summer 2012

CONTENTS16226Recent TournamentsHouse Cup Tournament; Shell-ShockingSpectacular; Swamp Cup II; BGSU RoundRobin, Lone Star Cup; Cinco de Mayo CupUK Summer GamesQuidditch is coming to Oxford this summer tocelebrate the 2012 Olympics and participatein the official torch-lighting ceremony.Quidditch Goes GlobalQuidditch has spread to eight countries onfour continents. Here’s an in-depth look.345248The Core ConflictCompetition vs. Whimsy; Who is the most influentialperson in quidditch? Son of a pitch!LifestylesBest places to visit on a broom this summer;Selling quidditch on college applications; QQinterviews QuiykPlayers’ CornerGetting into the summer swing; Tackling safetackling; Troll snitches; Getting fit for quidditch;The mixed tournament

EDITOR’S LETTERWelcome to the Summer 2012 issue of Quidditch Quarterly! Forthe first time, many of you are reading this magazine in print.This is a remarkable achievement, and the result of the hard workand dedication of so many people, chief among them my writers andcopy editors. To you I have two things to say: thank you, and we didit! When I look back through past issues, I’m fiercely proud of howfar we’ve all come. It’s been a pleasure watching you grow as writers,and exciting going on my own graphic design journey.I also want to thank everyone who bought a subscription. PuttingQQ in print simply would not have been possible without you. Thank you for your faith andsupport. We won’t let you down!Since the end of 2009, my IQA duties started taking up enough of my free time that I was nolonger able to play with my college team. This April, I had the opportunity to play competitivelyfor the first time since the 2008 World Cup at the IQA Champions Series in Boston, reppingmy home region: the West. A lot has changed since 2008: capes are illegal (I pulled an all-nighterbefore leaving for Middlebury sewing my team’s purple and gold felt capes—which honestlyI did think hampered game play too much), beaters can’t handle more than one bludger at atime, and the snitch’s primary objective is no longer, in so many words, “to be a jackass.” Butsome things were exactly the same. The adrenaline of playing, the exhilaration of being part of ateam, cheering on the sidelines, group huddles, and eating a mountain of food together after thematches were over. I missed these things, more than I realized.The Champions Series was a fantastic tournament (even objectively, I think). You’ll read moreabout it on pages 12 and 13. The main thing I’ve taken away from this issue is the continuingmaturation process happening throughout the league. Just read about this summer’s fantasyquidditch series (page 14)—all-mercenary tournaments that might, perhaps, be the first seed fortomorrow’s pro quidditch teams?—the spread of quidditch across the globe (page 22), a fournationtournament at the Olympic torch-lighting ceremony in Oxford ahead of the 2012 Olympics(page 16), and a thoughtful and critical look at what some call the core conflict in quidditch:whimsicality vs. competition (page 34). This is a sport that’s really starting to come into its own.How to shape that and continue to serve the needs of players and fans is what I spend the bulk ofmy time on, as the IQA’s COO and this publication’s editor in chief. But I want to try and bringquidditch back into my life as a player, as well. Because the Champions Series reminded me thatthe experience of the latter greatly enriches and informs my work as the former.Play—and read—on!Alicia

NORTHEASTMAY 26, 2012 • BRIARCLIFF MANOR, NY2ND ANNUAL HOUSE CUP TOURNAMENTPHOTOS: MICHAEL MASONRECENT TOURNAMENTS

MID-ATLANTICAPRIL 22, 2012 • UMDSHELL-SHOCKING SPECTACULAR1ST: UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND2ND: HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY3RD: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITYPHOTOS: DEANNA EDMUNDS

SOUTHPHOTO: ALI FISHMANABOVE: MARCH 24-25, 2012SWAMP CUP II1ST: UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI2ND: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA3RD: RINGLING COLLEGERIGHT: APRiL 22, 2012TENNESSEE TECH VS. MIDDLE TENNESSEE. TTWON BOTH MATCHES. PHOTO: JULIE HUE.

APRIL 1, 2012BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY ROUND ROBINBOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITYOHIO STATE UNIVERSITYEASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITYTHE CHARLES SCHOOLDENISON UNIVERSITYASHLAND UNIVERSITYPHOTO: SAMANTHA ELGINSOUTHWESTAPRIL 14, 2012LONE STAR CUPPHOTO: MATT HELLMAN

PHOTO: MATT HELLMAN1ST: UT2ND: A&M3RD: LSU4TH: BAYLOR5TH: DELUMINATORS6TH: TEXAS STATE7TH: TEXAS TECH8TH: TCU9TH: SHSU10TH: TLU11TH: SILVER PHOENIXES12TH: LOYOLAPHOTO: LORI LOPEZPHOTO: BECKY SCHMADER

APRIL 28, 2012 • BOSTON, MAIQA Champions SeriesBY ETHAN STURMTEAMS CIRCLE UP BEFORE THE CLOSING CEREMONIES. (PHOTO: PAULINA PASCUAL)The Boston Cannons Major LeagueLacrosse team, Boston Universityand Emerson College collaboratedwith the IQA to bring us the first annualChampionship Series this past April.Ten teams—a combination of elite collegesquads and regional conglomerations of topplayers spanning the entire United States—descended on the city for a competitionthat was likely the broadest in geographicscope of any non-World Cup tournamentin the IQA’s history.After a long day of hotly contestedmatches, one of the host teams came awaywith the victory. Emerson College battereda fatigued Villanova squad 130-10, winningits second title in two weeks and itsfirst major championship in school history.Due in part to the late announcement ofthe event, teams struggled to put together aroster in time for the tournament. But despitethe problems, interested players stillfound ways to get in on the action. Thosefrom teams that couldn’t send whole squadscame together on regional “all-star” teams,with the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and eventhe West each forming one. The Universityof Vermont and Green Mountain Collegeformed one combined team, while Villanovatook on a few of Penn State’s players,including Team USA member MichaelParada, to fill out their side.The local teams didn’t suffer from thesame issues. Boston University submitteda full roster, while Emerson entered notonly its tournament team, but also a secondside, the Mattapan Muppets. Middleburyalso sent its own team for a rare appearanceat a non-World Cup intercollegiate event,but disappointed many when a last minuteannouncement revealed that their squadwould contain almost none of the playersthat had led them to five straight WorldCup titles.Perhaps the most impressive story wasMinnesota, who worked with All AboutGroup Travel to turn a hope of attendingthe Championship Series with a full squadinto a reality. The team was able to dip intoits funds to pay for most of the cost of attendance,therefore retaining team chemistry.Using only their own players provedinvaluable throughout the tournament.The competition was well run throughout,a testament to the organizational skillsof Emerson’s Allison Gillette, the ChampionshipSeries tournament director. Thefirst major move that helped efficiency wasthe implementation of tournament-widemeetings on Friday evening. These includeda referees meeting and test to help to getthem all on the same page, a snitches meeting,a captains meeting, and a general meeting.These helped to clear up many of theissues that typically plague a tournament inthe early stages. This was also a chance forteams to spend time with each other off thepitch and see old friends from across thecountry as well as meet new ones.The following morning, the teams madetheir way out of the city to the Brooklinearea for pool play action. Matches tookplace across three fields with each of the 10teams getting two games to attempt to earna high seed for the bracket portion of thetournament. The Mid-Atlantic Monstarsstarted things off by pulverizing Middleburyon their way to the No. 1 seed, butmany other games were much closer. Oneof the marquee games of the early roundswas a defensive battle between Minnesotaand Boston University, which the GoldenGophers pulled out on a snitch grab. Minnesotawas one of the most organizedteams defensively all weekend thanks to acombination of highly disciplined beatersand strong man-to-man chaser play, earningthe No. 2 seed for their efforts.One of the few hiccups of pool play wasthe set of snitch boundaries that gave thesnitches almost nowhere to hide. Some ofthe more resourceful snitches, includingConnor Loch and Jeffrey Brice, found a12 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012

L: THE NE PRESENTS A SHRUBBERY (PHOTO: MICHAEL MASON). M: EMERSON VS. MONSTARS (PHOTO: PAULINA PASCUAL). R: THE WEST TRAVELED FARTHEST.courtyard they could use for a brief respite,but they were eventually kicked out of theirsolace. This, combined with a three minuteseeker floor, led to shorter games thanmany players and teams had hoped for, butalso made for a smoothly running schedule.With the pool play rounds in the booksand the bracket complete, the entire tournament—teams,officials, referees, equipmentand all—were transported by van to theHarvard Stadium Complex in Cambridge.Upon arrival, two fields were constructedon a turf field awaiting bracket play.The single-elimination rounds beganwith two play-in games for the four lowestseeded teams: Mattapan vs. Middleburyand the West vs. Vermont. The Muppetswere eager to have a chance to knock outthe game’s most storied school, but Middleburyput up a fight, sending the gameto overtime with a snitch grab and holdingoff the Muppets for five minutes to forcesudden-death double overtime. But in theend, Brandon Cardwell came away witha grab for Mattapan, sending them to thequarterfinals.Across the bracket, the West and Vermontwere locked in just as tight of a game.Eventually, a Vermont snitch grab gavethem a 90-70 victory, eliminating a teamfull of talented players who many thoughtwere hit harder by a lack of prior experienceplaying together than lack of skill.In the quarterfinals, the well-rested topseeds feasted on the play-in sides. TheMonstars eliminated Vermont 120-20,while Minnesota took down the Muppets160-20. Emerson struggled more againstthe Northeast (their team was called TheKnights Who Say NE, a play on the movieMonty Python and the Holy Grail), but wasable to pull away thanks to dominant beaterplay and an ability to find the cracks in theKnights’ defense. By driving at them on offense,goals from either David Fox, ChrisSeto, or Matt Lowe were the usual result.The Lions eventually pulled away, and wereout of snitch range by the time they madethe grab, winning 90-10.But the best game of the round by farwas the contest between Boston Universityand Villanova. The Wildcats were able tohold onto bludger control for most of thegame, which, combined with some formidabledefensive chasing, was able to shutdown the very strong Boston offensive attack.This allowed Villanova to keep thegame close and low-scoring throughoutuntil the snitch returned to the field andBilly Greco, another Team USA member,completed the 40-20 upset victory with asnitch catch.In the semifinals, Villanova looked toplay a similar style against Minnesota, ateam who was more than happy to play defensivelyitself. Each team managed to puta few points on the board, but the game remainedtight right through to the end. Thistime, it was Dan Takaki coming throughwith the crucial grab for Villanova, givingthem the 70-40 win and sending them tothe finals.Emerson’s semifinal against the Mid-Atlantic was just as intense. Using a similarstrategy that had served them well throughoutthe tournament, the Lions built up yetanother sizable lead. But against a talentedsquad that included Steve DiCarlo, USAteam member Jessica Klein, and USA reserveteam member Patrick Rardin, it wastougher for Emerson to pull away. Withthe score at 60-30, a controversial snitchgrab threatened to send the game to overtime.But the snitch was ruled down, andminutes later Emerson had extended thescore out of snitch range. An eventual grabsent them to the finals as 110-30 winners.After an intense tournament, the finalscould be seen as somewhat of a letdown,beginning with a snitch attempting to divethrough a hoop pregame and instead wreckingit completely. Villanova had a shortsquad, and the tournament had strainedit to the core. By the time the finals camearound, the team had just two female players.Minutes into the game, Zach D’Amico,another Team USA selectee, hit the groundhard on a tackle delivered by Max Blaushildand suffered concussion symptoms, unableto return to the game. Eventually, the gamejust became too much for the Wildcats, andthe Lions slowly pulled away, finally winningthe match and the tournament with ascore of 130-10.The day did not end with the final match,as the tournament’s award ceremony addedanother new tradition to the game withteam trinkets. Each squad in attendancebrought along something that representedthe quidditch community to them, thendrew another team at random to presenttheir gift to. The top prize in the drawingwas likely Middlebury’s broom, whichwas used in the first-ever game of mugglequidditch and ended up in the hands of theMid-Atlantic. Even the referees joined inon the action, presenting signed yellow andred cards to Gillette and Alex Benepe.From there, some players made theirway to the Boston Cannons lacrosse game,where they were given access to the onfieldVIP area, another chance for teams tointeract with each other off the pitch. Thenight concluded with a party at a local barfor those who could still stand by that timeof night.Overall, the Championship Series tournamentreceived positive feedback, and willlikely become a much-loved part of theIQA’s tournament canon in years to come.But the biggest question is whether Emersonwill be back to defend its title. nEthan Sturm is a junior at Tufts University, where he is studying biopsychology. He plays for Tufts and also captains the Toms River Hydras, his hometown’scommunity team. In the IQA, works in the Game Play Department. He also referees and founded the Massachusetts Quidditch Conference early this year.Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012 13

WESTWHAT TO WATCHSummer fantasy tournamentsBY ALICIA RADFORDDon’t worry—I’m still referring to the real-life quidditch variety. This summer, the Southwest, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Western regions are all hosting “fantasy” tournaments. What is a fantasy quidditch tournament?The idea originated in the Southwest, but Steve Di Carlo, a Hofstra University (Hempstead, NY) alum andthe man behind the Northeast fantasy tournament, explains:“We’re going to compile the relevant information of people playing (years played, tournaments attended,team, position, strengths), and people chosen as general managers will use that information to draft theirdream team. Each GM will have ‘1000 galleons’ to use in bidding wars to fill their roster how they choose.Once teams are chosen, they will be announced so teams can coordinate jerseys, strategies and positions.”Excited? Follow the action on Facebook and don’t miss the IQA’s first “all-mercenary” tournaments. nFireMercs InvitationalJULY 7-8 • 10:00AM • FLINTRIDGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL, LOS ANGELES, CAhttp://www.facebook.com/events/387971037911248/Mid-Atlantic Fantasy Quidditch tournamentJULY 21 • 9:00AM • UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK, MDhttp://www.facebook.com/events/447770338583732/Southwest Fantasy Quidditch tournamentJULY 27 • AUSTIN, TXhttp://www.facebook.com/events/272811259482667/Northeast Fantasy Quidditch tournamentAUGUST 12 • 12:00PM • CENTRAL PARK AT W. 86TH STREET, NEW YORK, NYhttp://www.facebook.com/events/353059838093614/Midwest Fantasy Quidditch tournamentTBD • CHICAGO, ILhttp://www.facebook.com/events/309926962425959/14 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012

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With officialteams in eightcountries onfour continents,the IQA isbecoming moreinternational thanever. Here’s a lookat how quidditchis developingaround the world.

