie were ruthless from the start, taking an unexpected dominance over the proceedings. Newcastle seemed to struggle to come to terms with anything, be it the opposition, the officiating, or themselves, in a turgid opening few moments. The Fireballs eventually got their act together, but it was a day late and a dollar short, as the Malaclaws comfortably triumphed from the weight of fourteen goals. The other first-up winner was UWS, who slowly took slim but sufficient enough control of the match to take victory despite a Nargle snitch catch. The day’s second pair of games was all about the welcoming of new and unfamiliar adversaries. In Pool A it was Perth, largely unrecognizable from their Midwinter iteration, who faced the debutant Unspeakables. This lack of experience showed early in some amateurish ill-discipline, but it certainly proved to be no barrier to quality. In an impressive display, the University of Sydney easily dulled the Phoenix threat, winning 70-60 despite failing to capture the snitch. Such competitiveness from the uncapped bottom seeds threw off the entire balance of the group, leaving teams like Newcastle and Macquarie with much to ponder over. In Pool B, the reigning champions UNSW faced a Melbourne side full of experience and athleticism, but lacking familiarity with the dominant New South Wales arm of the Australian game and its on-field culture and nuance. The Manticores were a clear force to be reckoned with, however, rattling UNSW with their aggressive physical game and going out to an early lead. The Snapes on a Plane rallied back into the contest and took it down to the snitch catch, but not for the first time this weekend, Sam Washington triumphed for Melbourne. With both Sydney and Melbourne pulling off opening upset victories, the tournament was already showing itself to be full of unpredictable intrigue. Which six teams might work their way through to the finals was anyone’s guess. Until lunch, though, there was at least
some stability in performance. Macquarie continued to impress, making it two wins from two and inflicting a second defeat on Perth. UNSW and the Nargles, both struggling former powerhouses, faced off in a must-win game after difficult starts to their day. UNSW upped their game after such a scratchy opener, firing out to a 40-0 lead in quick time. The Nargles fought back to a degree, but the match always felt gone and not even yet another Matt Armstrong snitch catch could deny UNSW a first victory. Which team would function as each pool’s cellar dweller also became apparent, with Wollongong and JCU both suffering a pair of big losses. However, JCU impressed many, with Cooper Gabriel and Brodie Smart leading the way in a fighting performance against Melbourne which saw them lead 30-20 early and only trail by a single goal at the drinks break. But Melbourne effortlessly found another gear and overran their old rivals for a second successive win. The University of Sydney Unspeakables likewise made it two from two, mercilessly casting aside a flat and uncompetitive Wollongong. Amazingly, these two emphatic wins left the Manticores and the Unspeakables, the two most unknown and consequently unfancied new kids on the block ( JCU aside), sitting on top of their respective pools. Both teams were full of quality and it was clear upon observing their huddles first thing in the morning that they would be competitive, but for the whole tournament to be so swept off its feet by the rookies and the visitors sent shockwaves through the established competitors. Other than these surprise results, it was the heat which began to be the big story of the day, with players increasingly requiring medical attention as the hottest portion of the day dangerously approached. But through the interminable morning everyone fought, with an admirable lack of decay in the quality of quidditch. It was 1:30pm before the morning session slowly lumbered across the finish line and to the sweet sweet relief of lunch.
AFTERNOON MATCHES After an extended break, as demanded by the folks at St. John, play resumed
at 3:00pm. The afternoon opened with two epic marquee matches. In Pool B, UNSW and UWS played off in the much- anticipated rematch of last year’s decider. Like at QUAFL 2011, but unlike recent Triwizard encounters, the two great rivals played out an intense defensive struggle. UNSW went clear early with a quick pair, but from there goals were hard to come by. Fifteen minutes later, UWS had clawed their way back to 30-30, but Andrew Culf put them to bed with a tree-side snitch catch to get UNSW over the line. In Pool A, mere meters away, even more drama was brewing. Midwinter rivals Newcastle and Perth did battle once again in an emotion-charged game following a controversial build-up. The Fireballs had control early, but Perth fired into action, motivated by the increasingly bitter contest. All of a sudden, the Phoenixes had total momentum and sped into the lead with clutch goals over a frenzied few minutes on either side of the drinks break. From there, the match was an exercise in discipline, or lack thereof, as each team lost both the ability to score goals and a number of wounded players. Newcastle snuck back to a narrow lead, but the snitch would decide everything. However, the snitch himself would add to the controversy, dangerously brandishing a pair of sizeable tree branches, with which he accidentally punctured the unfortunate Phoenix seeker Shane Young’s hand. After further minutes of drama as the stubborn snitch kept himself alive, the Fireballs reacted to seeker Julian Kirkby’s frustration, timing their swap for Dameon Osborn perfectly. The bustling Fireball rookie quickly snapped up the snitch for himself to end the theater and break Perth hearts, confining the Phoenixes to their tournament-ending third loss of the day, despite clearly rising to a whole new level to face their arch rivals. The drama continued unabated in group A, with the undefeated Malaclaws and Unspeakables facing off in what was arguably the best, and unarguably the longest, game of the day. In hindsight, it was fortunate for the health of all involved that these were the two largest squads for the tournament. Macquarie started majestically, absolutely annihilating the Sydney Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013 37
defense with five goals in the first three minutes. From there the Unspeakables were always playing catch-up, but they got their act together and slowly but surely closed down the early advantage. By the drinks break Macquarie had done just enough to hold their lead at 70-50. By the twenty minute mark, it was all square at 100 apiece. The Malaclaws then found their second wind and pulled three goals clear, just in time for Alyssa Halbe to snatch the snitch for Sydney and take us to overtime for the first time in the tournament. After two agitating minutes, in which both teams traded a goal and remained wholly inseparable, it was Edwin Nelson who rose to the occasion, taking the match’s second snitch to hand Macquarie a spectacular victory. With the Malaclaws’ triumph over the Unspeakables, they locked themselves in as undisputed top dog in Pool A, topping the group undefeated. Perth consoled themselves with a lazy win over Wollongong in the basement clash, then Sydney recovered from their epic to dull Newcastle’s charge, surviving a late comeback to upset the Fireballs and confirm second place in the group. The fate of Pool B would be decided by Melbourne’s final two games. First up they ended the tournament of the unlucky Nargles, who had the better of much of the contest but for once lacked the snitch catch when it was really necessary. With UNSW easily casting aside JCU to finish with three wins, it left the previously undefeated Manticores and UWS joining them in the finals, but 38
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
still to face each other. There was nothing between the two essentially spent teams, playing their final games of what had been such a devastatingly hot day and with squads a bit smaller than would be optimal for such conditions. Goals were traded back and forth early on, before Melbourne threatened to take the ascendency only for UWS to duly pacify the danger. After a frenetic and high-scoring opening which saw UWS lead 50-40 at drinks, the game rather petered away as each team fought just to stay on their feet and think clearly. It became a contest of pure attrition, with no team ever getting near the kind of decisive edge needed to pull clear of the snitch margin. So in many ways it was no surprise that the match came down to a controversial snitch catch, which saw the Manticores denied a marginal capture due to interference and a dropped tag, only for Christian Barquin to pick up the pieces for UWS. The result left all three powerhouse teams in Pool B with identical records of three wins and one loss, but it was the superior points percentage of UNSW, largely thanks to their ruthless whitewashing of JCU, which saw them top the table.
SUNDAY: DAY TWO With the two group winners, UNSW and Macquarie, earning themselves a nice late start through their Saturday performances, the morning opened with a pair of elimination finals. Each match saw the second-place team from one group playing against (and theoretically
expected to beat) the third place team. But it’s never that simple. The last three months of Triwizard form have suggested the top New South Wales teams are almost un-differentiable, and that’s without throwing the two newbies, Melbourne and Sydney, into the mix. It was those two (somewhat) surprise packages who would face first up. Melbourne vs Sydney The University of Sydney Unspeakables and Melbourne Manticores had been the two supreme revelations of QUAFL 2012. Both came within a lucky break of peerlessly topping their groups undefeated. Sydney’s only loss resulted from their gallant overtime struggle against Macquarie, decided by the fortunate lottery that is the overtime snitch, which Edwin Nelson snatched. Melbourne were undefeated until their tight and controversial late afternoon loss to UWS. It is a reflection on the the harsh nature of the tournament that those two defeats left the Unspeakables second in Pool A and the Manticores third in Pool B. So they faced off earlier than many the day before would have predicted. The clash was an intriguing one though, because an unlucky single Saturday loss wasn’t all these two teams had in common. This match also marked the meeting of an unstoppable force against an immovable object, as the tournament’s two most individually styled and tactically aggressive teams faced off. At brooms up, Sydney captain Declan
A NEWCASTLE CHASER TRIES TO OUTRUN THE MANTICORE KEEPER. (PHOTO: MATT HUDSON)
Waddell got to the quaffle first and duly scored possibly the quickest goal of the tournament. By the time a minute had passed, Waddell had already scored a spectacular opener and gotten himself a yellow card. Star Manticore chasers Katherine Hunter and Michael Butera drew the bulk of Sydney attention, allowing Kat Young into open space to equalize, before Butera and captain Hunter took total control of the contest themselves. A pair of goals each later and Melbourne were 50-10 clear and well on their way to the minor semi-final. Melbourne keeper Robbie Tucknott proved himself to be the ultimate immovable object, in the process rendering Sydney’s Regan Pullen a well and truly stopped force, as the Unspeakable chaser careened fronton into Tucknott and was suitably floored. Pullen was uninjured, though, continuing this weekend’s fortunate and trend-breaking streak of luck as far as major injuries are concerned. It took until the eighth minute for Andrew Bell to get a second score on the board for the Unspeakables. But it was scant relief, for Melbourne well and truly had their measure. It took a team as equally physical as the Manticores to take it to Unspeakables and beat them at their own game. The scoring rate only increased as Butera and Hunter ran amok, drawing Melbourne miles clear of snitch danger. With his team leading 90-20, the pressure was off Sam Washington and he had no trouble putting the icing on the cake, snapping up the snitch and completing a veritable thrashing as far as finals matches go. It would prove to be the first and last game of the day not decided by the snitch catch. Newcastle vs UWS The second elimination final of the day pitted 2011 runners-up and Pool B runners-up UWS against the struggling top seed Newcastle, who were scratchy all day Saturday and had scraped through Pool A by the skin of their teeth. In October, these two played out a frenzied high-scoring classic in which Newcastle came from behind to triumph. At least initially, as so often happens, this rematch went a completely different direction. It was a defensive struggle
