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