QUIDDITCH DOWN UNDERBY ERIC ANDRESQuidditch across the pondwas a long-standing mysteryto many stateside quidditchplayers until recently,with the introduction ofthe IQA Summer Games and the subsequentexplosion of media interest in Britishteams. But while the athletes across theeven bigger pond in Australia haven’t yetgained widespread media recognition, theAussies have a longer-standing and moreorganized quidditch tradition than manyrealize. The Australian Quidditch Association,or AQA, was established in 2011,and more than a half dozen official teamsrally under that banner, traveling just asfar as American teams to play other AQAschools across the continent—and it’s a bigcontinent. Nearly as large as the UnitedStates, Australia has only a fraction thepopulation, spread out over a much widerarea. But that hasn’t deterred the spread ofantipodean quidditch.Their ambition and competitive spiritculminated in Australia’s first large-scaletournament in late November 2011, withfive teams competing for the QUAFL(Quidditch Universities in AustraliaLeague) Cup. Since then, the AQA hosteda quidditch “camp,” submitted a bid forWorld Cup 2015, and formed a team toplay at the Summer Games in Oxford thisJuly. Now, it even has plans to build andestablish the world’s first permanent quidditchpitch.In short: watch out, world.QUIDDITCH CAMPA pre-cursor to the IQA’s QuidCon 2012,the AQA hosted a “Quidditch Camp” thatincluded workshops on chaser and keeperskills, refereeing, snitching, and runningquidditch teams. The camp was a greatway for the Australian players from differentschools to form a greater intra-leaguebond. Morgyn Benstead, the IQA OceaniaRegional Director and president of theAQA, says that the camp “was the first timethat everyone got to know each other afterQUAFL. We’d met but not really mingledoutside of our own teams.” The camp hostedabout 40 people, with 20 coming fromCanberra, the capitol of Australia, and therest coming from out of state.Benstead would like to host the camp ata rotating location each year, so that playersfrom different regions will have a betterchance to attend. Beth Crane, of the Universityof New South Wales, agreed withBenstead, believing that “rotating thingsis really important for Australia, so morepeople can come to things.” The IQA’sQuidCon 2012, taking place in Chicagothis July, will mirror much of the AQA’scamp, improving on snitch and ref trainingwith a multitude of workshops to improveteam and league play in a large scale on theAmerican stage.2015 WORLD CUP BIDContinuing with being ahead of the game,the AQA’s ambitions didn’t end with a nationalconvention. After seeing the successof World Cup V in New York City, theAustralian league has set its sights threeyears ahead to host the 2015 World Cup.Zach Bickhoff, President of North QueenslandQuidditch and acting captain of JCUQUAFL CUP 2011. (PHOTOS: MATT HUDSON)Quidditch, was ambitious enough to throwAustralia’s hat in the ring, if not for a reasonableand logical time in the future. “Ifpeople are going to come here for a weekend,we’re looking at more than two daysto line it up with US [university holidays],because we figure if people are going tocome all the way to Australia, they’re reallygoing to spend four days with traveling,”says Bickhoff, who seems to have the cogsworking at full speed on the logistics. “Theymight was well stay longer, so I’ve lookedinto having it be more of a festival than justWorld Cup.”Bickhoff makes it as easy to get excitedfor the Australian World Cup as if it werenext week. A week-long festival in Australiais enough to make any person drool, butfactoring in the amount of quidditch beingplayed and discussed could make even DanPanzarella’s heart grow three sizes.“On top of that I’ve been talking with[the] local government,” says Bickhoff.“They’re doing a big tourism drive at themoment.” The idea of such a festival isenough to catch any player’s eye, but theinvolvement and support of local governmentis something the IQA can’t resist. Ithink we’ll all have our fingers crossed inthe form of the Western Region handshakein order for a “Bludger Down Under” tomaterialize in 2015.IQA SUMMER GAMESIn the meantime, Australia is sending aside to the Olympic Expo matches in Oxford,UK. Its first venture abroad seemsonly logical, according to Bickhoff. “Asthe birthplace of Harry Potter, I think it’s24 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012

appropriate that that’s where the firstinternational match between differentcountries is happening.”A truly amazing experience for all nationsattending, the final matches on July9 will take place at the Olympic torchlighting festival in South Park.As for the competition, Crane has morethan one reason to be excited: “I’m going todie,” she says with a laugh. “I did athletics,but not team sports growing up. Runningwas my sport. [Playing] chaser, it’s reallyexciting. I’m looking forward to meetinga bunch of other people from the otherteams, and I think it’s appropriate playingin England.” Crane doesn’t let the smallnumber of her squad get her down either.“We have 11, so it’ll be interesting playingagainst the full 21 person USA roster. ButI’m excited.”PHYSICAL CONTACTThese Australians have been able to takethe cue from the IQA on how to play quidditch,but are apprehensive about adoptingthe level of physicality in American quidditch.The AQA recently voted to play bystricter physical contact rules that restricttackling more than the American varietybecause of safety issues.“We still have barging and shoving,which can lead to some down to theground,” explains Bickhoff. “The differenceis, without arm contact it doesn’t bring theother person down with you and avoids thebroom injuries.”James Hosford, of the University ofNewcastle, said he “tends to see an Americanfootball tackling technique, but withoutthe helmets and pads, whichis unreasonable. The technique is notdesigned for someone so unprotectedto get so smashed.”Does American quidditch rely toomuch on the fundamentals of a nationalsport with different physicality requirements?“If rugby were more prominent inAmerica, we could standardize the twoarmtackling technique to somethingrugby-based as an International standard,which would be much safer while still beingrough and tough,” says Hosford.Matt Hudson, also of the University ofNewcastle, notes that “the last Triwizard[Cup] was the first inter-varsity matchwhere we didn’t have to call an ambulance,and that’s a positive thing to say about aquidditch tournament.”All this is not to say that Australiansdon’t like their quidditch with a bite toit—Benstead contests that “Perth plays fullcontact, even though the rest of Australiadoesn’t. They’re always saying quidditch ismeant to be full contact, but we still playquite roughly.”Regardless of opinions on contact, all ofthe Australian administration is eager tosee the result of competition between thetwo countries.PLANS FOR THE FUTUREWhat’s next for Aussie quidditch? A Mid-Winter Cup in July, anofficial IQA regional tournamentin December, and theTriwizard Cup, which will become amonthly tournament in Sydney for any interestedteams to compete in.The AQA is also working on a comprehensivemembership plan, which will bereleased alongside the IQA’s membershipplan for North American teams. The AQAhopes to be a model for other internationalregions as quidditch grows there and localgoverning bodies begin working directlywith the IQA.“Some things are better Down Under,” saysBickhoff. Despite the immense distance,the AQA’s success advancing the sport ofquidditch on a different continent speaksvolumes about the impact and positivityof their league. The Summer Games andfuture World Cups will be sure to solidifythe relationship between Australia and therest of the world, showing everyone thatthe Aussies will show you a good time andmaybe even fight you for it. nQuidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012 25

BUILDINGCOMMUNITYIN FRANCEBY LUKE ZAKAs would be expected as quidditch becomes a trulyinternational sport, the passion and dedication weall share has continued to sweep across the Atlanticand found a home in France. What started as asmall community effort to bring some of the magicalive has now led the nation to developing one of the most prominentquidditch scenes beyond the Americas.In January 2011, Elodie Laruelle’s experience with quidditchbegan much in the same way as her American counterparts. Shediscovered videos of muggles running around with brooms onthe Internet and became immediately enthralled. Straight away,she started forming a team in her home town of Nantes, France.Thankfully, with some lengthy correspondence, I was able coordinatemy spring break travel plans so that I could attend the team’sfirst-ever practice in May. Start-up supplies in tow, the first Frenchquidditch team convened at the Parc du Grand-Blottereau. All ittook was that one day to get a group of people together who werecommitted to the future of the sport in France.From then, local interest continued to grow and the programgarnered official recognition, establishing itself as a student associationat Nantes University in January 2012. They weren’t longthe sole French team. Organizations from Paris and Lesparre-Médochave cropped up over the last year, joining ranks with NantesQuidditch. Anthena Quidditch, the team from Lesparre, soon becamethe first French IQA official member team, followed not longafter by Nantes and Paris. Additionally, another unofficial team hasformed in Toulouse.Naturally, with so many teams, a tournament was in order! Lastfall, Anthena Quidditch hosted the first muggle quidditch tournamentto take place on French soil. Called the 1er Tournoi de Quidditchde Lesparre-Médoc en Gironde, the event brought togetherathletes from across the country to face off in quidditch, unprecedentedin this country. Nantes and Toulouse Quidditch mergedteams and took a solid second place, just behind Les Spartiates,one of the teams from Anthena Quidditch, who clenched the historicaltitle. More important than the competition, though, was thealignment of aspirations for the future of international quidditch.After making new connections, the teams returned with a sense ofthe importance of creating lifelong relationships through the sport,promoting the growth of quidditch, and passing on the passion.Perhaps the most notable example of these new teams’ drive toconnect with athletes beyond France is Nantes Quidditch teamcaptain Elodie Laruelle’s desire to create international quidditchfriendships. This past March, she hopped on a transatlantic flightto visit her new francophone friends in Canada. There, Laruellesays that she had the chance to “meet McGill Quidditch and UOttawato improve her skills and create quidditch friendships.” Nowshe is continuing this effort as she will be traveling to Oxford thisJuly to compete in the IQA Summer Games on the France nationalquidditch team against the United States of America, theUnited Kingdom, and Australia, with teammates who have beenpulled from all three official French teams.With all of the developments in French quidditch, there is evenmore exciting news on the European front. Now, thanks to theassociation in Nantes, two more teams have started up: Isère/BourgoinMuggle Quidditch in France and even a team in Switzerland,Nyon Quidditch! Set on spreading the quidditch word, NantesQuidditch is going as far as to organize a Quidditch Camp July 14and 15. Lastly, every athlete in our sport knows that the best way toensure the future of quidditch is to invest in the youth.Ever since a wide-eyed kid ran over to the newly assembled teamsetting up a pitch with three hoops on each end in May of lastyear and inquired with bewilderment what game we were playing,the members of Nantes Quidditch have recognized the possibilitiesof giving children the chance to experience quidditch. CaptainLaruelle discussed the outreach initiatives her team has engaged insince the team’s creation, stating, “This team is also very involvedin teaching quidditch to children. They work with some leisurecenters to promote the sport among young people.” After havingorganized kidditch workshops on February 15 and 22 and April 13and 17, her team has decided to take the next step in involving theyouth of the community. “Nantes Quidditch will open one or severalkidditch teams for children aged 6-14 years old in September2012,” she explains.All in all, the growth of quidditch over the past year in Francehas been indescribable. One thing is certain, however. This countrywill be a force to be reckoned with in the near future of quidditchon a world-wide scale as the number of teams continues to escalateand the love of the game is sown into their communities. Vive laFrance! nLuke Zak is the IQA’s Midwest Regional Director and a 2012 graduate of the University of Minnesota, where he founded one of the most successful quidditchprograms in the United States, bringing them to World Cups IV and V and the Spring Champions Series in Boston.26 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012ABOVE: NANTES QUIDDITCH AT THE FIRST FRENCH TOURNAMENT. (PHOTO: COURTESY ELODIE LARUELLE)

QUIDDITCHIN HARRY POTTER’SHOMELANDBY KATHLEEN RICHTERWith the Summer Olympicscoming up,many in the quidditchworld are understandablygetting revved upabout sending their nation’s respective teamto London—but what about the teams thatare already there?While according to the IQA there are 33teams in the UK, only one of them—justrecently—has become an IQA official team:the University of West England (UWE) inBristol. Chris Holgate, team captain, saidthe move was a way “to add credibility towhat we do,” as even in the home of HarryPotter, the sport is often approached withskepticism.“The initial response was more than oftena strange mix of surprise, laughter, and ‘areyou serious?’” said Holgate, talking about apresentation he did for UWE’s Sports andSociety Council. Once he showed themYouTube clips featuring the sport, “manyseemed to warm to the idea, especiallywhen sports individuals saw how it was likea sport like any other.”As for UK teams in general, “quidditchis overall the same here in the UK [as itis in the US],” according to Kyrie J. Timbrook,who has played quidditch on a USteam (the Silicon Valley Skrewts) and ona British team (Kingston University). “Oneof the main differences is that they’re stillbuilding up steam…In the UK, there are sofew teams that it’s been difficult for themto play each other. At Oxford they get lotsof people because different universities inOxford have teams. However, they play bytheir own set of rules.”“Though I can’t speak for all UK teams,”Holgate said, “a lot of those interested inquidditch here are openly ‘nerdy,’ wheresport wouldn’t be the first port of call...After seeing many of the U.S. teamsplaying it, we feel we may never takeit as seriously as them, to the extent ofexcluding the full-contact aspect of itto make it more appealing to potentialmembers.”Robert Barringer, from Keele University,noted that though the sport iseven newer in England than it is in the US,it has the potential to become just as popular—andas athletically competitive—as itsiteration in the US. “Comparative to theUS, the UK is a very dense island (realistically),so it’s easy for a craze to spread overthe country and encompass the nation, “ henoted, citing the fact that in just six months,the Quidditch UK network (QUK, pronounced“qwuk”), has grown to just under150 people, and that some schools have alreadyadded quidditch totheir physical education curriculum.“It’s a waiting game currently,” Holgatesaid about the future of quidditch in theUK. As many schools are now out for thesummer, there’s not much that can be done.“But when we come back we’re hoping tobe in contact with both the IQA and ourlocal quidditch enthusiasts who’ve contactedme to organize games and whatnot andreally get this put onto the map!” nKathleen Richter started playing quidditch when she found it through Meetup and thought, “zomg must play NOW.” She now co-captains the Silicon Valley Skrewtsand spams the IQA West Facebook page as often as feasible.ABOVE: KEELE UNIVERSITY QUIDDITCH. (PHOTOS: LEFT COURTESY MELANIE PIPER; RIGHT TOM CRAVEN)Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012 27

FLYING TO CHINABY KATIE STACKThis past month, the IQA’s first officialAsian member team from Hangzhou ForeignLanguage School in Zhejiang, China, hosted atournament in order to spread awareness of their newfavorite sport and gain a greater familiarity with theIQA rulebook. Six teams participated in the tournament, drawnout over a period of several days, for a total of more than 100 playersfrom the school. Each match boasted at least thirty spectators.This tournament is not the first that the Hangzhou team hashosted; in March, the team held a match with roughly 200 spectators.The sport was well received by the community, with an impressiveamount of press coverage and eager audience membersvoicing their questions.Team captain Jenny Wang said that the team is very excited tobe the first team from the Asian continent. “However,” she continued,“[we feel] a bit alone because there isn’t a team nearby to playwith us. We really hope there will be in the future.”The team hopes to host at least one large tournament each semesterin order to keep the sport popular and keep the team running,and the club founders, who are graduating this year, hope to startteams at the Chinese universities they will attend. “We hope thatthe IQA membership will assist with free access for videos, trainingmaterials and so on. Maybe someone from the official IQA wouldeven give a talk or attend our meetings to give suggestions,” Wangsaid.IQA staffmembers have reportedthat they are currentlyworking on uploadingquidditch footage to a serverthat can be accessed in China; the popular American video siteyoutube.com is blocked by the Chinese government.While they wait for this next step, the Hangzhou quidditchplayers have kept themselves busy. The founders have translatedthe IQA rulebook into their native Chinese and filmed their owntraining video in order to make the sport more accessible to theirpeers.The team has also begun to work on future events. They plan tohost a tournament over the summer, using a popular Chinese eventwebsite, douban.com, to spread the word. The Hangzhou playersare discussing details with the event website and hope to confirmsoon.For a new team on the other side of the world, the HangzhouForeign Language School quidditch team has traveled a long wayand is already making strides for the future. nKatie Stack is a Boston University graduate with a love for traveling, sandy beaches, and all things magical. She currently teaches English in Don Benito, Spain, and youcan follow her adventures at http://experienciasespanolas.wordpress.com/.28 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012PHOTOS: JENNY WANG