from the off, with neither team able to score in the opening exchanges. Not only that, but the usually chaser-dominant UWS found themselves controlling the bludger contest, while the famously strong Fireball beaters offered little resistance. The absence of the injured Thomas Russell and Newcastle’s lack of female depth were showing themselves to be decisive hardships to overcome. Gender ratio forced Captain Lora Wiggins to start with Matt Ingram, a pair of the highest individual quality, but not a partnership in which either were familiar or comfortable. With Christian Barquin and Thomas Tan dominating the beater contest, it was left to the veteran UWS chaser trio of Daniel Ormshaw, Corey Ingold-Dawes and Chrystal Player to put the finishing touches onto the performance. There is no chaser unit more equipped at clinical finishing. It was only Newcastle’s spirited defense, led by indomitable keeper Roy Velting, which limited UWS to two goals in the first eight minutes. But everything was going wrong for Newcastle. They could maintain no sustained pressure, then lost the talismanic figure of Celeste Hollingsworth to a knee injury. UWS slowly ground down the Fireballs and there would be no stopping Ingold-Dawes in particular as he completed a hat-trick, which took his team to a crucial 50-10 lead. It took the introduction of Darren Faulkner into the game to turn the tide in Newcastle’s favor. Faulkner scored twice in thirty seconds to hand his side momentum. But the Fireballs had more than just momentum over their old rivals: they also had an advantage in depth of both numbers and quality, as well as tactical adaptability. By the twentieth minute Newcastle had wrested the upper hand from UWS against the odds, evening the score up at 50-50. So it would come down to the snitch, and Darren Faulkner cemented himself as undisputed man of the match, relieving Julian Kirkby and making the catch neither Kirkby nor Barquin could to seal another amazing comeback win for Newcastle. Once again, UWS found themselves out of a tournament surprisingly and perhaps undeservedly early, considering their performance. For the Fireballs, much more work
would still need to be done if they had any chance of taking home the trophy at the end of the day. With these first two results, both second place teams had been knocked out by both third place teams, highlighting the closeness of competition. UNSW vs Macquarie UNSW and the Macquarie Malaclaws both managed to fight through adversity and top their respective pools, leaving the two great rivals to face off for an astonishing seventh time in 2012. The head-to-head of three apiece tells you all you need to know about the closeness of these two great clubs. But recent form, both head-to-head and from QUAFL Saturday, suggested the hosts should go in as slight favorites. But nobody told UNSW. Early on it was a tough and rugged contest, confined largely to center-field as each team’s impressive beater units dominated proceedings. Kieran Tolley and Ben Chau in particular were stellar, ensuring neither team could build a string of genuine chances. Macquarie were having to adjust to life without Carl Quitzau for Sunday and appeared slightly tentative in their quaffle play, allowing UNSW to have the run of play. Minh Diep led the way with a pair of goals, split by a solitary score from Andrew Culf before he went off to seek. But Macquarie’s renowned defense, as well as an Amber Williams goal, kept UNSW in check, restricting them to a 30-10 lead after ten minutes despite their ruthlessly impressive quidditch. Alex Hood and Liam Skeates-Udy had the unenviable task of collectively filling Quitzau’s keeping boots, but they showed themselves to be a snug fit, particularly in attack. A pair of goals from Hood leveled the scores and shifted the momentum towards the Malaclaws. Skeates-Udy then relieved Hood after his hard work and duly added an equally speedy brace of his own to take Macquarie 50-30 clear. The Malaclaws’ momentum was broken, however, when their seeker pursued the misbehaving snitch onto an ill-advised roof, inevitably leading to a disastrous fall and time out while the full St. John ambulance contingent attended to the snitch. Upon resumption of play, Beth Crane made her experienced presence felt, Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013 39
leveling the scores with a quick pair. But once again Macquarie showed themselves to have the stronger staying power, slowly grinding their opponents down and creeping clear again. But with the match running well and truly beyond its allotted time and a replacement snitch flitting back towards the field with Andrew Culf in pursuit, time was not on the Malaclaws’ side. Culf did the job, snapping the snitch for UNSW, but a hasty pair of goals from Hood and captain Laura Bailey had taken Macquarie 30 clear just in time and out of jail. With the score finishing at 80-80, onwards to overtime both teams went, with a place in the Grand Final the prize. Skeates-Udy scored quickly to re-establish Macquarie’s ascendancy, but Culf could not be stopped, making a second snatch and booking a second consecutive Grand Final berth for UNSW. Newcastle vs Melbourne With UNSW safely through to the Grand Final, Macquarie awaited the winner of this game to see who would join the reigning champions in the decider. Melbourne was an ominous challenge for the out-of-form Newcastle, but things were slowly starting to come together for the Fireballs. The Manticores fronted up with their usual intimidating line-up. But Newcastle chose not to try and match this, instead opting for the speed of Desany Phanoraj and Levi Weitenberg as chasers and relying on their beater game. Once again Melbourne showed a weakness straight from the start, with Weitenberg snapping up the quaffle and opening the scoring. But that was not where the similarities with their last game ended, for Melbourne quickly took control of the quaffle contest. But they found Newcastle’s beater defense an altogether harder proposition to penetrate than Sydney’s had been. Matt Ingram and Lora Wiggins kept the Manticores out, while the Manticore defense was less effective at dealing with Newcastle’s small, nimble chasers. Melbourne uses their muscle to dominate a contest, but rather than fighting what is likely an unwinnable fight, Newcastle ran rings around the opposition instead. Phanoraj’s fleet40
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
footedness kept her clear of the physical contest, while Weitenberg was the perfect nuggety finisher, adding a second goal five minutes in. Melbourne were far from beaten though, fighting back with goals to Robbie Tucknott and Mick Butera to level the scores. But Newcastle had their measure in a way no other team had managed and the frustration eventually showed with Tucknott red-carded for an aggressive and unsighted off-the-ball challenge. Newcastle’s subsequent numerical advantage opened the game up further, allowing the stellar Dameon Osborn to finally get on the board and re-establish Newcastle’s lead in the twelfth minute. But such a tight defensive game was always going to come down to the snitch. Sam Washington was well positioned as ever, but Julian Kirkby sprung from nowhere to take a spectacular diving catch and seal what could ironically, considering the pre-tournament odds, be considered an upset victory. Newcastle vs Macquarie The Preliminary final saw our first (and only) Saturday rematch of the tournament. Considering the controversy, passion and surprise of Macquarie’s first demolition of Newcastle, it was anyone’s guess what could happen this time. The start of the match was certainly no less physical, with the decidedly kamikaze duo of Liam Skeates-Udy and Levi Weitenberg in particular meeting bodies regularly. But Skeates-Udy was the difference initially, taking Macquarie to an early 20-0 lead. Desany Phanoraj then hit back with an amazing winding deflecting solo run, but the Malaclaws were opening up space in the Fireball defense, which Laura Bailey slid herself into to add a third goal. It took until after this opening frenzy for both teams to get a hold on the match defensively, through courageous chaser and keeper walls more than beater play. Macquarie took the controversial decision of not starting star beater Kieran Tolley, but the new pairing of Daniel Claxton and Roman Penna proved curiously effective. For Newcastle, injury was the primary concern. With Russell and Hollingsworth already lost, Emily Roberts also went down, stretching the
female Fireball contingent distressingly thin. But Newcastle have carved a niche for themselves as the comeback kings, so a two-goal advantage was never going to be enough. Phanoraj added her second in the eighth minute before late reinforcement Dameon Osborn came into the match with immediate effect. When a loose quaffle fell fortuitously to keeper Roy Velting, leaving him to score almost unchallenged, Newcastle had hit the front. But if there’s one team that can match Newcastle for depth, it’s Macquarie. Chasers as talented as John Ilacqua and Edwin Nelson had been largely unfeatured in the early stages and when they both scored crucial goals, only for yet another second wave Fireball to score in Darren Faulkner, it was all square. Desany Phanoraj then became Newcastle’s latest injury concern, forcing the heroic former captain Hollingsworth to hobble on field to retain gender ratio. Thankfully, the end was near. Predictably and appropriately, Mr. Snitch had final say again. On this occasion the snitch was trying particularly hard to be bedevilling, shielding himself amidst spectators and teammates to try and deftly sneak back towards the field. But Julian Kirkby was not fooled, pouncing and continuing the unlikely Fireball miracle. The Malaclaws can consider themselves unlucky, having gone through Saturday undefeated, and then overcoming the lack of Carl Quitzau admirably on Sunday. But two high-quality performances weren’t quite enough, because they came against the seeking juggernauts that are Andrew Culf and Julian Kirkby. Now we waited with bated breath for these to battle for ultimate glory. UNSW vs Newcastle On November 26, 2011, UNSW became the inaugural national quidditch champions when they defeated UWS in the QUAFL 2011 Grand Final. Since then they have been up and down, doing just enough to retain top seed in their pool for QUAFL 2012. Newcastle disappointed in 2011, falling to fourth after two disastrous losses to UNSW and UWS. But in 2012 they ascended to the very top of the game, emphatically earning their status as a top seed.
AUSTRALIA REGION: ONE WORLD CUP SPOT Standings
Rank
University of New South Wales Newcastle Fireballs
1 2
So coming into Saturday, December 1, 2012, UNSW and Newcastle were our two mathematical favorites. Yet after their respective first matches, both had been defeated and the balance of power seemed to be decisively shifting. But thirty-six hours and twenty-five matches later, here we were with the two old favorites, having come full circle. After much pretentious pre-match fanfare and grandiosity, including an inspiring multi-verse performance of the national anthem by Laura Bailey, it was show time. If the tension wasn’t palpable enough, these two teams had gone to overtime in both their previous encounters. In September, UNSW dominated only for Newcastle to steal it with consecutive snitch catches. In October, roles were reversed as UNSW came from 30 behind to win with twin snatches. There is nothing about each other that these two teams don’t know, as was clear from the intense early exchanges. For all the flaws in both teams’ performances this QUAFL, and for all the theoretical quality of teams like Macquarie and Melbourne in comparison, there should no doubting that both these teams were deserving Grand Finalists. The quality of quidditch was immediately taken to a new level hitherto unseen over the
Win Percentage
Avg. Adjusted Pts Diff.
