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 <strong>summer</strong>, 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 <strong>2012</strong>PHOTOS: 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 <strong>2012</strong> 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 <strong>2012</strong> 29
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