VIVA EL QUIDDITCH“¡BY KATIE STACKPásala! ¡Vamos, chicos!”Players and fans alike were excitedand curious to hear the QwertyriansQuidditch Club cheering inSpanish at the Western Cup in LAtwo months ago, although those in the knowwere not surprised. The IQA has been rapidlyexpanding internationally, with expositiongames to take place in the United Kingdom tocoincide with the 2012 Olympics, and the firstteam from Asia joining the IQA this May. So itshouldn’t be a surprise that the Qwertyrians QCmade their way across the border to competeand that an equally strong team, Tec Quidditch,exists further south, in Monterrey.Tec Quidditch, an official school organizationat the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superioresde Monterrey (ITESM) and a 20-personteam with weekly practices, was founded in August2011. The nearly two-year-old QwertyriansQC is an IQA member team based in Tijuanawith a 23-person roster. Although young, bothteams have contributed immensely to the IQAand to their communities, overcoming a varietyof obstacles to do so. Their communities havesupported them in kind.Tec Quidditch’s popularity skyrocketed whenthe team’s spring tournament was advertisedon a popular social media site, 9gag.com. Thepost received hundreds of views, yet most of thecomments involved some sort of harassment.As hurtful as those responses were, the Internetbuzz attracted the attention of the press, andthree newspapers covered the tournament: twonewspapers from ITESM, as well as the mainMonterrey paper, called El Norte.In April, the Tec Quidditch team collaboratedon an event organized by “Niños Regios,” agroup dedicated to encouraging children to read.Nearly 500 children from the city of Monterreyenjoyed playing kidditch that day. The universityrecognized the group for their efforts by awardingthem two “Golden Apples.”“The Golden Apple is a very important awardfor student organizations in our college. TecQuidditch won two, and they were given to thegroup for being the ‘Revelation Student Organizationof the Semester’ and for hosting the‘Revelation Event of the Semester,’” AntonioCruz, team captain and founder, said.Alberto Santillon, the captain of the QwertyriansQC, said that the community of Tijuanahas also been very supportive. The team has receivedenthusiastic responses from media outletsand has even done a few interviews with a localtelevision station. The team hopes to continueto work with the IQA to expand within theircommunity.“As part of our vision, mission, and objectives,the IQA represents the same values. We believethat the requirements to belong in such an organizationmeet ours as well. We are a communityteam and therefore we believe communityservice in whatever way possible is an instrumentof rallying people to do better for their cityand their country,” Santillon said.Tec Quidditch hopes to join the IQA soon inorder to garner more support and foster a greatersense of legitimacy within their community.“We’re not yet official IQA members, but weare currently in the process. We are doing theprocess now because we wanted first to be recognizedin our college, have the sufficient clubmembers, and get all the necessary equipment,”Cruz said.“Our biggest challenge is getting people tojoin our team. Many of the interested people arestill afraid of peer pressure and being humiliated…On the other hand, there is a big amountof people who are totally supportive and are superhappy that we started quidditch in Mexico,which is a very difficult thing due to the fact thatmany Mexicans are not tolerant to new and differentthings,” Cruz said.The Qwertyrian QC’s problems stem morefrom geographic location. Tijuana is a city locatedon the United States border; the closestMexican quidditch team is at least 1500 milesaway, and so many of the US teams are an easieroption for tournament play. The team hastraveled to the University of California, San Diegoon two separate occasions and played in LosAngeles at the Western Cup this past year. Unfortunately,tourist visas are not always availablefor everyone, captain Alberto Santillon said.Another challenge for most quidditch teamsworldwide (and the Mexican teams are no exception)is fundraising. The Qwertyrians bring$1 to each weekly practice as a way to fund thecost of equipment. The Tec team sells t-shirtsand Krispy Kreme donuts, and in Novemberhosted “The Biggest Potterhead,” a Harry Pottertrivia competition. Future goals for both teamsinvolve raising enough money to buy moreequipment and to fund competition travel.A higher level of competition, at this pointonly possible by traveling, is necessary for theseteams to reach the next level and become recognizedin the league as competitive athletes.“Skill-wise, they have a lot of speed, but theyneed size and strategy to compete with the bigdogs. The strategy will come, since they aren’tshying away from playing the best in the Westand they’re getting great experience throughthat,” Dan Hanson, an IQA referee, commentedafter watching the Qwertyrians QC at theWestern Cup.Santillon agreed with Hanson, attributingdifferent playing styles to cultural differences.“[In our] country where tackling is not part ofthe training development, it makes it very differentfrom yours. I can say that most Mexicanquidditch teams will play alike, with a passingsystem. Ours is a sprint-passing system that hasso far worked fine, we’ve learned some strategieswe believe are really good,” Santillon said.Both Mexican teams are ready for the nextstep in tournament play. Tec Quidditch’s goal isto play in the IQA World Cup, while the Qwertyriansare focused on hosting a large Mexicantournament (open to all teams, including the USand international) in order to encourage Mexicanparticipation.The quidditch world should watch out. Mexicanquidditch is rapidly expanding and the QwertyEffect, or El Efecto Qwertyrian, as Santillondescribed it, is not the only force to be reckonedwith. nABOVE: QWERTIANS QC PLAY AT THE WESTERN CUP IN LOS ANGELES. (PHOTO: KATIE MERCURIO)Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012 29

30 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012

COMMENTARY:QUIDDITCH IN CANADABY ANDREA HILLThis summer, dozens of quidditchplayers from around theworld will make their wayto Oxford to represent theircountries in an Olympic quidditchmatch. Sadly, Canadian players willnot be among the mix.It’s not because there aren’t talented,committed quidditch players in Canada—there are, and many teams who’ve had theopportunity to play against Canadian quidditchpowerhouses such as McGill Universitycan attest to this. It’s because the poolof quidditch players within the nation remainslimited. And when the proportion ofplayers able to commit the time and financesto fly across the world to play the sportthey love is small, this poses an impossiblebarrier for the formation of a Canadian nationalteam.Quidditch in Canada has not taken offas it has in the United States. Though thesport arrived in Canada just a couple yearsafter it was first played at Middlebury Collegein Vermont in 2005, it has not gainedthe same nationwide popularity in Canadaas it has farther south. This is evident in thefact that the United States boasts close to120 official member teams whereas Canadahas only eight. America also houses considerablymore unofficial active teams andhigh school teams than its northern neighbour.It is likely not possible for quidditch toever become as widespread in Canada asit is south of the 49th parallel. Part of theproblem is that Canada simply doesn’t havethe same volume of people. Quidditch wasdesigned as, and largely remains, a universitysport. While Canada has close to 150postsecondary institutions, the U.S. Departmentof Education database includesfigures on 6,900 postsecondary educationalinstitutions in the country. The numbersspeak for themselves. Even if quidditchteams are established at half of Canadianpostsecondary institutions, the number ofteams would still pale in comparison towhat is being achieved in the United States.Canada is also short on strong quidditchleaders who could potentially work to promoteand mobilize the sport in the country.The benefits of such a group are best seenin Australia—a nation with a fast-growingquidditch presence despite its isolationfrom the United States. Quidditch in theisland nation of kangaroos and platypusesis overseen by the Australian QuidditchAssociation, a group that works alongsidethe IQA. Its elected members from acrossthe nation share ideas and resources toorganize quidditch events that ultimatelypromote the sport in the country. Thoughthe formation of a similar Canadian QuidditchAssociation has been proposed incasual conversations between players andthrough the country’s quidditch Facebookgroup, no action has yet been taken. Perhapsit’s because communication betweenthe country’s quidditch teams is poor evenin this age of social media and email. Orperhaps it’s because people fail to see thebenefits of such a group in a geographicallylarge country where a team’s closest competitorsmay be in the United States.Quidditch in Canada saw considerablegrowth between 2010 and 2011 whenteams started cropping up across Ontarioand in western British Columbia. However,that growth appears to have slowed andnow captains of some established teams aregraduating, leaving their teams with uncertainfutures.But we don’t need to see the number ofofficial teams climbing for quidditch to be asuccess in Canada. In fact, the nation’s quidditchteams have much to celebrate fromthis season. In October, the first-ever Canadianquidditch tournament was hosted atCarleton University in Ottawa. Seven Canadianteams and a single American teamcompeted in the IQA’s smallest regionaltournament on a chilly October day. Anddespite organizer concerns that the Americanteam would walk away as victor of theCanadian event, the Canuck teams cameout on top with McGill University (Montreal,QC) placing first, Carleton finishingsecond and University of Ottawa takinghome the bronze medal. And less than amonth later, Canada made its largest-evershowing at a Quidditch World Cup withfive teams attending—an increase of oneteam from the year before.That Canada only had five teams at the2011 World Cup may be surprising tomany fans and players who attended thetournament since the singing, chantingand drumming of the Canadian playersoften drowned out American cheers. TheCanadians at the World Cup were damnproud to be there and were proud to berepresenting their country in an Americandominatedsport. Players cheered on otherCanadian teams throughout the weekendand loud choruses of O’Canada could beheard sporadically across Randall’s Island.So will quidditch in Canada ever be asbig as it is in the United States? Probablynot. But that won’t stop players and quidditchfans from getting involved in thegame they love and playing it with incredibleenthusiasm and spirit. nAndrea Hill is the IQA’s international director and captain of the Carleton University quidditch team in Ottawa.LEFT: ANDREA HILL WAVES THE CANADIAN FLAG AT WORLD CUP V.Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012 31

JE NE PARLE PASL’ANGLAIS, BUT YES,I PLAY QUIDDITCHA brief look at the existence of alanguage barrier within the IQABY KATIE STACKTTHE IQA IS RAPIDLY EXPANDINGthroughout the US and abroad, with thefirst annual quidditch convention (Quid-Con) in Chicago in July and an exhibitiontournament for the Olympics in the UKin July. The nonprofit organization currentlyboasts official member teams fromeight different countries and five differentlanguages. IQA official member teamsspeak not only English, but French, Spanish,Chinese, and Finnish. Unofficial quidditchteams span more of the globe andexpress themselves in a number of differenttongues, including an unofficial team interviewedfor this article with Italian as its firstlanguage. With such worldwide popularity,the question arrises of how best to satisfynon-US teams, especially those who do notshare the English language.In an increasingly globalized world, foreignexchange is valued more highly thanever before. The influx of new ideas resultsin a rich collaboration, and interaction withforeign cultures is often argued to increaseboth international understanding and individualempathy. These goals mesh well withthe IQA’s inspiring mission of community,creativity, and competition. In the sameway the IQA strives to overcome genderinequalities, the organization is attemptingto bridge geographical and cultural gaps.Yet there is concern that IQA publicationsavailable only in English will prove to be aproblem, and that it may be already. Foreignteams say no, but IQA staff memberssay yes. After speaking with both parties,it seems that the difference in languagehas not been a barrier so far for those whowould like to play the sport of quidditch,but it is a hindrance to its spread across theglobe through the press and various socialmedia outlets.On the international playing field, avariety of phrases can be heard. The QwertyiansQC (Tijuana, Mexico), the onlyofficial Mexican team, commonly shouts“¡pásala!” and “¡cuidado!” for “pass the ball!”and “look out!” The match starts with “¡escobasarriba!” and “¡la snitch está suelta!”At Italian matches, it’s common to hear“nemo fioi” and “tira” as players encouragetheir teammates with a hardy “let’s go boys”and “shoot!” said Enrico Higginbotham,captain of the Quidditch Club Provincia diVenezia (Venice, Italy).The team’s optimistic yet violent mottois in their native tongue as well: “Anca se novinxemo, spacheremo un fia de capocie,” whichtranslates to “even if we don’t win we willbreak some heads.”Fortunately for the new sport, the loveof Harry Potter—the protagonist of the famousbook series by J.K. Rowling on whichthe sport of muggle quidditch is based—is universal. The Harry Potter books havebeen translated into 73 languages and soquidditch teams can easily use the athleticterms in the books as they interpret theIQA rules.“We use the same terms [as the book]in order to have consistency between fantasyand reality and to have a reference tothe context of the game,” said Ingrid Vezy,of the Anthena muggle quidditch team(Lesparre, France).Each team claims at least one fluentEnglish speaker, and most team membershave the ability to understand English toan extent. These English skills are necessarybecause the teams do their best to adhere tothe current IQA rulebook, published onlyin English and Italian. Most teams havetranslated the rulebook into their nativetongue.“We of course use the IQA rulebook.We have translated it into Chinese. It’spretty difficult, because it’s a new sport andit’s in English,” Jenny Wang, captain ofHangzhou Foreign Language School quidditchteam in China, said. She explainedthat the team captains do the translatingand rules interpretation; most of the playerslearn the rules through live play andthrough videos the new Chinese team hasfilmed themselves.None of the teams feel as though thelanguage barrier has at all hindered theircomprehension or enjoyment of the sport.They admit that it would be a little easier tohave rules clarifications translated in theirlanguage—many of the IQA rules rely onspecific syntax to explain technical details.Each team, however, has enough players32 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012

with the ability to communicate in Englishif necessary. And Google translate workswonders, Wang explained with a smile.At the same time, however, all the teamsclaimed that their biggest challenge is findinglocal teams to compete against. ParisQuidditch explained that quidditch is notyet taken seriously at their school and so it’shard to gain respect. The Qwertyians QCdon’t have any Mexican teams near them,and while they do live on the border, it canbe difficult to acquire a tourist visa to crossinto the neighboring country.“We’ll just have to work around it untilthe sport is legitimate enough to provideus with quidditch visas,” Santillon said. Heremains hopeful.IQA commissioner Alex Benepe admitsthat it is very possible that the difference inlanguage is responsible for the lack of otherinternational teams.“I’m surprised that quidditch, at least toour knowledge, has not taken off on theAsian continent…and I’ve always wonderedif that was attributable to the languagebarrier. I finally solved at least part ofthat riddle through our new Chinese team,who testified to the fact that it was hard forthem [to garner interest] without the abilityto watch youtube videos (youtube.comis banned in China),” he said.Even after the IQA posts videos on additionalservers, they will still be in theEnglish language only. While non-Englishspeakers will at least be able to appreciatethe competition and whimsy involved inthe sport, they will not be able to understandspecific training or promotional aspectsof the videos.IQA international regional director, AndreaHill, believes that the language barrieris a problem, as well.“That language is a barrier to worldwideadoption of the sport is made clear by lookingat what countries have a strong quidditchcommunity: the United States, Canada,Australia and the United Kingdom. Allof these are English-speaking countries. Itis more difficult for the IQA to promote itssport to non-English-speaking countriessince our website and rulebook are in English,”she said.Hill believes that the first step towardquidditch as a global household name is toThat language is a barrier to worldwideadoption of the sport is madeclear by looking at what countrieshave a strong quidditch community:the United States, Canada, Australiaand the United Kingdom. All of theseare English-speaking countries.recruit English-speaking fans abroad to actas liaisons and translators: a very feasiblegoal. Watch out, world.In addition to those cited above, thanks aredue to Alberto Santillon of the QwertyiansQC in Tijuana, Mexico, Cowrin Falfus andSoraya Abbagnato of Paris Quidditch in Paris,France, for their assistance with this article. nDo you know your cognards from your cazadores?French quidditch termsBatteurs – beatersPoursuiveurs – chasersGardien – keeperAttrapeur – seekerSouafle – quaffleCognards – bludgersEt vif d’or – snitch runnerArbitre – refereeBut – goal hoopsBalais – broomsPhrases heard on the fieldFonce! – go go go!Chope le! – take it!cours – runSpanish quidditch termsJugadores – playersGuardián – keeperCazador – chaseeGolpeador – beaterBuscador – seekerAros – hoopsQuemado – knocked out¡Escobas Arriba! – brooms up!¡La snitch está suelta! – thesnitch is loose!Spanish exclamations¡Pásala! – Pass the ball!¡Cuidado! – Look out!¡Espera! – Wait!¡Corre! – Run!Chinese quidditch terms起 飞 !Brooms up!放 出 金 色 飞 贼 !the snitch is loose!犯 规 了 犯 规 了 !Against the rules!黄 牌 !Yellow card!游 荡 时 间 结 束 !The seeker floor is over!Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012 33