83.33% 62.50%
33 15
tournament. It was UNSW in particular who were responsible for such flawlessly textbook and efficient attacking quidditch. Ben Chau was extraordinary as ever with the bludgers, including an incredible potshot at the quaffle as it fired towards the goal, striking it in mid-air from below as it passed over his head. Chau was admirably supported by the nimble, pestery and underrated Ena Luis. With defense well and truly taken care of, Chris Rock, Beth Crane, Andrew Culf, and Minh Diep, four names that speak for themselves, were left to dominate quaffle proceedings. UNSW were playing all the quidditch, clearly feeling the advantage of having played two fewer matches than their wounded opponents. In any other circumstance, UNSW would have run amok, but not against the quaffle defensive courage and dexterous beater annoyance of Newcastle. After ten minutes, UNSW could only manage a pair of goals, both to Culf. When he left to seek, there was surely cause for concern. But Ashwin Tembe proved an adequate replacement, scoring quickly, then setting up Beth Crane for one of her trademark wrestling twisting short range goals. At 40-0 now, things were officially getting
dire for Newcastle. But they can never be discounted. Four goals was the margin against UWS at one stage, and like that game early in the morning, it was a sudden pair of spectacular goals which shifted the momentum, this time from Dameon Osborn. Desany Phanoraj quickly added to Newcastle’s column and suddenly it was 40-30 and tension filled the air. Chris Rock added a fifth for UNSW, but it was now palpably clear to everyone that the final snitch catch would decide QUAFL 2012. However, no one could have expected the kind of anti-climactic and yet curiously dramatic conclusion. As quaffle play continued unabated, of the highest intensity and quality, a humble snitch ref came panting up the hill, with vital news from afar. “The green guys caught it.” And with that highly official sounding pronouncement, UNSW had done it again. Andrew Culf was the hero, diving fearlessly into a murky lake to follow the enterprising snitch and coming up with the tournament-winning catch. Against the odds, UNSW had once again risen to the occasion when it really mattered, successfully defending their title and gaining the Australian spot at World Cup VI in the United States. ■
James Hosford is the Sporting Director and head sportswriter for the Australian Quidditch Association. A budding sports journalist and quidditch tragic, his life’s ambition is to combine both great passions and become a published professional quidditch reporter. LEFT: UNSW CELEBRATES AFTER WINNING THE TOURNAMENT.
RIGHT: THE TEAMS AND THE TROPHY. (PHOTOS: MATT HUDSON)
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013 41
travel time BY ALICIA RADFORD
42
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
this season, there have been more tournaments around the world than ever before. the average team travels five times a year. where do they go? how much does it cost? and can they keep it up?
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013 43
t
the life of a quidditch player is very busy. With over 175 official IQA teams around the world and at least a hundred unofficial ones that actively play against other teams, hardly a week passes without a handful of tournaments taking place. On the weekend of November 3-4 alone there were nine tournaments scheduled in seven US states. The IQA’s referee development team has held referee certification at a whopping 65 tournaments and other events in the United States and Canada since July, with plans to hold the first certification clinic in Australia in February. This huge surge in events is extremely positive for the growth of the sport, and of course for the personal happiness of the players who participate in them. When properly advertised to a school campus or community, quidditch tournaments have a tendency to draw in a lot of spectators, whether they’re Harry Potter fans or simply curious. Many of those spectators go home and Google the IQA and start making plans to form a team of their own. The more teams travel to 44
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
events off their own campus or community park, the more players get to meet other “quidkids” and strengthen the ties of community that have become synonymous with quidditch tournaments. And of course, thanks to the Internet, new friendships formed at tournaments or pick-up matches between geographically distant players don’t have to end with the last three whistles. We have Facebook to thank for the proliferation of fantasy tournaments last summer. What started as a Southwest idea quickly spread to almost every other US region once people saw the Southwest fantasy tournament Facebook event pop up on their newsfeeds. That said, how much traveling does the average quidditch player actually do? In a survey of 30 players from 26 teams around the world (admittedly a small sample, but quidditch players are not known for their punctuality when filling out forms), between January 2012 and the upcoming World Cup in April teams went to an average of 5.6 events. Eight of those teams went to an impressive ten or 11 events, while only four went to one event.
Brandeis University, in Waltham, Massachusetts, has the benefit of being centrally located in the quidditch world. Only nine miles west of Boston—the home of five well-respected and established official teams—and within driving distance to other quidditch hotspots like Connecticut, New York City, and Philadelphia, Brandeis has been able to travel to ten events, with individual players also participating in pick-up games in New York City and Boston. “We love the other teams in our region,” said Alex Brenner, from Brandeis. “And it’s fun to get to see them and play with them, especially teams from places like upstate New York, or Vermont, which are a little too far for us to drive and only have a one-on-one meet. I would be thrilled if we could start having some more regional tournaments, outside of the championships in the fall.” All of that travel cost over $1,000. Brandeis drives to every event, and usually has to take two or three vans to fit all of their players. They do get some help from the university—the school provides the vans and one tank of gas each, but most trips require more than that. Also
"l hate generalizing, but it feels like quidkids are way friendlier than the rest of the human population." included in the cost of travel is paying for hotels when the team needs to stay overnight. While some events, like the Snow Cup in Salt Lake City, manage to find free housing for all the players on people’s couches and floors, most of the time that’s not an option. To help offset the cost, the Brandeis team sells cookies, t-shirts, and shot glasses. This semester they’re hoping to add sweatshirts to that lineup. Although $1,000 is steep, Brenner doesn’t think he paid too much for travel, and he plans on traveling more next year than this year. “The best part is definitely bumping into old friends, along with all of the new friends that we’ve made since we started traveling. We’ve got players who know people all over the country. I hate generalizing, but it feels like quidkids are way friendlier than the rest of the human population.” EVEN IN A CITY LIKE Los Angeles, which has several thriving official teams and a new Southern California Quidditch Conference, teams take the initiative to travel farther. UCLA and USC
have both traveled to Stanford (five and a half hours away), and they’ll make the trek to the Bay Area again in February for their regional championships. Some USC players, including Nicté Sobrino, drove more than 12 hours two years in a row to attend the Snow Cup in Salt Lake City, and flew to the Austin Fantasy Quidditch event last summer in Austin, Texas. All of that travel cost Sobrino around $800. Teams like the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley would seem to be at more of a disadvantage; after Denverarea teams, which are an hour’s drive away, the next closest teams are the Utah Crimson Flyers in Salt Lake City at seven and a half hours and the University of Kansas at eight and a half hours. But that hasn’t stopped UNC player Rebecca Mulligan from attending eight events, including the WxSW Interregional Showcase in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which is seven and a half hours away. Her team will drive to the Southwest regional in College Station, Texas (15 and a half hours away), and she plans to fly to the World Cup in Florida, if her team makes it—she estimates that World Cup will
cost UNC five to six thousand dollars. Mulligan echoes Brenner’s sentiments that great people make long road trips worth it. “I get to spend time with my awesome teammates. With how busy our schedules are we only really get to see each other for practices, and road trips are a great way to get to know your teammates. You get extremely comfortable, extremely fast. Soon enough people are sleeping in each other’s laps, you have a complete a capella rendition of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ and you learn that everyone in the car has a thing for Ryan Gosling.” IF THE DEFAULT MODE of transportation within the United States is driving, within Australia, it’s flying. The Melbourne Manticores, in Melbourne, Victoria, flew to the QUAFL Cup in Sydney (a distance of 544 miles) and the Cairns Classic in Cairns, Queensland (a distance of 1,836 miles). The Manticores’ Jennifer Meers has spent approximately $750 AUD on quidditch travel. She expects to travel less next year than this year. Kat Young, another Manticore, was also a member of the Australian nationQuidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013 45
Total events respondents traveled to: 73 in 32 US states and four other countries. (And that's just the 26 teams that filled out the survey!)
What's the farthest you've driven to a quidditch event? One hour
How much have you spent?
Two hours Three hours
$50
Four hours
$200
Five hours
$300
Six hours
$400
Seven hours
$500 $600
Eight hours
$700
Nine hours
$800
Ten hours
$900
Eleven hours
$1,000
Twelve hours
$1,500 $2,000
More than twelve hours 02468 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 1011
12
$6,000
Number of respondents
al team at the IQA Summer Games in Oxford. The addition of that trip pushed her expenses past $6,000 AUD. Australian national team jersey sales and trivia nights helped somewhat with the cost, but unsurprisingly Kat feels that $6,000 is too much to pay. Australian players paid more to travel to fewer events than players in the United States, Canada, or France. In such a large country, with major cities spread out generously along 16,000 miles of coastline, traveling great distances to participate in tournaments is a fact of life. The Perth Phoenixes had to fly 2,445 miles to the QUAFL Cup in Sydney. The JCU Galleons, in Cairns, had to fly 1,270 miles. Distances like that preclude driving as a reasonable option. Australian respondents were split on whether they would travel more or less next year than this year. With the IQA’s goal of increasing opportunities for competition around the world, is there anything the IQA can do to help bring travel costs down? James Hyder, of the Perth Phoenixes, suggested that the IQA make “some sort of deal with airlines. We do all
46
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our travel by flying, so that would benefit us the most.” Zach Bickoff, of the JCU Galleons, thinks that “the creation of an isolated teams travel subsidy fund to allow isolated teams to travel to at least one event per season” would go a long way. Both of those ideas are good ones, and the former will become more feasible as the IQA is able to show companies and cities the economic impact and benefits of quidditch events after this year’s regional championships and World Cup. More city support and financial help for tournaments will mean increased revenue for the IQA, which could be used to create an isolated teams travel fund for the following season. Although Australians paid more for travel than players elsewhere, three out of five surveyed didn’t think they paid too much. As in the United States and elsewhere, in Australia the “welcoming feeling expressed by the entire quidditch community” makes the price worth it. “People who you’ve never met are willing to open their homes for you just so you can join them on the pitch for a few hours of intense action!” said Bickoff.
0.00
.5
1.01 1
.5
2.02 2
.5
3.03 3
.5 4 4.0
Number of respondents
Money (that's what l want) Only 29% of the school-affiliated teams surveyed received financial help from their university to help fund travel. Besides paying out of pocket, how else do quidditch teams raise the thousands of dollars to fund a full season, which could include flights and accommodation for up to 21 people to play in the World Cup? There are the usual suspects—tshirt sales can be very effective, with some teams making upwards of $600 each year; car washes; and asking for donations through websites like Indiegogo. Some teams are also able to get local businesses to sponsor them. Northern Arizona University got a $500 sponsorship from the local bookstore. But those traditional fundraisers are only the beginning. Quidditch players are highly ingenious, and teams around the world have some pretty great ways of getting money. Southern Illinois University is having a “Snitch Run,” where people “will pay to enter, then on a specified day we will have snitches running all over campus,”
PLAYER TRADING CARDS FROM SNOW CUP III. (PHOTOS: JEN JEWELL)
explains SIU player Kelsea. “If you’ve entered and catch a snitch you win a prize, such as a t-shirt or candy basket.” That’s not the only trick up SIU’s sleeve: “One of our players is famous on campus for his mustache, and came up with the idea to have a ‘Save it or Shave it’ fundraiser.” Since most team fundraisers target their college-aged peers, food fundraisers are always a safe bet. The Virginia Commonwealth University Wizengamot run a popular peanut butter and jelly sandwich broomstick delivery service on campus. “We even held a Glen Coco candy cane-grams drive throughout the holiday season,” said VCU player Tommy McPhail. Landon Smith from Tennessee Tech University said his team has made $300 selling butterbeer at each home match. Their last bake sale netted about $100. Many teams host “Yule Balls”—dances that are open to the public and require a ticket purchase. The Ohio State University averages 500 attendees at their Yule Ball. The University of Ottawa is having a Yule Ball for the first time this year. “There will be 150 people there,” said
Clare Hutchinson. “Tickets are $35, and we’re hosting it at a church, as that’s the cheapest venue.” The Utah Crimson Flyers have one of the league’s most popular fundraisers— player trading cards. The Flyers have made them for World Cup 2011, Western Cup 2012, and Snow Cup III. The trading cards are made in batches, and just like real trading cards, some are more rare—and therefore valuable—than others. They’re selling the full set of Snow Cup cards for $62, a custom pack of nine for $6, and a random pack of nine for $3. Not many quidditch players can resist collecting cards of their friends, or themselves, and they make a great tournament keepsake.