THE CORE CONFLICT:WHIMSICALITYVS.COMPETITIONBY DAN HANSON

Whydo we playquidditch?You only need one reason for anyone to playthe game, and there are hundreds of reasonsto choose from. Once again, quidditchfinds itself in a unique place in the worldof sport. In this case, it’s because some ofthose reasons are perceived to be mutuallyexclusive. Can quidditch be a serious andcompetitive sport in which the championshipsmatter, and at the same time, keep thewhimsical, fun, sometimes Harry Potterbasedelements that got the game started inthe first place?This dichotomy has always been presentin quidditch, back to the days when teamswere required to wear capes at the WorldCup (which was most recently the case atWorld Cup III in 2009). Some teams stillgo with capes, some go with joke or nonnumbersor fake names on their jerseys, andseveral rock tie-dye uniforms. Texas A&Mhas become famous for the shiny leggingsthat several players use as part of their uniforms.Western Cup champion USC’s jerseynumbers include

matter how you were seeded for the groupstages of the tournament. If you trainedin an athletic manner for the World Cup,chances were you’d at least make it to thesingle round elimination portion of thetournament. Quidditch teams’ results neverreally mattered.”Gutierrez is correct that quidditch neitherappeals nor caters to the average sportsfan. However, that lack of allure is not dueto the whimsical elements of the team orgames, or to any lack of competitive nature.The bias against quidditch can be tracedback to its origins: a fictional sport in ayoung adult fantasy series. Those originsare also a commonly used justification forthe whimsy in games, usually followedby something along the lines of, “We runaround on broomsticks; it’s all just based onyoung adult fantasy books.”THE STATE OF THE LEAGUE“Quidditch teams’ results never really mattered,”Gutierrez wrote. It’s easy to take exceptionto a word as broad as “mattered.”And while you may or may not agree withhis point, David was right to use the pasttense. Quidditch has always been a fastevolvingphenomenon, but these days, it’schanging faster than it ever has before. FromWorld Cup to World Cup, the number ofparticipating teams approximately doubled,and volunteering became more and moreorganized. Even with the move from Middleburyto New York, it wasn’t until afterWorld Cup V that a new quidditch era wasushered in. The change was revealed in onesentence in Alex Benepe’s December Stateof the League Address: “Regional championshipswill become qualifying events forWorld Cup.” That proclamation—alongwith the announcement of the biddingprocess to host the World Cup, marked theend of the era of isolation of the Cup tothe Northeast and the end of accessibilityof the Cup to all teams. Now that teamswill need to qualify for the Cup, the whimsicalityvs. competition issue has becomemore than just an argument. There is nowa schism in the quidditch world: shouldthe World Cup remain open to any and allteams, or should it be reserved for the bestof the best?Benepe’s address got the typical range ofresponses—some were excited, some critical,and some mixed. But Andy Hyatt, aIt wasn’t until after World Cup Vthat a new quidditch era was usheredin. The change was revealed in onesentence in Alex Benepe’s DecemberState of the League Address:“Regional championships will becomequalifying events for World Cup.”captain and four-time World Cup championwith Middlebury College, respondedwith an address of his own.“I can’t say that I’m enthusiastic with theway the game is changing. I think this divideis very clearly seen in how people referto quidditch. Several times in [the StateABOVE: EMERSON COLLEGE WAITS FOR “BROOMS UP” AT WORLD CUP V. (PHOTO: JAKE HINES)PREVIOUS PAGE: EMERSON COLLEGE WARMS UP. (PHOTO: JAKE HINES)Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012 37

MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE CIRCLES THE FIELD BEFORE A MATCH AT THE 2008 WORLD CUP.of the League Address], quidditch wasreferred to as a sport. Speaking for myself(and for a great part of the Middleburyteam), we frankly do not see quidditch thisway. Quidditch is a game.”Hyatt goes on to discuss the out-ofcontrolintensity of some of the games, thespirit-killing and fun-suffocating effects ofinstitutionalization, and the regression ofquidditch to become “more like any othersport.” Everything Hyatt says is outlinedclearly and fairly, but the comments setoff some uproar around the league. Manyquidditch players cannot even tolerate suchan anti-competitive perspective, especiallycoming from an important figure like Hyatt,the captain who led his team to theWorld Championship. Brad Armentor ofLSU voiced one of the strongest reactionsto Hyatt’s reaction (just wait, there are evenmore reactions to come). Says Armentor,“Whimsicality is obviously something thatwe all love about quidditch. I honestly respectanyone who plays the game becauseof it…Quidditch has already begun evolvinginto a more physical and athletic sportthan in years past. Because of that, I thinkthat the ‘come on man, we’re playing a gamewith a broom between our legs’ argumenthas become obsolete.” Hyatt’s classificationof quidditch as a game rather than a sportis what bothers Armentor the most. “Howcan we even hope to become a legitimatesport when the champion of quidditch seesit as just some game?”Armentor and Gutierrez both discuss cateringto people outside of quidditch andthe Harry Potter subculture. They wantto bring sports fans into our communityand our sport into a wider community. Ofcourse, the more the merrier, and ideallywe would like to bring in all kinds of fans.But it’s up to us, the quidditch community,to shape the perception of quidditch,and that perception will in turn determinewhat kind of fans we bring in. To grosslygeneralize, quidditch is half Harry Potter,half sport. Nonetheless, the majority ofour quidditch fanbase comes from HarryPotter, which has proved to be the far easiertranslation of fandom so far. Here’s thequestion that seems to be at the heart ofthe whimsicality-competition dichotomy:do we shape the perception of quidditch asmore of a sport to try to bring in new fans,players and volunteers, or do we stick to ourloyal base and keep the Harry Potter spiritas strong as ever?The reaction to Hyatt’s reaction waslargely public. Hyatt was able to watch theharsh criticism he was receiving unfold online,in a way that was neither behind hisback nor to his face, but also sort of both ofthose at the same time. Hyatt’s reaction tothe reaction to his initial reaction:“I was definitely a bit shocked at the vitriolI received...I still stand 100% by whatI said in that post. I just wish it could haveled to a constructive conversation as opposedto a shouting match…If I wantedto play a real sport in a competitive atmosphere,I’d go play soccer or baseball or basketball.I’m not denying that those sportscan be fun, but at the highest level, fun isnot the main object, winning is…With theproposed changes mandating a minimumnumber of qualifying games and year-longplay, we’re going to be hard-pressed to keep38 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012

“There’s one big problem with the Internet,though. It makes it easy to be a douche.”quidditch laid back and accessible to everyone…Forme, quidditch has more to dowith my 11-year-old self waiting for an owlto deliver my Hogwarts acceptance letterthan anything else.”That is a perspective that Armentor andothers who want to win will never agreewith. And Hyatt will never agree with thehard training and physical gameplay thatArmentor and those of his mindset want togo through to win.By no means do Hyatt and Armentorspeak respectively for all those who aremore whimsical or more competitive, buttheir conflict did capture the nuances withinthe whimsicality-competition dichotomy.Hyatt thinks that quidditch should beas separate and different as possible fromother sports, while Armentor thinks itshould be modeled after sports like handballand ultimate. Hyatt imagines himselfflying on his broomstick, while Armentorthinks of quidditch on the ground beforethe air. Hyatt says his least favorite part ofquidditch is the World Cup, while Armentorlives for it. Their differences lead to anunfortunate conclusion: it would seem thatnot everybody in quidditch can be happywith quidditch’s next step.THE INTERNETIt’s through the Internet that this whimsicalityvs. competition issue has boiled over.Quidditch’s headquarters are truly on theweb: on Facebook, Tumblr, and the IQAforums, where players and fans interactwith each other from all over the world, orfrom across the room with their own team.They figure out who the best players are,debate about the vague intricacies of gameplay,or mostly trail off into any number oftangents. Gutierrez says this is rare to findin the sports world: “In the two to threeyears I participated in club soccer, never didI come across a club soccer team’s Facebookgroup, a conference Facebook group, or anysort of social networking craze.” While amainstream sport has major media outletstelling you what players and teams to rootfor, we have to do so ourselves through theInternet, since the news doesn’t cover evenclose to the full scope of quidditch.There’s one big problem with the Internet,though. It makes it easy to be a douche.Quidditch news spreading through the Internetworks sort of like telephone: reallyimportant facts are often lost from post topost. Information becomes a mess of judgments,opinions and biases masqueradingas facts.“Alarmist rants and conspiracy theorieshave no place in quidditch conversations.They are counterproductive and rude. Period.”That’s according to UCLA captainand fan favorite Tom Marks. He goes onto say, “How do we balance the fun of thegame and the competition of the sport? Theanswer, in my opinion, is strive to be thebest at both of them.”Naturally, the Internet served as the battlegroundbetween Hyatt’s whimsy andArmentor’s competition. With sentimentsreflective of each of their opinions, Hyattrespectfully urged for a drawback in intensity,while neglecting the widely held beliefof Armentor’s that we’re in it to win it. Armentordid not hold back in his criticism ofHyatt’s post, calling him hypocritical andpretentious in stronger words.Tom Marks to the rescue: “This is where[Hyatt]’s comment comes from: A fear thatthe competition is going to make peopleforget how awesome pre-game hugs are,and a fear that the hugs will dilute thesport that some people, including myselfand my team, work really hard at...We canhold onto how fun the game is without losingit as a competitive sport, but to do thiswe need to change our attitudes as a community,specifically in how we interact witheach other online.”Actual fights in quidditch, which havebeen breaking out across the Internet moreand more since the lead up to World CupV, are always somewhat of a shock. Peoplecall out other players, teams, and evenregions, negatively generalizing them. Nomatter how different and antithetical eachother’s opinions are, quidditch has no roomfor negativity. When it comes down to it,we all want the same thing: to play quidditch,for quidditch to grow, and for no-QQ asks: Where do youfall on the competitionwhimsyspectrum?“I’m fine with the whimsy as long asit doesn’t interfere with the game. Ifyou want to have ninja games beforebrooms up, that’s your decision as ateam. But I don’t want to not be ableto hear my teammates on the pitchbecause there’s a band playing HarryPotter songs at level 10 volume 20yards away.” —Mitch Cavender, USC“I love Harry Potter as much as/evenmore than the next quidditch player,but...the whimsy is what keeps peopleoutside of the quidditch communityfrom taking us seriously as a sport.”—Jacob Adlis, University of Texas“I think what keeps me around is notso much ‘whimsy’ as friendliness andacceptance. I’ve never played penguinquidditch and I’ve always been againstcapes, but when I’m not playing I huganyone whose name I know and canshout across the event field.” —MattPanico, University of Pittsburgh“Whimsy is what draws you in,competition is what keeps you in thesport. There has to be a balance betweenthe two—whimsy draws the curiouscrowd, but the competitivenesskeeps them in their seats.” —StephenSmith, University of Florida“If it weren’t for the whimsy, I neverwould have appreciated the sport ofit. They are both so ridiculously importantto me. I just hope players willalways be doing silly antics or wearingimaginary numbers or names on theirjerseys.” —Anna Brisbin, NYU“I think intra-school competitionshould be a bit more whimsical, andtournaments can have some fun stuffattached, but inter-school play shouldlargely be competitive and treated asany other sport.” —Kevin Peterson,Austin, Texas“If you actively try to ‘create’ entertainment,without at least making aneffort to improve the sport itself, theextra attempts at fabricated whimsywill only end up distracting from whatshould be the main focus: quidditch.”—Mason Kuzmich, Texas A&MQuidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012 39

A PERSPECTIVE FROM VASSAR COLLEGEBY CAMILA DELGADO-MONTESVassar’s Butterbeer Broooers are wellknown, to quote Tumblr’s The GoldenSnitchy, as “one of the nicest and mostbizarre teams.” Since its founding, we’vebeen firm proponents of hijinks (likeseekers wearing pink tutus, cartwheelswhen we feel a game merits them), a generaldesire to try and be lovely people, andfinally, a passion for sportsmanship and aclean game.So it has always perplexed and angeredme that other teams have underestimatedus because of our spirit. I was a captainwhen my team won fourth place inWorld Cup IV a mere year ago, so ourtalent should not be an issue. So why isour skill questioned because we knowhow to have fun? And why do peoplefeel that “having fun” and “competition”are mutually exclusive? Vassar, at least, isa competitive team who plays for fun—indeed, there is no point in playing unlessyou are enjoying it. But lately, I have noticedmatches debased by the urge to win,which, like Andy Hyatt mentioned, arelike “competing in a fight to the death,”and matches and tournaments where ridiculousviolence and rule breaking havebeen prevalent. Snitchy even said that“being extremely rule-abiding makes[Vassar] noble but not always practical,”and I had to pause for a second. Followingthe rules is not being noble; it makesyou a decent person, and hardly deservingof the description “noble.” What isthe point of playing a game if you aren’tplaying cleanly and well? At that point,you aren’t winning because of your skillor dedication, but because you don’t respectthe game, the rules, the teams, oreven yourself to be able to win based actualwork…instead, you end up relyingon cheating and violence. “Winning atall costs” already warps people…but doesit have to encroach on our beloved nichesport?I understand that quidditch is an aggressivesport, and that is part of why Ilove it so much! I enjoy tackling and beingable to take a tackle. I enjoy baringmy teeth, dodging and weaving, and howutterly physical our game is in a way thatI never got out of basketball in school.But the moment we treat it like we treatother sports, we destroy what truly makesquidditch special. I decided not to playbasketball so I could join quidditch, notjust because I am a Harry Potter fan, butalso because it is a special sport that was aperfect meeting place for the athlete andbeginner, and because the family I foundin it has become one of the most importantparts of my college career. If I hadever wanted quidditch to be like othersports, I would have stuck to basketball,gosh-darnit, and avoided the hecklingfrom friends, family, and strangers alike.So why do people try to make quidditchlike other sports? Do they feel insecurewith the “quove” aspect? Why dowe need to change ourselves to resemblethe others, to become less unique, whenthese other sports already exist and havefilled this niche to excess? Why takeaway the magic, the silliness, when it isexactly that which first made quidditch,and its prankster snitch, the great thing itis? Standardizing our beloved game, oursport, is like taking out the wings fromthe snitch, because bludgers and quafflesdo not have them. Whimsy is what set usapart. Without whimsy, quidditch wouldbecome frightfully dull; it would cheapenus, and bring us down to the averagesport.I personally am not insecure enough tohave to justify quidditch to our constantdoubters, or to change my playing styleor the spirit of the game to “prove” myselfto these haters: it is their loss if they cannotenjoy quidditch, and it is other teams’loss, more than mine, if they think that“competition” cannot go hand in handwith “whimsy.”In this sense, the ICBA does notmake sense to me, but I understand thatthey have a very different set of prioritiesthan I do. However, while readingthe arguments surrounding their split, Ifound that a lot of the complaints wereregarding issues that the still-young IQAhas already started working on, and thatwill thus be addressed in the near future.As such, I think that the split is far moreone regarding the spirit of our game, thanone of its administration, a split that liesprecisely at this apparent discriminationagainst whimsy. I want the ICBAto prove me wrong, so I will be followingtheir progress with cautious optimism.My hope is that if quidditch stabilizes,hopefully with the whimsy intact, andwith the general ref and season concernsof the ICBA addressed by the IQA, theywill reincorporate themselves into thegeneral IQA and quidditch world.I will stand by and congratulate theICBA for taking charge for their opinionsand desires, so long as it comes withthe understanding that my “whimsy”does not make me a poorer player, or myteam less talented or competitive. n“The problem to theaverage sports fan,and to the perceptionof our game, is not thewhimsy. It’s that wejustify the whimsy bydiscrediting quidditchas something lessthan it is.”body to get hurt. Disrespectful fights onlystifle the game’s growth. One of most gloriousparts of the game is that it can meananything to anyone. Hyatt and Armentorcould play on the same team, and both getwhat they want out of it. Before we worryabout whether we will play in a more competitiveor whimsical league, we should createan environment where any player or fancan be as competitive or whimsical of anindividual as they want.The problem to the average sports fan,and to the perception of our game, is notthe whimsy. It’s that we justify the whimsyby discrediting quidditch as somethingless than it is. Just because we’re runningaround on broomsticks doesn’t mean quidditchcan’t be one of the most meaningfulparts of our lives. In Armentor’s words,“Yes, we play with brooms. But we still playa sport. Competition is part of sport.” Andin Marks’s: “I don’t want to lose how competitivethis sport is, because every game wewon gave me a sense of such pride that Ican’t even describe. But I also don’t want tolose the camaraderie I have with even mybiggest rival.” There is an incredible synergycreated by the high stakes competition, ourcreativity to break the conventions of usualsport, and our creativity to make quidditchsomething so much more than it was inHarry Potter. Sorry, Jo Rowling, you madesomething seriously awesome—but wemade it way better. nDan Hanson went to Emerson College inBoston, where he played keeper for two years.After graduating, he manifested his destinyby moving to Los Angeles, where he watchesTV and co-founded the future quidditchpowerhouse team, the Lost Boys.40 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012RIGHT: A TEXAS A&M KEEPER TACKLES VASSAR’S KEEPER AT WORLD CUP V. (PHOTO: QUIDDITCHPHOTOS.COM)

Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012 41

WHO IS THE MOST INFLUENTIALPERSON IN QUIDDITCH?But no, seriously.BY DAN HANSONWith the exponential growth ofquidditch from World Cup toWorld Cup, World Cup V sawteams come in with solidly establishedreputations. Excitingteams like Texas A&M and Vassar werewell known to the quidditch community,and their reputations bought them fansin the tournament. Then there were otherteams that everybody wanted to lose, like…hmm, I can’t think of any examples off thetop of my head. In previous World Cups,people have been able to root for teamsbased on their brief history, or whetherthey know the school from NCAA sports,or whether they have cool uniforms.How do you choose whom to root forwhen you’re watching a sport? You haveyour favorite teams, but more often thannot, you choose your favorite teams basedon your favorite players. You hear commentatorstalking about them, check outtheir stats, see them on highlight reels. Butquidditch doesn’t have highlight reels, orstat lists, or commentators who know theplayers’ names. Dr. Dre of the University ofFlorida may have been the biggest star ofWorld Cup V, as he lead his team to thefinals on the back of his memorable nickname.42 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012

Who is he?PHOTO: JAKE HINESBut since the World Cup, everything haschanged. Players have shot from anonymityto stardom, and now quidditch fanscan choose their favorite teams based onthe players. Since certain regional Facebookgroups have exploded with popularity,quidditch players nationwide now talkto each other nonstop about each other,and when the occasional quidditch-basedconversation happens, players start to gainreputations as stars.The biggest change, however, has beenthe addition of one major figure in quidditch…Someone who seems to dedicateall of his time to the study of the game, andpreaches that knowledge to us via Tumblrbehind an unnecessary shroud of anonymity.I am speaking, of course, of the one andonly Golden Snitchy. Snitchy is far andaway the most influential person in quidditchright now, even more than Benepe,Alicia, or fellow anonyblogger Quinksy.In case you are unfamiliar with Snitchy’sblog, thegoldensnitchy.tumblr.com, hehas several features, most notably Son ofa Pitch, The Freshman, Drill of the Day,the Quidditch Yearbook. In Son of a Pitchand The Freshman, he highlights playersand their skills. Drill of the Day givesteams and players suggestions for practicingtechniques. And the Yearbook is a particularlycreative endeavor in which he postsubmissions from all over the world aboutpeoples’ favorite moments of the year. Ittakes his blog in a new direction, capturingthe real emotion and culture behindquidditch. While he usually focuses onthe competitive side, the Yearbook showsthat there’s too many wonderful aspects ofquidditch to even count, and competitionis just one of them.But competition is the one that Snitchyhighlights the most. Son of a Pitch ishis main feature, and that is the one thatmakes his blog, for that is where he createsquidditch stars for the entire quidditchworld. Quidditch stardom spreads throughword of mouth, and though not responsiblefor all of it, Snitchy begins many of thediscussions about great players.SON OF A PITCH!I’M UP AGAINST _____So I’m going to return the favor on behalfof the quidditch community. The GoldenSnitchy finally gets a feature. Keep onbreaking new ground and making our culturebetter!Anonymity isn’t easy, when quidditch issuch a social world. Snitchy has somehowmanaged to superheroically maintain hissecret identity. Whenever we’re at a tournament,he’s out there watching over us all,ready to soak in quidditch knowledge andspread it to the rest of the league.Snitchy isn’t right about everything, buthis quidditch knowledge is unparalleled.He seems to pay more attention than anybodyelse, so we are lucky to have such adedicated source bringing us all this information.If he’s not at a major tournament,he’s live blogging the information hereceives via live streams. And it’s not likehe just watches games, either; he has mentionedthat he volunteers. We can assume,based on his persona, that he snitches. Doeshe sneakily watch other games when hehides off the pitch?His expertise isn’t just limited to players,either. He likes to make predictions andreflections of tournaments, and has veryastute analyses that sound like they comestraight out of an ESPN column. He accuratelypredicted the result of every matchin pool play of the Champions Series, eventhough some of those teams had neverplayed before. He knows quidditch playersand gameplay well enough to make thosepredictions confidently and correctly. That’sall without mentioning his groundbreakingcreativity. He’s created an entire originalmedia outlet, and his presentations take theentertainment aspect to another level. Justlook at the Snitchy Games to see what he’scapable of.But who is this man? That’s all the infohe’s given us, after all. He has a particularknowledge of Northeastern and Westernplayers. But then again, he knows alot about the Southwest… and the Mid-Atlantic… he basically covers everywhere.Some clues point to the Northeast, but whoknows if those clues are just there to misleadus. I may be wrong (and I’m assuminghe’ll correct me via Tumblr if I am), but Ibelieve he is remaining anonymous so thathis readers won’t think he’s biased towardany particular team or group. I can understandthat, although I think it would makehis opinions more legitimate knowing thesource. But I hope he remains anonymous.It’s just so much fun to keep guessing.WEAKNESSES: Stuff that annoys him.He spreads a little more hate than peopledeserve, being harshly critical of schoolslike Middlebury. With such an influentialvoice in the league, Snitchy needs to becareful that he doesn’t use that power tocause other people to be too judgmental ofeach other. nQuidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012 43

SON OF A PITCH! I’M UP AGAINSTnine players to watch this seasonBY THE GOLDEN SNITCHY“DR.” DRE CLEMENTSCHASER, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDAU of F made it all the way to the finals ofthe last Quidditch World Cup, thanks toDr. Dre. They had a good team this year,but you won’t be able to convince me thatthere weren’t a few other teams that maybedeserved to be there more. Dre is a powerhousechaser and seemed to be the team’sprimary offensive and defensive player atthe Cup. There’s a reason everyone in thecrowd knew his name—he did it all. Hehits hard and charges down the field likea freaking bull. He’s got impeccable aimand a sharp eye for openings. Yeah, he gotcarded for neglecting to return to hoopsafter being beat, but when you’ve got thewhole team on your back it’s easy to get alittle flustered. I may not believe Floridadeserved second at the Cup, but I definitelythink Dre deserved all the positive attentionhe received.WEAKNESS: He may not trust his teammates—hedidn’t seem to pass too often.Keep your beaters and a few chasers on himand you’re set.TYLER AMBLECHASER, UNIVERSITY OF KANSASDue to the huge hype around Kansas forbeing the number two team going into theCup, I watched a few of their games to seewhat all the fuss was about. And I’ve gottasay, I was intrigued by them. They don’thave any of those big players that carry theteam on their backs. What they lack in size,they more than make up for in brains. Theyjust play smart, and Tyler, one of their chasers,caught my eye for his intelligent playing.Tyler wasn’t one of their vocal players,but he still appeared to be one of the team’sprimary ball handlers. He is a skilled passerand knows how to use the size of the fieldto his advantage, either to find openings forhimself or to get the ball to someone whocan find an opening. What also interestedme is his apparent lack of fear. There’s alwaysthat situation where the opposingteam’s beaters are distracted and all that’sleft to do is get past their chasers. Don’t askme how he did it, as he’s not very large, butwhenever faced with that situation, Tylerjust powered through and didn’t let anyonetake him down, regardless of their size.He never flinched or wasted time trying toavoid his opponents, which is huge in quidditchbecause even the slightest hesitationcan make a large difference. Some chasersare major showoffs/ballhogs, but Tylerdoesn’t appear to have a selfish bone in hisbody on the pitch—I agreed with everymove he made. Perhaps brains really cancompete with brawn.WEAKNESS: Accurate beaters. He did agood job steering clear of beaters, but onceconfronted, I didn’t see him make too manysuccessful blocks.ZACH D’AMICOCHASER, VILLANOVA UNIVERSITYFirst off, I’d like to say that I’ve seen Nova inthree different tourneys, and they are definitelyvery underrated. Not everyone paysthem the attention they deserve becausethey don’t have the variety of football orrugby-esque aggressive players that teamslike A&M, Texas and LSU have. They runmore like a fine tuned soccer team, tradingphysicality for strategy. And at the helm oftheir team is the player I refer to as Zach“The Facilitator” D’Amico. Facilitatorsaren’t the hardest hitters or fastest scorers,but they are invaluable in teams that don’thave a plethora of those sorts of players.They are the wise playmakers on the field,the captains (regardless of whether or notthey are the ones that bear the ‘C’ on theirjerseys) that keep their teams focused andon task. Zach falls into the category offacilitator because he’s the most vocal onthe pitch, and he delegates responsibilitiesamongst his teammates. While his post-Snow Cup nickname “Goal” might give theimpression that he’s only focused on scoringon his own, that definitely isn’t the case—there’s a lot more to him than his scoringability. When he has the quaffle, he makessure his players are spreading out and givinghim decent passing options, and he utilizesthose options, even when it means someoneelse gets the goal that could have beenhis. And when his teammates have the ball,he does the same—search for the spot thathe’d be most useful in and get there as fastas possible… and he does have some prettyimpressive speed behind him when he’s athis best. Not every player has what it takesto get past three chasers, two beaters, and akeeper, and when Zach’s on your team, youknow that you don’t have to. He’s exactlywhere you need him to be, in the perfectposition to score or to set a pick that’ll giveyou an opening. Villanova’s passing gameis among the best I’ve seen and that’s duein no small part to Zach’s captaining andstrategizing.WEAKNESS: Hard hitters, as is the weaknessfor most players on his team. But that’swhy they work so hard at careful positioningand passing—they excel at quickly gettingthe ball to an open player. But teams44 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012

LEFT: MISSY SPONAGLE (PHOTO: JERRY WANG); MIDDLE: VANESSA GOH (PHOTO: MR. GOH); RIGHT: AUGUSTINE MONROE (PHOTO: QUIDDITCHPHOTOS.COM)to beast their way through their opponents.They are wildly valuable in quidditch andcan improve the quality of nearly everyteam. Augustine isn’t a powerhouse keeper.I doubt anyone’s ever called him “the tank.”My personal nickname for him is “Slipstream.”There’s one huge flaw in the “behind theback tackles are illegal” rule…players canspin and twist their bodies to bait othersinto breaking the rule. It all depends on thereferee and whether or not they saw thebait move. Augustine uses this to his advantageand weaves through the field likesome sort of river, unpredictably spinningand twisting to avoid front-on tackles. He’sslippery as a snake, and he’s so fast that evenif you know his strategy, you find yourselfhelpless to stop him. He plays offensively,which as I’ve said before, can make a hugedifference —using the keeper as a fourthchaser can really help you rack up points,and Augustine can play up without sacrificingdefense… Texas has solid beaters andhe knows when he needs to come back onD. Overall, he’s not your typical keeper, buthe’s great at what he does. I’m also a fan ofthe hipster goggles.WEAKNESS: Hard hitters. Keep an eyeout for the ref, but if you get some solid hitson him, he’ll be hesitant to play up.HARRY CLARKEBEATER, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTERHarry beats for the Thestrals, and is a crucialpart of their defense. Despite the factthat he occasionally pegs his bludgers atopponents full-force, Harry rarely losesbludger control. He’s extremely accurate, isquick to chase after the ball he just threw,and he doesn’t hesitate in charging afteropposing beaters if they get to the bludgerfirst. When the other team does havebludger control, Harry times his pursuitto retrieve a ball perfectly so his chaserswill have an easy path past the beater ofhis choice. He’s the sort of support beaterthat all chasers hope to have—he can playup when you need the help, and if you slipup marking your opponent on defense, he’sthere to take them out. While there are anumber of great players on UR, Harry isone of my favorites and will help his teamgain the recognition they deserve.WEAKNESS: Fast chasers. He’s got a greatlong shot, but he does have a big enoughwind-up that his throws can be predictedand avoided by those quick enough to jumparound or block them.KODY LABAUVEBEATER, LSUAs much as I want to call him Gambit becausehis name reminds me of Remy LeBeauand he throws bludgers the way myfavorite X-Man throws cards, Kody’s actualnickname of “Sniper” is pretty damn perfectfor him. Kody scares the crap out ofme…he’s the sort of beater that has chasersslipping up before he even throws aball. The mere threat of him being there isenough to evoke fear. He’s perfect at shortrangethrows, but his true talent lies in thefact that he is very nearly as accurate froma good fifteen yards away. He throws hisbludgers with such intensity that if you tryto block, you’re losing your quaffle and thebludger is probably still going to hit you onits way down. LSU has strong defensivechasers who are great at wrapping otherplayers and have the ability to slow opponentsdown. Even if it’s just for a few seconds,its helps Kody sharpshoot his targetsfrom however far away he may be. If insaneaccuracy wasn’t enough, he’s also very fastand can often retrieve the ball that he justthrew so he’ll be ready to strike again inmere seconds.WEAKNESS: Beaters who follow theirchasers up the pitch. Kody’s throws are so46 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012