Snitch, please Players aren’t the only people who do a lot of traveling. Every tournament needs snitches and certified head referees, and while more high-quality snitches and referees are being churned out at snitch academies and certification sessions every month, there is still a dearth of quali-
Popular fundraisers • Apparel sales (t-shirts, sweatshirts, sunglasses, bracelets) • Team calendar sales • Bake sales • Movie nights • Yule Balls • Player trading cards • Partnering with establishments like Buffalo Wild Wings or yogurt shops • Hosting a tournament with a per-team registration fee • Indiegogo • Team yard sale • Helping university sports: working the concession stand at games, cleaning the arena after games, or parking cars • Hosting kidditch events • Finding local businesses to sponsor the team
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013 47
Do you think you paid too much for travel?
How much do you think you'll travel next year?
No (16 respondents; 53%) More than this year (16 respondents; 53%)
Yes (14 respondents; 47%) Less than this year (5 respondents; 17%) Same as this year (9 respondents; 30%)
fied officials based on the high volume of tournaments. In addition, besides the $12 per game paid to each head referee in an official match, there are no other financial incentives or help available to snitches and referees. So those who have the means to travel end up spending a lot. Rob “Snitch” Szabo is a snitch who lives in Virginia. Since January 2012, he’s snitched at over 20 different events up and down the Atlantic seaboard. He also plans to snitch at World Cup. The cost? Around $1,405. He graduated from VCU in 2011, and his travel is all self-funded. “[The best part is] meeting new people and having new and exciting challenges on the pitch,” said Szabo. Similarly, Alex Clark is a referee and member of the IQA referee development team. From his home base in Texas, he has traveled to nine events since January, and will also ref at the Southwest regionals. He is also making the journey to Kissimmee for World Cup as the World Cup logistics manager. He’s reffed and certified others at events as varied as QuidCon 2012 in Chicago, Western Cup in Los Angeles, the Arkansas Ra-
zorback Cup, and the Oklahoma State University Cowboy Cup (the world deserves another article on how quidditch tournaments have the best names). Clark has driven more than 12 hours more than once for a quidditch tournament. His total travel costs are $2,212.59. Even so, he doesn’t think he paid too much for travel this year, and even plans to travel more next year. “Meeting everyone and being able to make everything happen for them” makes it worth it, he said. Clark is one of a couple dozen individuals within the IQA for whom traveling and working at tournaments is a part of life, and the league’s success this year with tournament and officiating quality is due to their dedication and financial sacrifices. Even if they don’t come home with a championship title, official referees who fly across the country to ref without the hope of their payment covering the cost of the plane ticket, and snitches like Szabo, who spend hundreds of dollars without any compensation in return, are still winners. As far as why we do it—why hundreds, if not thousands, of us spend our eve-
nings, nights and weekends on quidditch, leading practices, running drills, designing t-shirts, hosting fundraisers, singing loudly to Disney songs on hour eight of a 12-hour road trip, booking plane tickets, and spending small fortunes each year— that’s easy. There’s something very unique about being a part of this sport. Maybe it’s because the sport it so new: everyone is a pioneer, everyone has a stake. Maybe it’s because aside from any wish fulfilment from those of us who grew up reading Harry Potter, quidditch is a damn good game, and a game worth perfecting and fighting for. And maybe, it’s because of the community. Or all of these. In the words of Alexandra, a Charlotte Quidditch and QC Carolinas player, “Quidditch has been an amazing experience for me. Getting to play against and meet people from other teams is an absolute honor. I’ve found myself falling madly in love with the quidditch community and I wouldn’t trade my experiences for anything else.” And what an exhilarating feeling it is, to know that there are hundreds of others all over the world who feel the same way. ■
Alicia Radford is the IQA’s Chief Operating Officer. She has been involved with quidditch since she took the University of Washington team to the 2008 World Cup at Middlebury College. She graduated from UW in 2010 with a creative writing degree and works as a graphic designer in Phoenix, AZ. 48
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013
New store. New stuff. iqaproshop.com
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013 49
Professional quidditch? The future of the sport— and how we might get there BY ERIC ANDRES
ome people, including myself, have found new horizons in quidditch. For the last three years, this amazing sport has captured my attention with new faces, new competition, and a new love for a sport so many people are confused about. It’s even leading me to have second guesses about my career path, as playing and coaching quidditch for a living seems so much more appealing than grading angsty high school sophomores’ essays. But is playing quidditch for a living a possibility? Even in my lifetime? My answer is an unequivocal yes.
S
Community Teams Defined, professional sports are sporting events or leagues in which the players are paid in any monetary format, whether with a salary, hourly wage, or on a pergame basis. If quidditch is going to go pro, where do we start? The generation that plays quidditch now continues to grow—and grow older. As more players enter college and play quidditch, an equal amount is leaving school without an established team to keep playing on in most areas. This, as a natural progression, is where community teams come in. They are the next step to a semblance of a professional sports league full of experienced players spread around the world. Currently, players are graduating from school and following their career wherever it goes. For the first time, we’re seeing a bulk of these players follow their dreams to a different city, but only if it has quidditch. If professional teams start to blossom, we’ll see high school seniors choose colleges based on the same factor. Already, we’ve seen powerful community teams blossom on both coasts, with 52
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one such team striking fear in much of the Western region: the Lost Boys of Los Angeles, California. With a smattering of California locals and East Coast graduates, the Lost Boys roster includes famous quidditch names such as Dan Hanson (Emerson College ’11) and Steve DiCarlo (Hofstra University ’11). Both have seen World Cup action at their respective alma maters, and have brought the experience to the next level of competition. When asked about the possibility of community teams being the precursor to pro teams, DiCarlo agrees that “as they become more competitive and filled with individuals who played for years in college, it wouldn’t be too bizarre to charge admission to games between them.” Steve alludes to a dream that many of today’s players have: playing in a stadium in front of thousands of fans, or even on cable television (which, might I add, just happened). But would that be so strange in college? Already we see students paying large season ticket prices to home football games, especially in larger and more spirit-established schools. Arizona State University, the largest
university by enrollment in the United States, charges $169 for season tickets in their student section. But where does that money go? Most schools are proud to boast that ticket sales fund many athletic scholarships and opportunities for their athletes. Many of us without the wool over our eyes know that these high-profile students are “paid” in many benefits without monetary gain, but even that wall has been recently (and illegally) breached. If this isn’t so far-fetched, we’re already one step closer to achieving sponsorship and ticket sale benefits outside of college. That step is one that some players like Hanson and DiCarlo have already taken: community teams. As community teams rise, we’re seeing a higher rate of players who are college veterans and know the game, mixing competition and fitness into a somewhat aged demographic. There is a lot of support for these teams from the student community, as some players are now aspiring to graduate and join QC Boston Massacre (Boston, Massachusetts) or Steel City Quidditch (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Having college graduates run (PHOTOS: FLICKR USER WONKER)
How long will it take for us to be buying tickets to the Kansas City Krakens vs. Steel City match? these teams helps communities become aware and supportive of a new sport in their midst. IQA Membership Director Katie Stack remarks that community quidditch possesses a lot of potential, “because it is such a fast-paced and exciting sport to watch; even without a thorough understanding of the complex rules, the antics of snitches and constant action with the multiple balls and players on the field gives all spectators something to watch and engage with.” This sport is compatible with the sports world we now live in, so much that anyone could translate some aspect of the game to a part of their own favorite sport. Stack goes on to say that “the sports that have reached a professional level are sports that have money, sports that the average Joe will pay a lot to watch.” That average Joe is the same Joe who tailgated Super Bowl XLVII or the Jill who just bought her tickets to a lockout-free NHL game. Is it so ridiculous to think that Joes and Jills will make up a bulk of our audience in the future? On the other hand, Stack doesn’t see community teams as the natural progres
sion to pro: “I view community teams more like ‘club teams’ [that] exist in other sports at the high school level—an opportunity to play competitively outside the academic sphere, perhaps with more choice in teammates, coaches, and schedule. We just happen to have this option at the college level.” Community teams may eventually come to be only that—teams for community members. But the growth doesn’t end there. Are community teams formed to compete outside of the academic and, in some schools’ cases, oppressive sphere? Absolutely. Some community teams are tertiary to their college, but made up of students from that college. The Ithaca Hex in Ithaca, New York were formed at their college out of willing students, but denied support and recognition from their institution. Other community teams are simply an overflow of competitive and skilled athletes who can’t fit onto a school’s 21-person roster. In the majority, however, community teams are slowly being built by experienced athletes and leaders to form the next highest tier in quidditch competition. While still in its
infancy, these teams are actually streaking toward a place among other professional sports.
Progression Since this article is speculating on the future, it’s hard to know exactly what will come of the next ten or twenty years of quidditch, so you’re stuck with my conjecture. If community teams are indeed the next link in the evolutionary DNA of quidditch, the timeline is an important part to think about. How long will it take for us to be buying tickets to the Kansas City Krakens vs. Steel City match? How long will I have to wait before one of these teams is going to pay me an obscene amount of money to coach them? With the rise of international quidditch in the spotlight during the IQA Summer Games, quidditch across the pond may blossom into large and welloiled sub-leagues of the IQA. If this is true, we may see a true World Cup of more than ten represented nations within five to seven years. But where does that leave the US and Canada? I believe that Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013 53
no one is going to pay full ticket price to watch a match between two teams that might only last fourteen minutes because of the snitch. attention will shift to multiple leagues that include college, community, and possibly professional teams shortly thereafter. Within five to ten years, a collegiate championship will be formed, creating a comprehensive competition stage for all of the qualifying schools in their respective regions. Community championships will work very much the same way, operating within the same regional boundaries and jurisdictions as college teams. Professional teams, being the more lucrative aspect of the sport, will most likely be governed directly by the Association and played very much like any other playoff system we have in our countries today. These professional teams will have the funds and talent to be able to travel across the country with relative ease and consistency, giving the home fans plenty of matches to attend. But, there is an important question to consider: who will be playing on these teams?