The Pitch: Selling quidditchon college applications and résumésBY LAURIE BECKOFFApplying to college, graduate school, or a job can be stressful. An applicant wants to mention all extracurricularactivities, leadership roles, prior experience, and unique abilities. The competition is always tough, but quidditchcan help you stand out on an application or résumé.The Common AppEvery high school senior’s best friend andworst enemy. The Common Application,now used by most American colleges, containsa section called “Activities.” The instructionson this part say, “Please list yourprincipal extracurricular, volunteer, andwork activities in their order of importanceto you.” If quidditch is a major commitmentfor you, put it toward the top. Be sureto list any leadership positions you haveheld on your team, such as captain, founder,vice president, treasurer, etc., as well as anytitles you have if you have volunteered forthe IQA, such as World Cup onsite volunteer(team liaison), editorial staff member,or state representative. Since the IQA is anonprofit, you can classify a position in theorganization as community service/volunteer.There is a small space for “Details andAccomplishments.” Provide a very briefdescription of what you have done in yourparticular role for your team or the IQA,like organizing tournaments or fundraising.There is also a section asking you to elaborateon one of your activities, so feel free toexplain your involvement in further depthhere. If you choose to discuss a differentactivity here but still want to talk aboutquidditch a little more, there is a place toupload a document containing additionalinformation in the Writing section of theCommon App. Write just a few sentencesin that document containing a basic outlineof quidditch, the IQA, and/or your team.Many colleges ask for more essays on theirsupplements. If a specific experience withquidditch fits a question well, go for it!InterviewsWhether for college or a job, you will haveinterviews at some point in your life, andif your interviewer is reading your résuméor inquiring about your extracurricular activities,you will be asked about quidditch(I had eight interviews this year and discussedquidditch at every single one). Keepin mind who your audience is. Start withasking if he/she is familiar with Harry Potter.A young recent graduate who lovesHarry Potter is likely to know exactly whatquidditch is, at least in the books/movies,and may only require some explanation ofhow the sport is played in real life, or mayalready be aware of its existence. Someoneless knowledgeable about the wizardingworld may need more information. Keepit short and simple. Quidditch is a sportYour interviewer does notneed to think that [quidditch]is an awesome sport. He orshe may think that it is themost ridiculous thing in theworld, and that’s just fine.You just need to prove thatyour involvement is worthy ofrecognition.played on flying broomsticks in the HarryPotter series. People play it in real life byrunning around with brooms between theirlegs, trying to shoot balls through hoops.Emphasize the legitimacy of your workwith quidditch. Your interviewer does notneed to think that it is an awesome sport.He/she may think that it is the most ridiculousthing in the world, and that’s just fine.You just need to prove that your involvementis worthy of recognition. Note thephysical intensity of quidditch. If you playquidditch, you are an athlete. Founding aquidditch team takes just as much effort,if not more due to its unconventional nature,as starting any club or team in yourschool. Serving as captain, planning events,and raising money demonstrate initiativeand skill. Stress these points, but also highlightthe fact that quidditch is unique. Youhave the sort of experience they want fromeveryone, but yours was gained in way thatdistinguishes you from the crowd.Supplemental Recommendations/ReferencesMany colleges will accept additional recommendations,besides those from teachersof academic subjects, and you can list referenceson your résumé. If an adult figure hasa lot to say about your involvement withquidditch, ask if he/she would be willingto write a letter for you. For example, thefaculty adviser of your high school’s quidditchteam may give valuable insight intohow you have managed and contributed toyour team’s development and maintenance.If you have worked under a certain personin the IQA, that person may share informationabout your work ethic and fruitsof your labors. Don’t worry about havingthe most impressive name on your letteror résumé—focus on getting someonewho really knows you and can tell collegessomething new and interesting about you.Quidditch started at a college and collegesremain its largest base. Hundreds ofschools have teams, so admissions officers,administration, and alumni probably knowabout the team at their university. If you’relooking to talk to some current students ata college in which you are interested, trygetting in contact with the quidditch team.Quidditch players are always eager to talkto potential recruits about their school. Thecollege application process can be dauntingand frustrating. Don’t be afraid to use everythingyou have. Be proud of your workwith quidditch. Schools and employersare looking for passionate people, so showthem how much quidditch means to youand how much energy you have put into it.Hogwarts would surely be impressed. Youjust need to find your Muggle equivalent.Good luck! nQuidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012 49

The QQ interview: QuiykBY ABBIE RICKARDQuiyk first introduced themselves to the world in November 2011 at World Cup V. The small athletic apparel companyspecializing in quidditch gear showcased their wares at a colorful booth at the tournament, but flaunted theirstuff on the field, where every snitch runner donned the official Quiyk snitch uniform, complete with their signatureVelcro snitch tail. The simple and highly functional design of these revolutionary outfits exemplifies the kindof smart and thoughtful products Quiyk manufactures, including shirts, shorts, and custom uniform design andproduction (as worn by the Emerson College quidditch team at WCV, and soon to be worn by national quidditchteams at the IQA Summer Games in London this July). This boisterous startup is the brainchild of two Emerson Collegestudents who sought to improve the quality of athletic apparel available to alternative sport athletes, and saw an opportunityto tackle the industry with quidditch, one of the fastest-growing sports today. What began as an idea between two friends inthe summer of 2009 has turned into a legitimate operation in just a few short years, and Quiyk has shown no sign of slowingdown. I chatted with Matt Lowe, Eric Wahl, and Nadav Swarttz to learn more about what this young and ambitiouscompany has in the works.Abbie: Hi everyone! Just to get started,could you each give your name, age, andyour involvement with Quiyk?Nadav: Nadav Swarttz, 21, junior atEmerson, New Business Director.Eric: Eric Wahl, SENIOR at Emerson.Nadav: Ahh…I am a senior now. Sorry,old habit.Eric: I’m the Co-founder and ProductionDirector.Matt: Matt Lowe, 21, going to be a seniorat Emerson. Co-founder and CreativeDirector. Ryan Catalani is a sophomoreand our director of Web Development.Abbie: So this sounds like an entirelyEmerson-run operation, right?Matt: It is! We’ve had some friends hereand there help out, but the main crew is allEmerson.Abbie: Could you describe what it isQuiyk does?Matt: Quiyk is an athletic apparel companyspecializing in alternative athletics.And right now our focus is quidditch. It isour goal to help the growth of the sport bystandardizing and legitimizing the apparelof quidditch.Abbie: Do you foresee Quiyk branchingout to other sports in the future?Nadav: We are dedicated to expandingand legitimizing quidditch right now but inthe future we do plan to expand. There aremany up-and-coming sports out there thatcould benefit from standardization of apparel,and we will be looking to help them.Abbie: Matt, I know you played quidditch;did either of you, Eric or Nadav,have any experience with quidditch beforeQuiyk?Eric: Yes, I played quidditch my freshmanyear on the Narwhals (a team in Emerson’sintramural league), and hopefully I’ll playagain next year spring semester.Nadav: I did not personally but I’ve beenan athlete my whole life and the opportunityto work on an athletic apparel companysounded awesome.Matt: Yeah, it was fun playing freshmanyear with Eric; we were a good duo on thefield. A good duo when Zahir (Motani, anotherEmersonian) was on the field too!Eric: And then my basketball coach toldme I couldn’t play.Abbie: But you’re hoping to return nextyear?Eric: After the season, yes.Abbie: Eric and Matt, could you describeto me how you came up with the idea forthe company and how you went aboutstarting it?Eric: It started about halfway into ourfreshman year. We were watching somehouse league (intramural) games and realizedthat kids were playing in gear that wasnot suited for athletics at all. We sort of justran with the idea of standardizing quidditchapparel from there. Matt, anything toadd?Matt: Yeah, I mean, the snitch shortswere a big thing for us and our entry intoquidditch. We thought, there has to be abetter way to do this.Abbie: That was a huge deal!Matt: We thought, for any sport to grow,there has to be standardization. So we juststarted brainstorming the summer afterour freshman year about how we could goabout improving quidditch.Eric: It was the one item that truly separatedus from all other companies, pureunique offerings to the sport of quidditch.Abbie: Well the snitch outfits have certainlytaken off throughout the league.Matt: Definitely. We’re stoked to see itand hope to continue to outfit teams andschools with snitch shorts. We’re runningwith the idea of standardization and arelooking to take that to ref uniforms next.Now that the quidditch community seeswhat we can do with the Olympics uniforms,we’re hoping to make the ref uniformssuper duper rad.Abbie: Yeah, you guys designed the IQASummer Games jerseys, is that right?Matt: We worked with the IQA to makethose. Most of the designing was on theirend since they wanted to be the main onesselling them, but we worked to tweak designsand stuff. We were mostly about themanufacturing of those.Eric: For the most part we did all the logisticalwork to get them made.Abbie: Can you guys talk more abouthow your apparel is manufactured?Eric: We are in the process of moving ourmanufacturing to LA, but in the past we’vehad individual factories that we source fabricfrom, do our printing (dye sublimation),and our all of our label and patchworkMatt: But all the Olympics stuff is beingsourced and manufactured entirely in LA.That’s why I’m here this summer!Abbie: Were the other factories youworked with domestic as well?Eric: Yup, everything was done in theSeattle area.Nadav: We’re 100% made in the U.S.A.Matt: And proud of it!Nadav: Absolutely.Abbie: Haha fantastic! I don’t think I50 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012

LEFT: A LOOK AT QUIYK'S PRODUCTION PROCESS. RIGHT: ERIC WAHL, NADAV SWARTTZ, AND MATT LOWE. (PHOTOS COURTESY OF QUIYK.COM)asked this before, when would you considerwas the official “founding” of Quiyk? Howlong would you say you’ve been in operationfor?Matt: Well we’ve “technically” beenin business since November when welaunched at the World Cup in NYC. ButEric and I have had a business license forQuiyk since the beginning of our sophomoreyear, or end of the summer afterfreshman year.Abbie: The World Cup was when youbasically revealed your snitch uniform andyour Emerson College quidditch uniforms.What kind of reaction was there from thequidditch community? Have you had otherteams approach you about making theiruniforms too?Matt: We have, and we’re still currentlyin contact with teams about uniforms. Thebiggest hurdle is a team being able to afforduniforms. We’re doing our very bestto price things at a level where teams canafford them, but customizing small runs ofproduct isn’t cheap (especially in the US),so we’re continuing to try to find a happymedium. We’ve found some new ways thatwe think are going to work well and weplan to release that at the end of the summerin time to prep for the fall season.Abbie: Very exciting! Could you talkabout the entrepreneurship award you receivedfrom Emerson recently? (The EmersonExperience in Entrepreneurship, or E3,program holds an Expo at the end of theyear to highlight student projects.)Nadav: We were lucky enough to win theE3 Expo this year. There were a bunch ofawesome startups so we were really happyto be able to win since the competition wasso tough. We ended up winning the prizethat E3 gave out as well as a lot of localpress, which was great.Abbie: What kinds of effects do youthink winning the E3 Expo will have onthe company?Nadav: Well I think first of all, it givesus great credibility to be able to say we wonthis kind of competition. And then theprize money will help us launch a few newefforts that we’re excited about. And thepress has been awesome. The press has beengreat to us and they’re very excited aboutwhat we’re doing and we’re grateful for it.Abbie: That’s great—congratulations bythe way!Nadav: Thank you!Matt: [The E3 program] was also a greatlearning experience. We learned a lot andhope to take the lessons we learned into thereal world to further Quiyk.Abbie: Okay, I know I’ve taken up moretime than I promised, but one final questionfor you all (and I’m cheating becauseit’s a two-parter): What kind of an effecthas starting this company had on each ofyou, and where do you see it going in thenext few years?Matt: First and foremost: It’s just fun. It’sfun to be doing this with my best friends;it’s fun to create, to think differently, to dosomething new. It’s fun to do this for thequidditch community, to help bring themrecognition, and to rethink athletic apparelfor an alternative sport such as quidditch.Owning and running a business is fun, andbeing able to do what you want to do andsee people embrace what you’ve created andsupport your product is pretty amazing.Eric: For me, along spending time withfriends, it’s been an incredible learning experience.We’ve done a lot of things thatcannot be replicated in the classroom.Nadav: I want to echo pretty much everythingthey both said, and just add thatI’ve always known I’ve wanted to run abusiness in one form or another, and havingthe chance to be part of that is simplyawesome. There’s nothing like it and mostimportantly, like Matt said, it’s just a lot offun.Eric: The fact that we have developedthis from the ground up means we havebeen responsible for every aspect of growth.From marketing, to accounting, to sales.Matt: Word. It’s cool to know that we’reresponsible for every aspect of this company,and everything that Quiyk has doneso far has been by us (and the support ofthe quidditch community). As far as wherewe see it going...we wholeheartedly plan tocontinue this for as long as we can. Obviouslythe future is going to call for expansion,but we definitely want to take this asfar as we can while we are still in collegeand beyond.Nadav: Also, I think we need to give theIQA a huge shout out because they’ve beenreally helpful for us and have given us lotsof opportunities.Matt: Definitely.Keep your eyes peeled for more news andnew gear from Quiyk in the future. To buytheir apparel or to learn more about Quiyk,go to www.quiyk.com. nAbbie Rickard is a former chaser for Emerson College, where she graduated in December 2010. She now lives in the Bay Area where she works at astart-up (duh) and is starting to become acclimated with the Best Coast quidditch scene.Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012 51

PLAYERS’ CORNERGetting into the summer swingBY ERIC ANDRESAs soon as school ends, you’re off. Offto work a summer job, off to enjoya well-deserved break, off to finallyget a tan after losing melanin fromstudying inside all day. But do you ever turnoff your love for quidditch? It’s hard to lookanywhere but the present when you don’thave school or academic responsibilities toworry about. However, it pays to look aheadin the game and start training for next season.Whether you live in a town where yourwhole team resides or are all alone with afeeling of out-of-state abandonment, keepingquidditch in your life will help softenthe blow.Personally, I’m next to alone in my smallmountain town of Flagstaff, Arizona. Beinga mecca for snow lovers and outdoorenthusiasts, Northern Arizona Universitydraws a large out-of-state student population.This is a great way to meet peoplefrom all over, but not very conducive to mysummer plans for quidditch. As the coachof the NAU Narwhals, I got used to having30+ players ready to knock heads andtoss quaffles. But now that everyone’s gonehome to play quidditch with teams in theirhometowns (damn you, Dan Hanson andthe Lost Boys), quidditch enthusiasts arefew and far between. But I’m not giving upon staying in shape and keeping my throwingarm strong, and neither should you.Before starting any physical activity,make sure you’re stretched and hydrated.I’ll always quip, “You’ve just joined the 76%of Americans who forget to stretch beforedoing any physical activity,” a line frommy favorite movie, Heavy Weights (1995).Warming your muscles with a short run fora few hundred meters is a good idea, as itwill help keep elasticity in your tendons andmuscles when you decide to stretch them.On the other side of that coin, making sureyour body is hydrated enough is key. I’vetold my team, “I’m going to hydrate youeven if it means I have to waterboard you”a few times, hoping to impress them withthe importance of keeping your body suppleand productive in blood flow. Humoraside, there is a noticeable and painful differencebetween running the morning afteryou drank water the day before and not.If you’re on your own or only have a fewtrusty chasers or beaters to accompany you,the first underlying training technique youwant to pay attention to is cardio. Running,biking, and swimming are all useful waysto keep your heart in order and maintain,or even increase, a good level of endurance.Cardio strength and endurance relates tomany areas on the pitch and will keep yousubbing in for your teammates when thegame is on the line. Based on your physicalcondition, start with light jogs that take youno more than a couple of miles at a time.You can spend a week to ten days doinglight jogs once a day, but adding diversityto your workout will keep you coming backfor more. Try adding a short bike ride beforeor after your run to introduce a morecomplete muscle overview in your workout.Some advocate “muscle confusion,” anidea that constantly switching the musclegroups you exercise will increase potentialand performance of your body, but no conclusiveevidence has been found to supportit. At this point in time, the main idea isto keep your exercises varied and enjoyable.Steadily increasing your running and bikingdistances over time will increase yourshort term endurance and strengthen yourheart. To cap off your cardio and endurancetraining, add a swimming regimen midwaythrough your routine. Swimming not onlyrelies mainly on the strength of blood flow,but reduces the stress and impact damageon your bones and joints. A training schedulelike this will not only keep you in shapeand improve your fitness, but will keep youfrom being left behind come quidditch season.If you’re one of the lucky ones who enjoysthe company of other quidditch playersduring the summer, here are a few drills youcan use to keep your broom and ball handssharp. These can be for three or more playersand are used even in large practices:The “T” Passing DrillUtilizing cones, or just roughing up a fewspots in the grass with your cleats, markfour spots in a T pattern in front of you.From the first spot, walk five yards to thesecond spot and mark it. From there, moveperpendicularly from the second spot fiveyards in each direction and mark the thirdspot. You will then have four marked spotsthat are all five yards from each other.Forming a line behind the first, or “bottom,”cone with your teammates, the firstperson will sprint to the second cone andcut in the direction of their choice. Oncethey have reached the second cone, the secondperson in line with pass it to the runnerbefore they hit the third cone on the sidethey choose.Things to consider: The point of thisdrill is tri-fold. One, this will work on therunner’s cutting ability. Abruptly chang-52 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012

THE NAU NARWHALS LINE UP FOR PRACTICE.ing direction in a 90-degree angle is askill that chasers should have. Second, thisdrill helps the passer practice the timingof their pass and the ability to “lead” theirreceiver. Throw where they’re going to be,not where they are. Lastly, this drill helpsingrain broom hand switching skills intothe styles of your chasers. If you cut rightto the third cone, your broom hand shouldbe your right hand. If you cut left, it shouldbe your left hand. This reduces backhandedcatching and improves ambidextrous use.The “T” ExtensionAn extension of the “T” drill, this instanceserves to lengthen the drill distance and introduceand extra turn. Still using the firsttwo cones, make a “Y” with the third conesby walking five yards in a 45-degree anglefrom the second cone each direction andmark those spots. Starting from the secondcone again, walk ten yards straight aheadand mark the fourth cone. Your cone formationshould now look like a diamondshapedlollipop.Still begin by sprinting to the secondcone and picking a direction. At the secondcone, cut right or left and look back atthe passer for a pump fake. Then cut andchange direction at the third cone, headingfor the fourth cone, in order to catch thepass.Things to consider: Make sure to switchbroom hands every time you look for a pass.Abrupt changes in directions, or “cuts,” arealso important at all points in this drill. Finally,the passer should be cocked and readyto pass when the receiver hits the thirdcone, and the pass should be complete atthe fourth cone.“Block Shot”This is helpful for chasers and beaters withtheir ball handling and grip strength. If youhave beaters with you, add them in at theend of either of the “T” drills.This drill practices interaction betweenbeaters and chasers who have possession ofa bludger and quaffle, respectively. Standingabout three to five yards apart, the beaterwill threaten the chaser with their bludger,causing the chaser to put up a quaffle defense.The beater tries to get their bludgeraround the quaffle, and the chaser uses itas a shield.Integrating this drill into your routinewill keep your hands used to gripping andcontrolling a ball, if not already improvingyour finger dexterity.Things to consider: If you just have onequidditch buddy to practice with, repeatthis drill again and again after every quaffleor bludger drop to include muscle repetitionand conditioning.These drills may seem simple and mundane,but using them as incidental trainingand combining all three results in an effectiveand all-encompassing skill drill. Tryadding a set of hoops to the end of the lineso that a chaser must cut, fake, catch, block,and score—all in one set.So, when faced with a summer that couldbe desolate without quidditch, don’t fall behindyour teammates by not keeping yourquaffle quandary quenched. nEric Andres is the captain and coach of the Northern Arizona University Narwhals. He has seen action on three different teams: representing theNAU Narwhals, the Utah Crimson Fliers at World Cup V, and the Western Region at the Champions Series in Boston. His passions are quidditch,writing, and teaching, three things he hopes to combine as he becomes a high school English teacher.Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012 53

Tackling safe tacklingBY ERIC ANDRESWhether you like it or not, tackling isan integral part of quidditch. Styles ofplay may vary from region to region,but tackling still takes some form ineach. That form is important in that it muststay consistent throughout, no matter the levelof intensity the contact brings. Safe tacklingtechniques not only improve your tackling anddefensive success, but prevent unneeded injuriesfor both parties.The problem with safe tackling is that thereare a myriad of variables you have to take intoaccount when going in for the contact. Thefifth IQA rulebook does a generally good jobexplaining what not to do. As quoted from therulebook, a tackle is legal when:• The player being tackled is in possession ofa ball.• The tackle does not occur in the head, neck,or groin area.• Only one arm is used when wrapping up anotherplayer.• The tackle is within the peripheral view ofthe person being tackled, and is not madefrom behind.These guidelines present a player with a uniquestyle of tackling. The tackler must account forthe position of the ball, the proximity of headneck-groinzones, the sightline of the player,and how best to use only one arm to stop theirmomentum. Because of quidditch’s unique needfor a broom, certain accommodations must bemade. Here’s how:In order to initiate contact, your knees shouldbe bent and your hips low, with your back orspinal column straight. Getting low on youropponent will give you a pivot position to drivethem off their feet and backwards. The point ofa tackle is not only to arrest their momentum,but bring them to the ground to prevent furthermovement. Taking them out of their strideby tackling up will ensure this. Your back isflat; your vertebrae are locked in a straight line.To illustrate this in your minds, ponder this:What’s better to poke people with? A bendystraw with many kinks and turns in it, or oneof those straight and sturdy straws that BurgerKing uses for their thick milkshakes? Imagineyour spine as a rod that will safely transfer yourmomentum into your target. With the additionof having your head across, this will reduce thepossibility of spine compression while still usingit effectively. Anything else has the possibility toinjure you.Whether coming at the offender head-onor in their peripherals, the first step to includein your tackle is keeping your head in front oftheir momentum. You’ll hear coaches yell “headacross!” Positioning yourself in this manner willbetter set you up for a one-armed grab, safe headposition, and using the natural lines of your bodyto arrest their momentum. In conjunction withyour head, keep your broom in front of the attacker.Positioning your broom behind them willspread your base of stability, therefore reducingyour tackling strength.When teaching my players to tackle, I liketo use a square piece of cardboard that is bigenough to cover their shoulder, neck, and pectoralarea. I call this area “the board,” or the positionof your muscles into a flat space to initiatecontact. Your collarbone, trapezius muscle, andshoulder should form a flat plane that hits youropponent. Practice using a flat board to findthe right position for your arm and shoulder tomake the plane.With your head in front, make sure you’relooking up as well. You should be looking acrosstheir body at the point of contact. A good headplacement for quidditch is just below the offender’ssternum, or their solar plexus. Armplacement depends on what you’re able to do atthe time and the hand that the ball is in. If possible,wrap your arm under your head and acrosstheir body, paying attention to including theirthrowing arm in your wrap-up. This way the offensivechaser can maybe get a bad pass off intime before he’s taken down. If you’re comingfrom their own throwing side, throw your armunder your head and around their ribs, takingcommand of their torso in your tackle.Keeping your head and spine straight andbending only your knees and hips will ensure agood basis for a safe tackle. Remember to includeyour “board” with your head upright at thepoint of contact to follow through with the safetackle.Another instance in quidditch that requiressafe contact is the concept of charging. Charginginvolves full contact from a defender with“clear intent to gain possession of the ball.”The difference between tackling and chargingis the abovementioned “wrap.” Charging has adefender using their momentum to go throughthe ball-carrying player in order to dislodgethe ball or knock them into a different direction,as opposed to committing to use their armsand take the offender to the ground. Chargingis more common than tackling in many areas,as tackling is either not taught or taught safely.Per the rulebook, “A shoulder must not be lowered;however, shoulder-to-shoulder contactis permissible. Players must never charge frombehind.” This can be described as an aggressivepick, or a concentrated and physical effort to getin one’s way. To safely charge, you must still usethe “board” technique with your shoulder area,but take great care to only bend your knees andnot your back. Keeping your back upright willreduce the want to lower a shoulder into youropponent, thus keeping it legal. Lowering ashoulder into your opponent as this point isdangerous to them, as the point of contact couldseverely bruise muscle and possibly break bones.ALICIA RADFORD TACKLES A CHASER AT THECHAMPIONS SERIES. (PHOTO: EMILY ARROYAVE)Coach’s corner: USC Trojanscoach Mitch Cavender highlightssafe tackling in twomain points1. Always make sure your head is up sothat you can see what you’re tackling.If you go in with your head down,you not only run the risk of not seeingyour opponent move from hisoriginal position, but also run the riskof “spearing.” Spearing involves usingthe crown of one’s head to initiatecontact with an opponent. It can leadto injuries ranging from concussions,spinal cord issues, even leading toparalysis or death. Sliding your headto one side or the other helps preventspine compression.2. A lot of players try to do some sortof weird clothesline to the offensiveplayer’s midsection and try to throwthem down. Not only is this ineffective,but it puts severe stress on therotator cuff, which can cause shoulderdislocations. Players should be makingcontact with their shoulder/collarbone/traparea and using the arm towrap around the player’s back.Mitch alludes to a problem that I knowall too well about: poor tackling causingrotator cuff injuries. During World CupV in 2011, I caught Kansas’s keeper at anodd angle as he ran by me, resulting ina shoulder dislocation and torn labrumfor me. Mitch was at my side, helping mepop my shoulder back into its socket sothat I could get back into the game.A flat and even point of contact will spread theimpact energy in a safer manner.Teaching safe contact in quidditch is as importantas teaching your players how to throwand catch a ball. With a sport striving hard forlegitimacy, it is important to include all facetsof good sports conduct, including contact. Usingyour body to enhance the play of the game is agreat tool. But with great power comes great responsibility,and it is everyone’s responsibility tomake sure that no one has to spend unwarrantedtime in the hospital. n54 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012

BAND YOUR TEAM TOGETHERwith official IQA headbands.Chaser. Keeper. Beater. Seeker.SHOPIQA.COMQuidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012 55

A SNITCH HOLDS A BLUDGER BEFORE BROOMS UP AT WORLD CUP V. (PHOTO: QUIDDITCHPHOTOS.COM)Troll snitchesFive ways annoying snitches move the balls before the game beginsBY WILL HACKTHE HONEY BADGERUnrelated to LSU’s Brad “Honey Bradger”Armentor, this setup is so named because,like a honey badger, the snitch just doesn’tcare. She kicks the balls randomly aroundthe pitch without regard for fairness or theconvenience of the players. Presumably, thesame snitch laughs maniacally from afar asthe players rush forward at brooms up thenstop and spin around in confusion.THE BLOODBATH AT THECORNUCOPIAHunger Games fans will get this referenceto a setup sure to bring carnage at the startof a game. The snitch stacks the quaffle ontop of all three bludgers in a deadly pyramid,forcing everyone to rush to the samespot. Tributes—err, players—dive in headfirst,sacrificing their bodies (and commonsense) trying to acquire the weapons theywill need throughout the game. If any setupis bound to result in injury, this is it.THE GENTLEMANHonestly, this snitch is here to make lifeeasier for everyone. Which is why he placesthe balls directly in front of you at the startof the game. Even if you don’t trip over thatconveniently placed bludger right out ofthe gate, confusion is certain to ensue. Andwhile one team got two bludgers and theother got the quaffle/bludger combination,both teams will complain out of habit thatthey got the raw end of the deal.THE HIDE AND SEEKImogen Heap fans love this maneuver,wherein the snitch removes the quaffle andhides it somewhere along the edge of thepitch before taking off. Sometimes behindan audience member, sometimes in a trashcan, always somewhere unexpected; snitchesknow no morals when it comes to hiding“that other ball you can score with.” Hey,at least this gives the beaters some muchdeservedtime in the spotlight.NOTHINGSnitches are so tricky these days, sometimeswhat you least expect is...nothing.The snitch will run right up to you, jumpup and down, pour water on you, and perfectlysimulate the sound of a bludger beingpunted into the stratosphere. But when thebrooms go up, all the balls are right wherethey should be. So if you can ignore the distractionsand maintain constant vigilance,it is still possible that the opening rush willgo exactly as you practiced it. nWill Hack is the Game Play Director of the IQA and a coach and beater for Michigan State University. He has played in two World Cups.56 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012