Personnel “ME. I WILL. PICK ME.” Almost anyone who is willing to spend money on a subscription to a quarterly magazine for this sport has had the dream of stepping onto a perfectly manicured pitch in front of a crowd of many thousands, being paid to play the game they love until they grow old and stiff, eventually becoming cranky talent scouts like those seen in Major League Baseball. But where will we get the proud few to don the green and gold for the soonto-be-reborn Seattle Supersonics as a quidditch team? Like many other professional leagues, a great place to start is a college draft. Young talent keeps a sport youthful and exciting, while old skill and mettle keeps a sport solid and captivating. Therefore, the first stock of players must be young, but possess the most experience. In order to build a strong league, we’ll have to see players like James Hicks, Porter Marsh, 54
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Vanessa Goh, and Daniel Daugherty rise to professional quidditch leagues and inspire the next generation of quidditch players, the same way they inspire college players today. Athletes who truly take stock in this sport and pour their energy and devotion into it will be first-round draft picks. If my timeline is way off, and it may be, will this same generation take up the leadership mantle and coach? I style myself more now as a coach than a player, and wake up many mornings after dreaming of leading Northern Arizona University to the World Cup, or having a post-game press conference for my team’s hard-fought win over Texas’s pro team. Personally, I see Zach D’Amico and Kedzie Teller form a formidable wall of leadership and experience in QC Boston. If promises of a team like that come to fruition, I don’t see why it won’t lead the charge into professional quidditch. D’Amico and Teller have a list of accolades and accomplishments as long as Alex Benepe’s snitch-topped cane, giving them quite the advantage to any team they come to control. Steel City’s Matt Panico also tops my list, making me eager to see what Pittsburgh will be able to turn out in future competition. This generation may not be the one that gets signing bonuses and endorsements during the draft, but they’ll be the ones handing the rookie their jersey at the press conference and yelling into their headset from the sidelines.
Rules With a more organized and widespread league comes better equipment and more comprehensive rules. Many of us love today’s quidditch for its ability to wear us out and give us a great snitch show to watch. But with an influx of new pro quidditch fans who have never picked up a Harry Potter book, will the snitch make sense to them? Utah’s Alan Black argues
that today’s snitch rules will hinder pro quidditch from rising to a nationallyloved event. “The human snitch and the unpredictability that comes with it will prevent quidditch from becoming a true professional sport,” says Black, and he has a point. The snitch creates an enormous amount of variables for each match, and, in order to make it fair, a snitch would have to be completely equal in every instance. With millions of dollars of ticket sales, advertising, and other endorsements on the line, it would be impossible to leave that large of a human element to decide the outcome of the game. You might be saying, “but referees are a human element!” I can attest that referees are only human and sometimes make bad calls that negatively affect the outcome of a game. But snitches come in all shapes and strengths, making one competition unequal to another. Black continues to hit the nail on the head: “the amount of rigid structure needed to sustain a pro sport just doesn’t mesh with the uncertainty the snitch provides in every game.” Either the snitch will have to become obsolete, become robotic, or snitches will be a corps of cloned human beings with the same physical and athletic attributes to preserve fairness. It pains me to say this, as I’m a big supporter of snitch play—it truly entices spectators and makes our sport unique. But in the future, snitches may only have a ceremonial role. The equipment used in today’s quidditch is still extremely varied, and there isn’t widespread use of one hoop or broom design yet. Many teams lust over Alivan’s heavy, wooden, and whimsicallooking broom models to complete their arsenal, but I think brooms should move in a different direction. Many outsiders look at our sport and say, “get rid of the broom, and I’m there.” They see it as too silly, nullifying the action and excitement of the rest of the game. I can sympathize with that view, but I’m a large supporter of broom play and what it brings. One
of my favorite things to add into a description of quidditch is “it gets hard to throw, catch, and tackle all with one arm since everyone has to ride a broom.” The broom is a wonderful handicap that links us to our origins, but is also a handicap that makes our athleticism unique. Aside from being able to throw and catch a ball that was designed to be smacked over a net, quidditch players are becoming increasingly ambidextrous and lithe with their brooms. Because of this, I think we should retain the broom and streamline it, stepping away from the traditional view of a magician’s knobbly and coarse flying instrument. Broom designers, like myself, are already reaching a prototype phase of new streamlined broomsticks, giving players the advantage of light materials, sturdy fiberglass builds, and customizable team graphics and numbering. High school students will be carrying their broomsticks around in the halls much like today’s teenagers carry their lacrosse sticks. We will be able to retain our roots, but update the design for a more streamlined world. As for the playing field, pitches are luckily already ahead of their time. I sometimes marvel at how the framers of the rulebook got the dimensions right on nearly their first try, and required little tweaking thereafter. For a seven on seven sport, the pitch’s length of 48 yards is almost ideal. We may see a lengthening of the pitch in the near future, as more athletic players are able to fast break that distance with relative ease, but we’re not too far off. Basketball has always included a ten foot high hoop, but dunking has become more prominent and easy as athletes progress. We may see a difference in hoop height or diameter, but changes like these can be made more easily than we think.
Game Play Many people will get into heated arguments as to how game play of the future will be if we turn to pro quidditch. Will it be exactly like it is today? The answer is no; we have many tweaks and problems to work out with our current system before we have something that can be nationally loved. Some have thought about introducing halves, time outs, limited
snitch play, different score values, and even changing the positions’ purposes. While anything is possible in the future, here are my ideas: Right now, no one is going to pay full ticket price to watch a match between two teams that might only last fourteen minutes because of the snitch. No city will pay for its team to travel across the country to have their butts kicked in a quarter of an hour. Not one single coach is going to train his team hard for months for a match that might not be longer than movie previews in a theatre. In order to draw a crowd, draw revenue, and draw players, match structure will have to change. I know that fans will drive across cities and states to watch a three-hour baseball game, so what will draw them into quidditch? Either quidditch matches will be long like soccer and include two halves with a halftime, or we may see matches like volleyball games, where the winner wins the best of three games. Either way, I’m truly a proponent of having times, like a halftime, where I can gather my players and refocus their goals in the rest of the game. If a snitch is still included, it shouldn’t come out until the second half or the third of three periods. This sport can’t be played like a 100+ game baseball season, as baseball players can’t knock each other around four to five times a week without serious consequence. When first blossoming, pro quidditch will be made up of workingclass adults who have day jobs during the week, but can travel and compete on weekends. This will transition to weekend matchups, much like football, and remain like that for years. Once the pay is good enough, we’ll be able to quit our day jobs and start training full time for Saturday’s match. Both men and women will have tougher and lither bodies to cope with the continuous bodily strain, but we will still have a league of varying height (like basketball, from Steve Nash to Yao Ming) and body type (like football, from cornerbacks to linemen). Personally, I’m excited to have my future sons or daughters find their niche in quidditch. I’m not going to force it on them, but come on. How cool would it be to travel to your son or daughter’s collegiate or professional quidditch match?
game changers For quidditch to make it as a broadcast, stadiumselling sport, a number of rules changes have been proposed. Which of these do you think would be best for the sport’s future? • A quidditch match consists of two halves with a half time in the middle. The snitch is released at the beginning of the second half. • Each team has a snitch in play during the match. The first seeker to catch the other team’s snitch gets an extra 30 points and ends the game. • Each team gets one timeout, which can be called when they have possession of the quaffle. • Without a snitch, a quidditch match can last a set length of time, with either halves or quarters, or continuous play like soccer, but with timeouts. • With longer matches, penalty shots become a possibility. • Action must stay inside the boundaries of the pitch; the pitch might become longer in response.
I’m excited to see the many changes and growth in the near future, as I’ve invested myself into this sport for life. I’m still getting used to the fact that people aren’t accepting my scathingly brilliant ideas about the sport, but it’s always going to be something I cherish and cultivate in any way I can. And hopefully my kids will inherit my Supersonics season tickets, because we all know they’ll be coveted like Red Sox seats. ■
Eric Andres coached the Northern Arizona Narwhals from 2010-2012. He is a high school English teacher and aspiring professional quidditch coach.
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LIFESTYLES Moving on: Transitioning from high school to college quidditch BY LAURIE BECKOFF
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’ve been at the University of Chicago for a full quarter now. Moving to a new city, in a different time zone, to a school five times the size of your high school can be daunting. I think I’m adapting pretty well. As someone who clearly has her priorities sorted out, one of my main concerns was making the leap from quidditch at the high school level to the world of college quidditch, the stuff I’ve been watching for two years, always waiting for my chance to get involved. It was time to play in the big leagues. First, there was research to be done. I did some web surfing and discovered that a registered student organization for quidditch had been started in the spring and played an intramural season in which a number of houses competed against each other. The organization also hosted a Harry and the Potters concert on campus. Quidditch existed, it was active as a sport and outlet for Potter fans, but there was not yet a competitive team. Next, I resolved to make contact. When a second year posted in the UChicago 2016 Facebook group and mentioned that he was involved in quidditch, I immediately introduced myself and asked him about quidditch at the school. I talked to him about quidditch a few times over the summer, sharing important IQA news with him. The school year started and it was time for the most important step: infiltration. I wanted to get a foot in the door, have some influence, figure out how things worked, and show my enthusiasm and
prior knowledge without seeming like I was staging a coup d’état. It can be strange going from leading your high school quidditch organization to being a newcomer on your college quidditch team. I knew quidditch, I knew the IQA, but I knew very little about how student organizations functioned at my university, and I still don’t have a complete understanding. I attended the first meeting and mentioned my experience. As goals for the year were discussed, I made some suggestions and made it clear that I was dedicated and ready to help in any way possible. As with any club or team, the leadership loves to see new students demonstrating strong interest and bringing experience to the table. I became known as “IQA girl” rather quickly and I was given assignments due to my fervor and implications that I was very dependable when it came to quidditch. These past few months have provided a learning experience on how to navigate the world of student activities at my college. By attending meetings and volunteering to do anything and everything, I’ve become informed about fundraising methods, acquiring space, transporting equipment, advertising, taking advantage of university resources, and appealing to the particular student body of The University of Chicago (which anyone here can tell you is distinctive to say the least). I have already helped organize two open scrimmages, sell t-shirts, run the UChicago quidditch tumblr, and hold
THE AUTHOR.
a bake sale. My experience has come in handy for game play as well, as I have a decent knowledge of the rules and technicalities and am thus well prepared to explain the game to people who have never played (IQA Handbook 5 is of course on my shelf in my dorm). I’ve only gotten to play quidditch here once so far, but I’m looking forward to taking part in the intramural season and aiding in the formation of a competitive team, a goal about which I have been vocal in meetings. College is different from high school in many ways, but change is often for the better. I’m still getting settled in, and quidditch is still fairly new at my college, but I’m excited to become a part of the thriving college quidditch community for which I have long yearned. ■
Laurie Beckoff is a freshman at the University of Chicago. In high school she founded the Townsend Harris High School Howlers in Queens, New York. She has been an IQA volunteer since September 2010 and hopes to study English, political science, and theatre. 56
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Updates from your penpal BY KATIE STACK
My dear quidditch penpal, I’m so excited to see the IQA Penpal Program take off! We already have eleven penpal partnerships, which means we have twenty-two IQA member teams from seven countries participating in regular cross-cultural communication. I think we’re all lucky that Derby Union (formerly Chellaston Quidditch) in England approached us with the desire to find an IQA penpal team with which they could share advice and training strategies. Emerson Quidditch jumped at the chance to be paired with the English team and from this first relationship the IQA Penpal Program was formed. Matthew Guenzel from Derby Union, and Bobby O’Neil from Emerson Quidditch have been so helpful in getting this program off the ground. As of now, these first two teams are the only ones who have had enough time to really grow a relationship. Both staff and team members communicate via a Facebook group and regular Skype calls to discuss all the quid things (fundraising tactics and game play strategy are just two of these). They’re currently brainstorming care package ideas in order to exchange some British and American goodies, as well as putting together videos to introduce themselves and show their penpals around the local practice fields. Both teams are doing their best to organize transatlantic travel; some of Derby Union’s players will be coming to the World Cup to volunteer and Emerson players are hoping to play as mercenaries at the Highland Cup in Edinburgh in March. One of our newer pairings, Arizona Razorback Quidditch and the Perth Phoenixes, have already filmed introduction videos and shared them on youtube.com. You can see them yourself on the iqapenpals tumblr page. I really can’t wait to see what the rest of our teams have in store. I do hope that more of our European teams (and even our Chinese ones!) apply to the program soon so that we can involve a few more cultures in the pairings. I know it can be difficult though, since our penpals do need to be official member teams. Here’s hoping! Write back soon! Quove, Katie
LEFT: CINEMADUO FILMMAKERS MIKE ALFIERI AND DANIELLE BARCENA. RIGHT: KATRINA HALL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY. (PHOTOS: CINEMADUO)
A new documentary in the works BY LOGAN ANBINDER
T
he most ambitious third-party quidditch video project yet is underway in San Francisco, as documentary filmmakers CinemaDuo have embarked on a mission to capture a full season of the sport in a new movie to be filmed this year.
CinemaDuo, which consists of partners Mike Alfieri and Danielle Barcena, plans to record footage of multiple teams from their headquarters in the Bay Area, including filming extensively at February’s Western Regional Championship in Placer Valley, California. This spring, Alfieri and Barcena will travel along with 80 IQA teams to Kissimmee, Florida, site of World Cup VI. By filming over the course of an entire season, the pair hope to tell the story behind quidditch in a brand new way. “Filmmakers are journalists,” said Alfieri about the direction that he hopes the project will take. “The story about how competitive quidditch got started is the same, in essence, to any sport.” Alfieri and Barcena began collecting preliminary footage at the Bay Area Scrimmage tournament held at the University of California, Berkeley in September, and were warmly received by the teams present. The pair was excited to find such enthusiasm for their project among the very subjects they were hoping to cover. “You can’t even quantify how much of 58
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a help that is,” said Alfieri of the support. The feeling was mutual, according to Edward Mar, San Jose State University. “Compared from what I have seen from past filmmakers, they seemed to be [...] enthusiastic,” he said. Alfieri describes the visit to the Berkeley campus as the turning point that convinced the pair that the idea of a quidditch documentary was worth pursuing. The IQA will act as a fiscal sponsor for the project, allowing CinemaDuo to better meet its fundraising goals for production, post-production, and distribution. Even more importantly, the IQA’s connections with teams will allow Alfieri and Barcena facilitated communication with players, many of whom have already expressed support for such a project. “It’s good to keep a tab on how quickly quidditch is evolving, especially this year,” said Kristine Nguyen of the University of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas) “And since it spans over a season, then we’d have a good grasp on how teams change depending on how their season is going and the competition.” CinemaDuo’s work has been featured
by Paramount Pictures, the History Channel, and EA Sports, among others. Alfieri and Barcena hope that this film will have an exposure reflective of their company’s diverse background, and that it will be used as an introduction for newcomers to the sport even as it includes aspects that they anticipate will make it a hit with current players. The features of quidditch that Alfieri and Barcena expressed a desire to capture in their film align with the main focuses of the IQA, often referred to as the three “C’s:” competition, creativity, and community. The duo spoke in an interview of their goal to be as impartial as possible, and to avoid unduly highlighting the predilections to which many quidditch newcomers are subject. “I knew there was more to the sport of quidditch and the people who play it than what I was reading,” said Alfieri of his reaction upon discovering the sport. “This is a story that needs to be told… needs to be given a real voice.” The prospect of a quidditch documentary draws comparisons with Boxer Films’ Brooms Up!, which was recorded
“I knew there was more to the sport of quidditch and the people who play it than what I was reading,” said Alfieri of his reaction upon discovering the sport. “This is a story that needs to be told...needs to be given a real voice.”
entirely at World Cup IV in Manhattan in 2010, and has since become a seminal video in the sport’s admittedly small film canon. Judging from Alfieri and Barcena’s plans, CinemaDuo’s work will follow in that film’s footsteps, while being the first of its kind to trace game play over the course of an entire season. While the project will focus heavily on the competitive aspect of quidditch, Alfieri and Barcena have also begun reaching out to individual players to provide personal testimonies about the sport. The pair began soliciting contacts from among current players at the Bay Area scrimmage, and hope to expand this list to include players from across the coun-
try by requesting that interested individuals contact them at casting@cinemaduo. com. Alfieri and Barcena also maintain a Twitter presence, @CinemaDuo, and a blog that can be found at www.cinemaduo.com/news. In the next several weeks, they plan to release a poster for the film, as well as a teaser trailer. CinemaDuo hopes that by not only portraying the level of competition inherent in the sport, but focusing on the individuals who play it, the documentary will introduce the true story of quidditch to a wider audience. “If anyone likes a good movie about characters,” said Barcena, “this is definitely going to be for them.” ■
The QQ interview: All About Group Travel BY ALICIA RADFORD
A
s the IQA is able to put on more and better large tournaments that draw teams from hours away, it becomes increasingly important to make sure there’s an easy way for teams to find and book hotel rooms that are affordable, clean, and close to the tournament. Enter All About Group Travel, which has been the IQA’s travel partner since World Cup V in November, 2011. So far AAGT has created hotel and transportation packages for all of the IQA’s 2012-2013 regional championships, QuidCon 2012 and 2013, and half a dozen smaller tournaments around the United States. I asked Marie Sperling, the president of All About Group Travel, about her business and what she thinks of quidditch. Alicia: Hi, Marie! First off, when did you start All About Group Travel? Marie: In May of 2010, although I’ve been in the tour and travel industry for over 16 years, including working as Director of Sales for Hilton and Marriott properties and Director of Sales for other travel planners. Alicia: What other sorts of groups do you book for? Marie: Mostly student groups (bands, choirs, and orchestras that wish to travel and perform or compete out of town). We also work with special needs groups (adults and children), church groups,
family reunions, volunteerism groups (those who wish to travel to a destination and help with hurricane clean up, or just volunteer at hospitals and such), and adult groups (dating services, class reunions, extreme outing groups, etc). Alicia: What’s the daily operation of AAGT like? It’s small and family-run, right? Marie: AAGT is owned by myself and my fiancé, Ken Herdegen. We also employ two of our five daughters, Natae and Lianna, long-time friend and business associate Mark Russell, cousin John Palko, and a few others. We all work from
home, although we do work together at least once a week in our home office. We are all very close and try to make working together as much fun as possible. Traveling year-round can be a very hectic occupation, especially when juggling family life too. We all support each other, help each other as much as possible, and try to get out and do some fun things as a team whenever possible! Alicia: When did you hear about quidditch, and why did you want to get involved? Marie: When I first heard about quidditch being played, I was very intrigued→ Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013 59
LEFT TO RIGHT: AAGT EMPLOYEES MARK RUSSELL, NATAE SPERLING, KEN KEN HERDEGEN, AND MARIE SPERLING IN CHICAGO FOR QUIDCON 2012. (PHOTO: AAGT)
by the concept. I then contacted Alex Benepe to see if the IQA would need any assistance with travel planning and discussed the World Cup V. I offered my services to the IQA in the hopes that I could help them further the sport by having more organized and traceable travel packages, offering on-site assistance, and keeping the pricing affordable. These statistics are extremely useful for future negotiations to obtain better, lower pricing and will only help the IQA in the future as they continue to grow. Alicia: What’s the benefit for teams to book through AAGT versus booking on their own? Marie: The biggest benefit is convenience! We do all of the hotel check-in in advance, so there’s no waiting for keys. We arrange all of the transportation. There’s only one point of contact for anything players need (call AAGT instead of calling the transportation company, the hotel, the airline, etc). All costs are put into one convenient per-person price and all payments go to one place, AAGT. Another benefit is the price. The cost of a hotel (including breakfast, WiFi, taxes and resort fees) plus the cost of six moves on a 56-passenger motor coach is very expensive. We are able to combine this all into a convenient package to make it more affordable. AAGT also goes a step above other travel companies by being on-site, prechecking in all rooms and helping at the tournaments in any way we can. Even if 60
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it’s only bringing hot chocolate to the staff, we do what we can to help. One other benefit is predictability. Have you ever booked a hotel online and then once you got there you were less than impressed? AAGT checks out every aspect of a hotel prior to booking. We then negotiate on behalf of the IQA to receive reduced rates, reduced resort fees, and breakfast for the teams if it is not already available (and in some cases where hotels charge for WiFi we try to negotiate to get this for free also). For transportation, we check DOT rating, insurance, and complaints on any and all motor coach companies we utilize to ensure safety is a high priority. Booking with AAGT will give people peace of mind, knowing that what they are paying for is what they are getting. And that value, safety and satisfaction are our top priorities. Alicia: AAGT is definitely a great deal for teams. I stayed in an AAGT hotel for the WxSW Interregional Showcase in Albuquerque, New Mexico last November and it was only $26 per person for two nights, and just four people to a room. And breakfast was included! But AAGT is also a great deal for the IQA. Marie: As this sport progresses and AAGT has generated reports of the economic impact on the cities hosting a regional or World Cup event, this will give us more negotiating power in the future to reduce pricing and the overall financial impact on teams.
Alicia: What’s your favorite memory from a quidditch event? Marie: My favorite memory is World Cup V as a whole! That was the first time I got to see a live quidditch match. Not only was I completely in awe of what was happening on the pitch, I also got to know quite a few quidditch players and realized how friendly, interesting and just totally awesome these people are. I love the sense of community that the teams have. I’ve seen that in rugby, but not to this magnitude. It amazes me, the sport amazes me, and the people amaze me. Alicia: It can’t be the easiest job in the world trying to please hundreds of people at dozens of different events at once. What keeps you excited about the job? Marie: The challenge! I’ve always been more intrigued when it comes to things that challenge me. And I take it very personally when someone is not happy, whether they’re just not happy with the way a hotel lobby looks, or they’re not happy with a bus driver. The challenge of keeping people happy and knowing that they will go home saying that AAGT did everything possible to make their trip a memorable one sits well in my heart. I know you cannot please everyone all the time, but I sure do try! Alicia: And we’re very glad you do! Thank you Marie! Learn more about AAGT or book packages for the IQA’s spring regionals, World Cup, or QuidCon at allaboutgrouptravel.com ■
A Lazy Woman’s Guide to Fundraising BY KATIE STACK
T
he life of a quidkid can get expensive. With new teams creating logos every day printed on the apparel of your choosing, there’s merchandise galore (I’m still waiting on the logo-ed underwear and sports bras, but maybe that’s just me). Tournaments take place almost every weekend with room for teams, mercenary players, and volunteers of all types. To attend you have to travel, find housing, and then of course a girl’s gotta eat! On top of all that, we lucky qualifying players will have to pay a registration fee to compete in the World Cup in April. But no fear! While these expenses can seem overwhelming, if you budget correctly and are willing to make a few sacrifices, you’ll be flying toward those goal hoops in no time.