Getting fit for quidditchBY LEAH SUMMERVILLE FARRARFor a few hundred quidditch players around the world, the hard work is only just beginning. As the 2011-2012quidditch season draws to a close, these dedicated men and women have decided to spend the first part of theirsummer working to Get Fit for Quidditch.Get Fit for Quidditch (GFfQ) is the brainchildof Connor Loch, a recent Penn State graduatewho has spent the past year flitting aboutthe Northeast as a non-affiliated “travelingsnitch.”A former chaser and beater for the PennState Quidditch Club, Connor came up withGFfQ as a social event for motivated quidditchplayers who want to lose weight or otherwiseincrease their athleticism. Centered around thefacebook event page, which, as of this writing,has close to 350 attendees, GFfQ is a vibrantand thriving community. The event page’s wall iscovered with a constant stream of activity: newparticipants share their current fitness levels andfuture goals while longer-standing memberspost near-daily updates on exercises, activities,and progress toward their individual goals. Motivationalvideos and pictures are uploaded, andsuggestions for recipes and workouts are tossedaround. Further resources are spread out overTumblr, Facebook, and Google Docs in a sprawlof support and encouragement. At the heart ofall this is Connor, the founder, administrator,and creator of quidditch’s first large-scale fitnessevent.QQ: Tell me a little bit about Get Fit forQuidditch and how it got started.Connor: Get Fit for Quidditch is a ten-weeklongevent where anyone who wants to be involvedcan simply sign up and join. It startedfrom a personal desire I had to both lose weight(for quidditch) and to donate money to theIQA, which is something I’ve wanted to do atleast once for a long time. So I decided to combinethe two: make an event that would establisha support community for those who want toget fit and help me decide how much to donate!What has the reaction been like?The overall reaction was very positive. I was superworried that people might think I was justlooking for attention or something. But insteadI was getting messages and emails left and rightfrom people thanking me for doing somethinglike this. Out of nowhere people started posting“before” pictures without much reservation atall! I think everyone just realized that when youhave such an awesome community as we all havein quidditch, there was no need to worry aboutbeing judged. What really surprised me was theoverwhelming amount of people who wanted toparticipate. I mean, I was hoping for maybe 50-100, realistically expecting 20…but 300? That’sjust insane!Now GFfQ is becoming its own sub-community.Quidfit (which is now a Facebook groupthat will be meant for ongoing support beyondthe event) is one, and I just saw a post that included[the hashtag] #Quidfitproblems.Changing gears a bit, but a really big part ofthis for you is the donation aspect—you’vepromised to donate $5 US to the IQA for everyperson who loses 20 lbs, up to 100 people.What inspired you to donate your own moneyas an incentive like that?To be perfectly honest, I’ve never really donatedmy time or money to anything before. It wasnever a requirement at my high school like mosthigh schools, and I’ve always worked to supplementmy school expenses so that I never had anyspare money to give back to any kind of organization.So I always said that when I entered mycareer as an actuary, I would finally try to startdonating. And what better organization to donateto then the one I am a part of and has createdsuch an awesome community? It seemed ano-brainer, really.The quidditch community has meant a lot toyou, both during and after college, and it reallyseems to have embraced this event. Do yousee GFfQ and programs like it having a longstandingplace in the quidditch community?I would hope so! I’m not entirely sure it will belongstanding, but I would like to see it becomea yearly summer event. It’s definitely somethingthat people who are missing their quidditchcommunity as they return home from schoolcan latch on to so they can still feel that senseof community even when far away from theirteams. I intend to do some kind of survey to seewhat they think of this event at the end, and seeif they would like this to become a yearly event.Having GFfQ as a yearly event would be reallycool! It’s great to see quidditch inspiring greatinitiatives like this, and I think you have donean amazing job. Is there anything else you’dlike to add?All in all, I’m very grateful to call myself a memberof the quidditch community. I really thoughtthat when I graduated from college I would losethat community because I was no longer on ateam. Thankfully that hasn’t happened, and Ihope it never does. Because I truly “quove” allof you! nGwen Macchione gets fit for quidditchGwen Macchione is the keeper and vice-captainfor the Edinburgh University Holyrood Hippogriffsfrom Edinburgh, Scotland. A participantin Get Fit for Quidditch, Gwen is usingthe program to help her meet several fitnessgoals, including losing weight and getting betterat distance running so she can start snitching…hopefully at a UK tournament soon!To reach those goals, Gwen says that she’s“been focusing on eating healthier, which canreally be a challenge considering what my schoolcafeteria offers, and getting some exercise indaily.” To get in her exercise, Gwen doesn’t justlimit the exercise to gym time; “I do sit ups orpush ups after finishing reading a section of mytextbook,” she says, and she’ll “go for a long walkon Arthur’s Seat (the mountain in the middle ofEdinburgh)” when the weather is nice.Get Fit for Quidditch came at the perfecttime for Gwen, who had already decided toset some quidditch-related fitness goals beforecommitting to the event. “I had already decidedto get in shape for quidditch and had posted anannouncement on my Tumblr that I was goingto record my progress publicly. I then tweeted itand it was retweeted by the IQA.”As for the public nature of working out andbonding through Facebook? Gwen admits thatshe did have some reservations at first aboutpublically putting her name out. But then shefigured that anyone who learned about the eventwould already be a part of quidditch. “I feelthat the public nature is a positive aspect sinceit gives motivation and there is the pressure tonot give up. However, there is the possibility ofabuse and ridicule but I think it will be fine aslong as the administration keeps a lid on any‘trolling’ that may occur.”So far, though, Gwen hasn’t had any issues,something that she says she is due to the quidditchcommunity itself. “I find all the participantsare very supportive of each other. I wasalmost surprised by this. I did track and field forthree years (throwing shotput) and found thatthe other girls would ridicule girls who weren’tin shape. The quidditch community is muchmore supportive and I’m glad to see this reflectedin GFfQ.”Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012 57

Like Connor, Gwen is excited about theidea of GFfQ, and programs like it, becominga regular part of the quidditch community andperhaps a summer-long, annual event. “I thinkit’s a great way for less athletic quidditch playersto get in shape and be supported while doingso,” she says. “In addition, there are a lot of veryknowledgeable players who are doing GFfQ andthey are very helpful when one needs advice.” nThe mixed tournamentBY LEAH SUMMERVILLE FARRARQuidditch is growing quickly. There are over 500 teams now recognized by the IQA, and more are forming everyweek. Though the majority of these teams are still college-aged, a marked and significantly growing minority arehigh school teams. One of the clearest signs of the growing popularity of quidditch with the high school populationwas the addition of a high school division to World Cup V, held on Randall’s Island this past November.The expansion of quidditch to high schoolsis wonderful for both the current state andthe future of the sport. Experience playing onhigh school teams will increase the talent offuture quidditch players, add vibrancy and furtherdepth to the sport’s culture, and will helpsustain quidditch’s popularity. However, a newconversation has sprung up as high school teamsincrease in numbers—one centered around theincreasing frequency of high school and collegeteams playing against each other in mixed tournaments.Of the thirteen tournaments listed onthe IQA calendar for the month of April, ninehad only college and/or community teams registered,one was a high school tournament, andthree had at least one high school team registeredto play. Though college-only tournamentsmay still be predominant, mixed tournamentsare a developing phenomenon.Probably the most significant reason for thegrowth of mixed tournaments is the relativegeographic scarcity of teams at both the highschool and college level. Without enough highschool teams in the area, entering college tournamentsmay be the only way for high schools toget game time. Likewise, if a college tournamentneeds enough teams to fill the pool play brackets,then allowing interested local high schoolteams to enter makes sense. Whether or notmixed tournaments are appropriate, however, is adifferent conversation. Mixed tournaments helppromote the community nature of quidditch,and they can foster some wonderful friendshipsand mentorships across age boundaries. Conversely,some feel that the dangers of havingyoung adults and adolescents play against eachother and older players in a rough, full-contactsport very much outweigh the benefits.The geographic issue is one that JeffersonDedrick understands. Jefferson is the captainand co-founder of the WEQL Griffins HighSchool Quidditch Club, a predominantly highschool-aged community team from Allegany,NY. So far, Jefferson’s team has only played inmixed tournaments. Unfortunately, the Griffinsdon’t have the opportunity to play high schoolteams on a regular basis. According to Jefferson,there are only two established high schoolteams in Western New York; one team is formingand there is one team in Central New York.Given distances of an hour or more between theGriffins and the other established teams, theyhaven’t really played each other outside of a fewmixed tournaments. Fortunately, all the highschool teams do plan on playing in their firsthigh school-only tournament in May.Danny Mendelson’s team, the BriarcliffNearly Headless Nicolas Cages, from BriarcliffManor, NY, has a bit more experience in thehigh school bracket. Briarcliff played in the highschool division at World Cup V, and has hosteda predominantly high school tournament, theBriarcliff House Cup. “There are plenty of highschool teams in our area,” Danny says, “butI honestly think it’s more fun to play collegeteams. It gives you something to look forwardto when you graduate. I also think that playingcollege teams really benefits your team becauseyou’re, in most cases, playing a more advancedteam and you have to play really hard to keepup with them.”Having to play harder against a college teamis an assertion that Jefferson shares. “If you’rea high school-level team, and you’re lookingto play against college teams competitively, it’snot something you can do once a month,” Jeffersoninsists. “You have to be always willing toimprove yourself, your game, and your peers…you have to be able to pick yourself up off theground after someone three years older than youoverpowers you, spins around you, or runs pastyou at a crucial part of the game. If you’re goingto play at a higher level, you’re being held at ahigher standard, and you have to live up to that.”Of course, that ‘higher level’ is the cause ofconcern for many about the potential dangersinherent in mixed tournaments. “The main argumentI’ve heard against mixed tournaments,”Danny says, “is the tackling aspect. To be honestit’s mostly from the parents of players on thehigh school teams that are nervous about sendingtheir kids off to play older people.”Given the age difference between college andhigh school players, parents’ concerns aren’t illfounded;particularly if the high school teamhas 8th graders on the roster, as some teams do.Most players on high school teams range in agefrom 13 to 18 years, while college players are frequentlyin their twenties. With such a large gapin the physical size and maturity between theyoungest and oldest players, it is easy to see howyounger players could potentially face injury.However, Jefferson is adamant that the fullcontactnature of quidditch shouldn’t be, andisn’t, an overwhelming concern. “When we goon the pitch as high schoolers playing [against]college [teams], we expect to take and dish outjust as hard of hits and as fierce of playing as theother team.”Though Jefferson does say that college playersare “obviously a little stronger and a little fasterthan [high school players], we try our hardest.I’ve never got any complaints from teams, nordo I think that any of them have ‘taken it easy’because we’re high schoolers.”Confidence doesn’t mean that care shouldn’tbe taken, however; something that both Jeffersonand Danny insist is important to successfulmixed play. Jefferson is careful to speak to otherteams about the age gap when necessary. Duringthe Blue Devil Invitational, the 8th grader onJefferson’s team wanted to start, so as captain hewent over to the other team’s captain before thegame and “pointed out that she was 13, and theywere, you know, 10+ years older than her.” Thegame—and age difference —went without issue.However, while Mendelson agrees that communicationis the key, he is a bit more reservedabout the issue of tackling. “I think [tackling]can be a concern,” he admits, though he doesn’tthink it should be an impediment. “At our tournament[Briarcliff ’s Second Annual HouseCup] we’re telling the college players that theycan tackle just as long as they’re safe and awarethat they might be playing teams that aren’t asused to having their faces meet the dirt... Playersjust need to be smart about how they playand play safely. As long as that happens, thereshouldn’t be anything wrong with a mixed tournament.”Communication, like Jefferson and Dannymention, could potentially answer many of theproblems inherent in the age-physicality gap.Certainly, as long as younger players and their58 Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012

parents or guardians know the risks and communicatewith the college teams, then it is thehigh school student’s choice and responsibilitywhen entering a mixed tournament.However, it should be considered whether itis fair or appropriate to the college teams to askthem to assume responsibility of playing againstyounger players. In the issue of safety in mixedtournaments, a great deal of attention is givento the younger, high school players. However,when teams are unmatched in such a way, theburden of safety falls on the older player. Theymust consciously and continually check theirown strength and the style of play that they areused to to prevent injuries. Furthermore, it canpotentially be a legal burden on the college student;particularly if a much younger player becomesinjured in a game or scrimmage.Every state has its own laws regarding thesafety of those under eighteen. In New York,Article 260 of the Penal Code defines a personas guilty of “Endangering the Welfare of aChild” if he or she “knowingly acts in a mannerlikely to be injurious to the physical, mentalor moral welfare of a child less than seventeenyears old or directs or authorizes such child toengage in an occupation involving a substantialrisk of danger to his or her life or health.”This law and laws like it are typically invokedin more serious cases of abuse or misconduct,but they are also very vague. If an older playerinjures a young high-school player, then thatolder player, unfortunately, could be held legallyaccountable under the law, given that quidditchis full-contact and can be quite aggressive. It isan outcome that seems (and hopefully is) preposterous,but it is still a very present possibility,particularly when 21- or 22-year-olds are askedto play against 14- and 15-year-olds. Althoughwith communication and proper training, highschool and college teams can play each otherwith a reasonable expectation of safety, therewill always be a very real danger for both sidesshould something go wrong.support. As Jefferson explains, “At every tournamentwe’ve been to, we’ve had a friendly facecome up to us and start with a, ‘Woah. You guyswere way better than we expected,’ which wouldmorph into a mini-quidditch lesson with all ofour team gathered around the college playerwho would be explaining a standard tactic orquidditch rule of thumb. Beyond that, we alsoschool teams, but it’s just not as fun.”There are other options for the formation ofcommunities in quidditch that side-step someof the concerns about mixed tournaments. Onesuch option is the new Mentorship Programthat the IQA’s Development Department hasunveiled, where established teams (high schooland college) can act as ‘mentors’ to startingDARIEN HIGH SCHOOL PLAYS TRINITY HIGH SCHOOL AT WORLD CUP V. (PHOTO: QUIDDITCHPHOTOS.COM)“High school teams get better by playing more advanced teams,and the college teams get to adopt pupils. In the World Cup’s teamvillage, which was mixed, we befriended some of the best athletesand nicest people we’ve ever met. Briarcliff Quidditch is now thesister quidditch program of both Texas Quidditch and VCU Quidditchbecause teams of college and high school levels were putinto a tournament together.”Looking beyond all this talk of potential for injuryand liability, one of the greatest positives ofthe mixed tournament model is the chance forcommunity, and for education. When collegeand high school teams play in the same tournament,the high schoolers get to benefit fromthe older player’s knowledge, while the collegeplayers can help nurture the future of their sport.Both groups get to benefit from knowing andinteracting with people from a different stage inlife. Every time we reach out beyond the limitsof our own social group, whether the boundariesare formed by location, age, or preference,we learn more about ourselves and the world.We get a different perspective. One of the bestthings about quidditch is the way it brings peopletogether from different groups (athletes,fans, mischief-makers, the idle curious, andmore) and forges them into one team.This community-building bond is somethingthat both Danny and Jefferson whole-heartedlyget more walls to post silly posts or pictures on.Just a couple weeks ago one of the Griffin’s statuseswas attacked by [players from] RIT, Universityof Rochester, Edinboro University, andSUNY Fredonia all trying to convince [our]player to come to their school and play for theirteam upon graduation from high school.”Danny also experienced this welcoming atmospherewith his team. “High school teams,”he says, “get better by playing more advancedteams and the college teams get to adopt pupils.In the World Cup’s team village, which wasmixed, we befriended some of the best athletesand nicest people we’ve ever met. BriarcliffQuidditch is now the sister quidditch programof both Texas Quidditch and VCU Quidditchbecause teams of college and high school levelswere put into a tournament together.” Thoughcommunities can, and do, form internally in thedifferent age groups, as Danny succinctly putsit, “There can be an internal community of highteams through sharing experience and tips. Sisterprograms, like the informal ones Briarcliffhas established, can be great options. Nothingsays that high school teams playing in a separatebracket at a tournament cannot still interactwith the college teams off-pitch.As more and more teams are established atboth the high school and college level, we arelikely to see more and more high school tournamentsstarting to appear over the next fewyears. However, mixed tournaments are likelyhere to stay for quite some time. Beyond questionsof community and tackling, the scarcity ofage-appropriate teams will continue to lead highschool teams to register for college tournaments,and vice-versa. This is an opportunity for teamsto learn from each other and build connectionsand friendships. It is also an opportunityfor careful direction and thought about how tomake our sport grow into something that is safeand nurturing for all. nLeah Summerville Farrar played in World Cups III and IV as a beater for St. Lawrence University, before graduation forced her to retire in 2011. Refusing to letquidditch leave her life, she got involved with the PR team for World Cup V, and is now putting her English degree to use as the IQA’s PR director.Quidditch Quarterly • Summer 2012 59

“It always seems impossible until it's done.”—Nelson MandelaA year and a half after its inception,Quidditch Quarterly thanks our first printsubscribers!Eric "BearTrain" AndresMatt EvelandAnna BrisbinAmanda TurtlesKevin OelzeBrett L. RobertsRADFORDEmilio De NarvaezJustin BogartTom MarksAdam RacinskasKaren StackEmily CrouchLaruelle ElodieAlexis MoodyGeorge RogersJim CurryE. StarbuckKeith HawkLuke ZakRob SnitchMinnesota QuidditchDillman GirlsAnthony Caruso& Sarah HoustonSarah WoolseyMackayla PetrieZachary BakerStephanie RobinsonAnjelica Vance“Let us read, and let us play quidditch;these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.”—Voltaire