1.
Watch the new TLC reality show “Extreme Cheapskates” for some creative penny pinching tips! You can save at least $10 a month on your water bill by urinating into a jar beside your toilet instead of flushing it down. If you shower at your gym, then you’ll save even more! According to the show, you can even find delicious meals in your neighborhood dumpster.
2.
Bring some yummy snacks to the bar to help resist spending on that overpriced bar fare. Just be careful with the Cheeto fingers if your snack of choice is indeed orange cheese-covered crispies tucked in a plastic sandwich bag hidden in your pocket. Not all the men appreciate flavored fingers, I’ve learned from experience. (You should also just carry your own snacks everywhere; this way, when the vending machine attempts to seduce you with its glowing display, you can spit your mouthful of half-chewed food at it.)
3.
Don’t be afraid to have a night out, in. Invite your friends to your place for a potluck dinner instead of going to your favorite restaurant; take advantage of the “in theaters now” feature on iTunes to rent the newest flick instead of trekking out for overpriced soft drinks; drink your own wine and beer instead of throwing money away on bottom shelf bar vodka.
4.
That expensive monthly subway pass you’ve been splurging on? Get rid of it. Buy a bike! You’ll save money and be in much better shape for quidditch season. Oh yeah, and you’ll be helping the environment. (You could also perfect my trademarked walk/run/shuffle. I myself perfected it my senior year when I was always late to class, located 20 minutes away. It’s basically a fast walking pace, but with some bent leg steps thrown in every few feet. This strategy preserves the illusion of a fast walk, with the speed of a jog. If you find yourself on a deserted block, take advantage of that to break into a sprint. Toward the end of the year I stopped worrying about looking like a crazie and sprinted even in crowded blocks, but I’ll admit that this strategy is not for everyone.)
5.
The winter season can be an expensive time, with a variety of politically correct and non-religious themed holiday parties popping up everywhere. For some reason, all my friends’ birthdays also fall into this season. Over time, I’ve realized that the best gift is the gift of the wizarding world, given in the form of a wand. There are hundreds of wands right in your backyard, waiting to pick your friends as their new owners! Just find the right one, whittle down that bark, carve in some magical designs and voila!
With this advice in mind, hopefully you’ll be able to buy all the things and travel to all the places this quidditch season. If you have tips of your own, email them to katie.stack@ internationalquidditch.org and we’ll see if we can’t spread those gems around, too. See you at World Cup! ■ Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013 61
PLAYERS’ CORNER Team profile: UCLA BY DAN HANSON
Y
ou know that feeling you get when you watch a team play, and each player just makes each other better, and you get the sense that you’re watching the game the way it’s meant to be played? That’s UCLA: simply one of the greatest teams in the world. Conventional IQA wisdom had them consistently ranked in the top two to four in the world. With zero graduating seniors, the sky seemed to be the limit. However, the longer 2012 went on, the less UCLA looked like a serious World Cup contender. Come-from-behind snitch grabs lost them Western Cup III in March and huge statement games against Miami and USC at the Hollywood Bowl in October. After putting themselves back on top of the world with a solid victory against the University of Texas at West by Southwest, they were knocked right back down by a vengeful pounding by the Longhorns in the finals. Their major weakness seemed to be their will to win relative to those other teams. While five practices and workouts every week became more of a standard for the most competitive teams throughout the IQA, UCLA continued to hold two fairly unstructured scrimmages every weak. While they had a roster full of strategic brilliance and physical talent, their will to train doesn’t match the expected pace of the Cup contenders. But I think 2013 will be different. Steven Tindula, once considered one of the best beaters in the country because of his cannon of an arm and strategic prowess, is taking over the coaching role that the team sorely needed. UCLA was considered among the best before their leadership got serious. Just wait until Tindula channels some John Wooden and kicks the team into gear. Here are some categories that UCLA ranks among the best in the world: 62
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Top Five Beaters: Even after losing Tindula to injury, UCLA still knows how to play the bludger game as well as anybody. Their original superstar, Asher King Abramson, serves as an enormous presence with an intimidating arm. Andy Abayan is their newest beater stud, although he doesn’t quite fill the shoes left by Tindula. But with Tindula coaching, UCLA’s beaters should be able to replicate what he was able to accomplish on the field from a strategy standpoint. They will outsmart offenses at every turn, making teams beat them with supreme athleticism and a perfect passing game, which very few teams in the IQA have. Top Five Girls: You’ve all heard of Team USA’s Vanessa Goh and Missy Sponagle, but there aren’t enough good things to say about them. Vanessa’s got the speed and Missy’s got the physicality, making them both incredibly tough to stop. Their skills complement each other’s so well that I would love to see them on the field together more often, with King Abramson and Tindeating. I’m awed and terrified at the mere idea of that combo. But their depth among girls and beaters is also what makes them great. Kara Levis and Jenn Coccimiglio contribute to both those categories, and provide a strategic and mischievous assault against opposing offenses.
Top Ten Keepers: UCLA’s keeper depth is insane. Jake Tieman, Adam Richardson, and Niran Somasundaram are good enough to be the star keepers on over 90% of World Cup teams, but are forced into the chaser line and the back of the keeper rotation because the one-two punch of Alex Browne and Zach Luce is pretty much as good as it gets. Browne is a unique and exemplary keeper in the league; I challenge you to find a keeper who runs a passing offense better than he does. His field awareness and timing are impeccable, and he creates goal after goal even in the face of tough defenses. Topped off with a great ability to shoot and muscle his way to the hoops, Browne is a nightmare for defense to try to cut off passes as well as cover his drives. Oh, and he’s a tough physical and strategic defender. Then there’s Luce, who has been playing the game for a mere six months and is already a high-level difference maker with a hundred-point game under his belt. Luce seems to be able to do anything with his hands, looking like Inspector Gadget as he picks quaffles out of the air. With a great long-range shot and a knack for slipping around or forcing his way to the hoops, he can score in a lot of ways. I could name more if QQ had the space to fit them all, like Brandon Scapa and →
THE UCLA QUIDDITCH TEAM. (PHOTO: UCLA QUIDDITCH)
Impact the tra jectory of our sport. Enter your invention, game improvement, or innovative service project into the first Quidditch World's Fair at QuidCon 2013 for the chance to win cash prizes and a partnership offer from the IQA. All entries will be judged at the World's Fair Exhibition Hall by a panel of businesspeople, academics, and IQA staff. Applications and more information at quidcon2013.com.
SEATTLE
JULY 11-15, 2013
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Tom Marks (I can’t help but mention the dynamic captains who don’t fit any of my previously mentioned categories). I didn’t even time to get into their chaser depth, or elaborate on how I’d put them as a top
ten passing team in the league as well. UCLA Quidditch is a full roster of dedicated people who play the game the right way. Opponents will get frustrated, but not angry, because they are one hell of a
group of people. They are a fun challenge to play against—a team you can’t be too unhappy to see win, and a skilled, passionate team deserving to take home that Western Regional Championship. n
Dan Hanson went to Emerson College in Boston, where he played keeper for two years. After graduating, he manifested his destiny by moving to Los Angeles, where he watches TV and co-founded the future quidditch powerhouse team, the Lost Boys.
Tourney Travails: Playing in Tournaments BY BRENNEN LUTZ
Tournaments are the heart and soul of quidditch. Because tournaments are so important to quidditch as a sport, teams need to know the best ways to prepare for and play in them.
Adaptation and Lineups In a tournament, teams have time to adjust their strategies and to view the other teams in person. This differs from individual games because in those cases, teams often do not have time to make huge strategic changes. In order for teams to play effectively in tournaments, they need to be able to adapt their play. Some teams do not use their best players during the initial stages of a tournament if they are not playing against the best teams. This is useful because it ensures that a team’s best players will not be injured before the most difficult matches. However, it also can hurt a team’s seeding and even allow for a loss that would not happen otherwise. If a team is thinking of benching their better players, they should be sure their opponents will be easy to beat. Another problem with saving players for later use is that it can be degrading to the opposing teams.
Duration One-day tournaments and two-day tournaments are different in the way they test teams. Two-day tournaments are always taken more seriously by attending teams because they usually represent a hefty financial commitment and are always a big time commitment. When playing in 64
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two-day tournaments, recovery becomes a huge factor in how well teams play. Recovery between games is always important, but the rest between days becomes a huge priority in a two-day tournament. If teams do not take proper precautions, their players will be much less effective the second day. Proper ways to recover from a long day of tournament play include drinking lots of water, setting a team curfew, and stretching before the team leaves the pitch on the first day. If players want to be at the top of their game on the second day of a tournament, it is important to fuel their bodies the night before. They should try to make up for all the nutrients and water lost during the first day by drinking a lot of water and sports drinks full of electrolytes and vitamins, not sugar. Also important is to have a healthy dinner after the first day. The food eaten the night before a match will really determine a player’s ability the next day.
Coasting Through Victory (and Defeat) During a tournament, teams have to be able to ride the ups and downs of wins and losses. When a team wins their first match in a tournament, it presents the unique challenge of maintaining in-
tensity while still celebrating their first success. Often, teams that have not had much tournament experience will do well in their first game only to fall apart in subsequent games because they failed to bring the mentality they went into the first game with into the following games. On the other hand, teams that lose matches still need to be able to move past their losses and stay focused in following games. Tournaments are as much about sustaining team morale as they are about skill. One way that teams keep morale high throughout tournaments is through a pregame drill. These drills are integral to many teams’ successes, because they allow teams to get into the proper mindset for winning matches. If teams always warm up the same way, it helps them to think of each match as a routine occurrence.
Making a Playoff Push Between pool and bracket play, big changes can occur in a team’s play style. However, one trick to advancing in bracket play is simply to continue doing what had previously been working and avoiding changing too much. Many teams will attempt to play harder than they had previously, and this is usually shown through increased physicality.
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS ATTEMPTS TO SCORE AGAINST THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA AT THE MIDWEST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS. (PHOTO: ALLIE TYLER)
Teams will often attempt unnecessary or dangerous tackles, and try to bulldoze to the hoops in situations where a pass is frequently better. Basically, teams need to try to play smarter, not harder, to succeed in bracket play. The most successful teams will be able to maintain their style of play from the first match of a tournament to the last match of a tournament. Team chemistry is one factor that can either make or break teams at tournaments. When a team is playing well, its bond is solid. Even good teams can be crippled by bad vibes. This is particularly noticeable in fantasy tournaments and on mercenary teams. Sometimes, these teams look as if they will be able to win on paper, but are not able to deliver because of a lack of team chemistry. Quidditch is a very teamwork-oriented sport, and bad chemistry can ruin a team’s chances of success.
Preparing During Practice Tournaments are not practice, and no team is going to treat one as such. During tournaments, players are going to perform differently than they would in practice. Inexperienced players tend to drop passes and make other small mistakes more often. Sometimes, players who know how to tackle well will become more physical than they are in practice. This is usually because they are less worried about hurting other teams than they would be about hurting their own teammates. When scrimmaging within one’s own team, teams should try to imitate the way they would play in tournaments. Some teams like to allow the scrimmage to continue even after the snitch is caught so time is not wasted, but given the importance of the snitch to gameplay, teams
ought to practice while paying as much attention to the snitch as they would in a tournament. It is important to stress practice with the snitch on the pitch. Another thing teams can do to minimize the differences between tournament play and practice is to get referees from nearby teams to officiate a scrimmage. This is particularly helpful because referees each interpret the rules of quidditch differently, and teams that can play under any official are sure to do better than a team that ends up receiving lots of fouls. As the competitive scene grows ever larger, top teams will continue to be judged by their ability to succeed in tournaments, far more than in individual matches. By adjusting play styles and planning accordingly, teams can increase their chances of achieving a deep tournament run, or even a first-place finish. ■
Brennen Lutz is a journalism/English double major at the University of Richmond. He is also one of their two starting keepers.
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2013 65
From the referee front BY ALEX CLARK
A
s of December 2, 2012, the IQA referee development team (RDT) has successfully been able to staff over 65 tournaments with certified head referees. The RDT is extremely proud of this number, especially since we started with no budget, and not a single certified head referee at the beginning of the season. Through the growing number of positive referee evaluations we have received to date, it seems that the RDT, and the IQA, is headed in the right direction. The next step, in hopefully the same direction, is to offer certification for snitch referees and bludger referees. Before this season we were somewhat content with just picking up a couple veteran players to fill in as assistant referees for us. However, the next big step is to implement training for these assistant referees to create a well-oiled referee program from head referees on down. The new system will be a step-by-step process: you will have to pass as a bludger referee before you can attempt to become a snitch referee, and likewise you must become a certified snitch referee before you can become a certified head referee. It’s often been said that, “you will never notice a referee until he [or she] makes a bad call.” It is our goal to serve at tournaments and never be mentioned by the players. That is still a long way off, but we are headed in the right direction. In the next few months we have already committed to serving another 15+ tournaments before World Cup VI. Our goal in these next few tournaments is to test the snitch and bludger referee training systems and to pass our first classes of assistant referees. These of course will not be required for World Cup VI, but we would like to get more of a head start than we had last season. Our goal is also to reach 120 certified head referees by World Cup VI. We of course will not stray from our standard, but we hope that more people would like to help us make World Cup VI a massive success. For World Cup VI, we hope to only use certified IQA head referees for every
single head referee and assistant referee position (excluding goal referees). To do that we figure that we must have 120 qualified referees to be able to create a schedule that gives officials proper break time, and time for them to play on their respective teams. The RDT would also like to make an extra special effort to start training around the globe. We have been able to save a very small bit of money, and we are sending RDT member Chris Beesley to Australia to host the first IQA certification testing outside the US and Canada. From this training we hope to certify several qualified Australians who are just as capable as their North American counterparts. Eventually, we hope to have a World Cup with referee teams comprised of officials from all over the globe that are able to work together. We also hope that there will be at least one who is capable enough to serve as the
Australian representative to the RDT. Eventually, the RDT hopes to have representatives from each region around the globe. This way, we can train quality officials all over the globe without having to take money from the IQA, or further burden teams with heftier dues. Eventually we will achieve our goals, and eventually tournaments like the World Cup will be a walk in the park for us to staff with non-player, certified officials in every single position including goal referees and the scorekeeper. To help us along the way we need everyone—announcers, audience members, parents, fans, players, and fellow officials to evaluate the referees they see officiating games, either by email to the RDT manager, Andrew Canto (andrew. canto@internationalquidditch.org) or by filling our referee evaluation form online: http://bit.ly/RefEval. Thank you! ■
Alex Clark is a non-affiliated quiddich community member who currently serves on the IQA staff as a member of the referee development team. 66
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TOP: HEAD REFEREES CELEBRATE AT THE END OF WORLD CUP V. (PHOTOS: QUIDDITCHPHOTOS.COM)
Play of the issue: Rage right or left BY ERIC ANDRES
For attacking chasers, pitch awareness is a skill that isn’t easily taught. Much of an offense depends on the opponent’s defense—whether or not they have bludger control. The more difficult defense to face is one with fully loaded beaters (both beaters in possession.) However, for the right chasers with the right skills, this play could bring down the house. This play brings all offensive players forward, and is essentially the “giveand-go.” The chaser with the ball, or the lead chaser, begins just ahead of midfield on the right or left side (depending on play alignment). For the purpose of this demonstration, this will be “Rage Right.” Chaser two lines up just ahead of the lead chaser, about three to five yards down pitch and a shade inwards. Chaser two runs slightly faster than the lead chaser to create space as they move down pitch, and a defensive beater begins to key onto the lead chaser. If the defensive beater fires, the lead chaser gives the ball to chaser two to go towards or around the hoops. If the defensive beater balks,
chasers one and two will continue to the hoops. Meanwhile, the keeper is at the center of midfield, advancing forward slowly to either draw beater fire or become a center passing option for the lead chaser. Chaser three makes a long curve to the back left of the hoops, cutting to the front and rear as needed. Since the offensive team is down a bludger, bring the “rogue” beater with the play, lining up between the keeper and lead chaser at midfield. The beater gives the play its namesake, raging in their zone to either deflect, draw, or steal bludgers from defensive beaters. Important things to note:
• Since this play draws many players forward, the keeper must move slowly to be an ejection option if needed. • Since defensive beaters create an enormous amount of variables, chaser two isn’t the permanent receiver—chaser three and the keeper remain viable options for passes. • This play is designed to have fail safes and tiered reception patterns, just in case a defensive beater causes the play to fold early. • As any good chaser knows, keep moving and don’t let the defense direct your traffic. The more you stay in one spot, the more you’re doing the defensive beaters a favor. ■
MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR SEASON
JOIN THE IQA MENTORSHIP PROGRAM Official member teams who join are paired with a new, unofficial team in their area to teach them the ropes, help organize their first event, and build friendships. Official and unofficial teams can learn more and apply by emailing Katie Stack at membership@internationalquidditch.org.
YOUR SPORT. YOUR FUTURE.
Quidditch Quarterly • Winter 2012 65
The starting seeker: hit or miss BY MATT EVELAND
F
irst, I would like to provide an analysis of the seeker position, and more specifically, the starting seeker position. While I’m sure many teams have unbelievable seekers who can start and finish a game without breaking a sweat, the majority of teams I have played against utilize a seeker substitution or seeker rotation. Thus, I want to focus on the often-overlooked position of the starting seeker. As many quidditch players know, generally an off-pitch seeker needs to be able to run for long stretches and sprint for long stretches. This is why many teams put their cross country or track runners as starting seekers. However, in my experience the only good having a cross country or track runner seeking is that he/she can chase the snitch back to the pitch
faster. Unless the snitch is caught off guard or notably slow, the seekers should not be able to catch the snitch off the pitch. This makes the starting seeker’s snitch-catching role in quidditch drastically lessened, as catching the snitch off pitch is quite unlikely. It is a hit or miss situation with the majority of the time (unless you are a phenomenal seeker) being a miss. Now, by no means do I think the starting seeker is any less of a player than the finishing seeker, or the starting beater, or whatever. Each position has advantages and disadvantages. Although the starting seeker may have the unfavorable job of running around, finding the snitch, and then racing back to the pitch to sub out, the starting seeker also has the opportunity to learn from the opposing seeker. I
have never been in a match where I did not talk to the opposing seeker, whether about teams, skill level, or the weather! I learn strategies and player strengths from my opposing seeker while off pitch seeking. Take advantage of the friendly quidditch community! Also, starting a game is always a good feeling for me. To finish, I just want teams and coaches to look at their starting seekers and let them know that they are not overlooked and that the team does appreciate the job they do, no matter how insignificant it seems. I guarantee that you do not want to be the one out there running your ass off for a slim chance at an off-pitch grab, so let your starting seeker know that although they may not get the chance to catch snitches, they are absolutely invaluable. ■
The finishing seeker: hero or...failure? BY MATT EVELAND
P
reviously I discussed the importance as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the starting seeker position. Now I would like to highlight the position of the “finishing” seeker, or the “on-pitch” seeker. I know there have been many posts about the seeker position on tumblr and on the Eighth Man website, which are all wonderful sources for information and perspectives, but I’m going to try and highlight the position even further. First off, in my personal experience, the on-pitch seeker tends to be either big and powerful or tall and lanky, which are both exceptional body types for the position. A well-written article on the Eighth Man gives the strengths of each of these types of seekers and gives examples of players of each type, so I will not repeat what is written there. However,
more than physical prowess, a seeker needs the proper mentality. A seeker needs to understand that although they feel pressure to catch the snitch, they are not the only player who can score points, and a missed grab resulting in a loss does not make them a failure—and by the same token, a grab resulting in a win does not make them the hero of the team. Again, a seeker is just as important as any other position and should not be treated with any more or less respect. Sure, on websites and in articles we read about how so-and-so seeker made the catch that won the tournament, but in reality it was the team that gave the seeker the opportunity to make that catch. Mentally, a seeker cannot allow a missed grab to shatter their confidence. A missed grab is an opportunity to learn
what can be done next time to successfully make the grab. In some cases, a seeker will unjustly blame the incompetence of the snitch. There are indeed a few cases where bad snitching has resulted in an unfair snatch, but the majority of snitches are unbiased and catches are clean (To further prevent snitch bias and unfairness, I feel that snitch academies should be more promoted to all the regions, but I digress). I have seen arguments that the seeker is an overpowered position and a distraction from the importance of the other positions, and I have seen arguments that the seeker is an unnecessary part of the game and only caters to the book aspect of the sport. Personally, I find both these arguments invalid. A seeker is nothing without his team and a team is nothing without their seeker. ■
Matt Eveland is an English major from Cincinnati, Ohio and currently plays seeker for The Ohio State University Quidditch League. 68
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OPPOSITE: STARTING SEEKERS FROM MIDDLEBURY AND MARQUETTE WAIT FOR THE SEEKER FLOOR TO END AT WORLD CUP V. (PHOTO: ANNIE MASTERS)
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80 TEAMS. 1,600 ATHLETES. ONE WORLD CUP.
QQ WINTER 2013
APRIL 13-14, 2013 KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA WORLDCUPQUIDDITCH.COM