Monthly Seer The
January 2011 January 2011
The official magazine of the International
Host a regional tournament Play Quidditch in the Caribbean World Cup injury report
Quidditch Association
Lifestyles:
Live like Joe Quidditch College selection tips Player of the Month: Sandy Wood
Quidditch flies into Finland
Get Quidditch news as it happens at www.internationalquidditch.org
Contents 1 Editor’s note 2 Letters to the editor
News 4 4 5 6 7 8
Ives Pond hosts winter tourney Midwest gears up for regionals Quidditch flies into Finland IQA Volunteer of the Month: Andrea Hill Keeping Quidditch afloat Official Membership launch
Features
10 Fundraise for your team 11 World Cup injury report
Lifestyles
12 Live like Joe Quidditch 13 Why do you love Quidditch? 14 College selection tips for Quidditch players
Off the Pitch
15 Player of the Month: Sandy Wood 16 The diaries of a Quidditch parent 17 Meet the board of directors: Max Kaplan
Editor’s note As 2011 opens it’s a busy time for the IQA. We’re working on a major overhaul of our website, which will be rolled out in stages throughout January and February. We’re fully launching our official membership program with regional tournament hosting applications (see page eight) and opening a bid for World Cup 2011 locations: anyone in the league can put forward a location for consideration. This year the IQA has big goals. We want to continue expanding across the globe. We’re happy to welcome the first European official member team, the University of Vaasa in Finland - you can read about them on page five. Demand is increasing to bring Quidditch to more age groups, especially elementaryand middle school-aged children, and the IQA wants to meet that demand. This issue of the Seer is a celebration of our players and fans. We’ve added two new sections, Lifestyles and Off the Pitch, because Quidditch really is a lifestyle. Quidditch players are some of the most interesting people, both on and off the field, and we want to keep our fingers on the pulse. How do you live Quidditch? We want to know! As always, please drop me a line with any suggestions for articles, or anything else. If you do have suggestions, I encourage you to include diagrams (see Letters to the editor) or other visuals. At the end of the year I’ll give out an award for the best and most creative suggestions. Sincerely, Alicia Radford Editor in Chief
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Cover Design Alex Benepe
Editor in Chief Alicia Radford
Contributors
Laurie Beckoff Alex Benepe Sarah DeBouter Katie Dooley Zara Fishkin Andrea Hill Aimee Howarth Nick Kelly Kathryn Mudgway Alicia Radford Luke Zak
Art Directors Alicia Radford Andrea Hill
Layout
Andrea Hill Alicia Radford
Advertising
To advertise in the Monthly Seer, contact Alicia Radford alicia.radford@internationalquidditch.org The Monthly Seer is published electronically by the International Quidditch Association. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the consent of the IQA. For information about cataloging the Seer contact Alicia Radford.
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I.Q.A.
Owl post
Letters to the editor
Dear Makers of Quidditch,
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When I heard (from my grandparents) that someone made Quidditch from the Harry Potter books I was delighted, but when I read the newspaper article I was a little disappointed about what I read. I thought you would have found at least one way to levitate the brooms, the snitch, and the bludgers, however I figured out a way to but it won’t be the same as the books but closer. Firstly, the bludgers, I think you could make a customized magnet with a north and south side and small unmagnitizable metal ball bearing in the magnet and spray paint the whole outside in iron color, hears what it looks like.
This is basically the plan for the snitch, the only thing is you’ll have to use a hydraulic lift to throw and get it moving (the same with the snitch). Next is the ground which you’re playing on (I forgot to write this first). I think this is what you can do, make electromagnet tiles that are portable and has a control panel, this is a drawing.
Hey IQA, I think I have come up with a better solution to your Snitch problem... Instead of having it on a person why not make some animal like a chicken be the Snitch? Think about it. — Max
Last is the brooms they would have a dial to control their magnetic force to go higher into the air or dive and it’ll have a rocket like thruster to go foreward (button, see pictures) lean to whichever side to go that way.
I hope that you make the changes. Sincerely [Quidditch fan]
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Have something to say? If you have commentary on a Monthly Seer article or any aspect of Quidditch or the IQA, send it to the editor at alicia.radford@ internationalquidditch.org and your letter could end up in the next issue of the Seer. We also love receiving snail mail — send your letters to 258 Route 117 By Pass Rd, Bedford Hills, NY 10507-2142.
Makers of the official broom of the IQA
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I.Q.A.
News
Ives Pond hosts winter tourney !"#$%&'#()**"
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The Pond is Frozen Over” is the official slogan of the Ives Pond Quidditch Club’s first winter tournament in Buffalo, NY, on Saturday, Jan. 15. The action starts Saturday morning with igloo building, a Quidditch tournament and an international snow tennis tournament. Further activities include a bike race and a women’s rugby tournament. There will be plenty of activities for kids as well, such as sledding and skating. The Parkside Lodge will be transformed into a ski chalet featuring a fireplace, hot cocoa and plenty of warm food provided by the Lunch Box Cafe. After warming up, it will be time once again to get back out in the winter weather with cross country ski and snowshoe rentals. Along with sleigh rides there will be
dedicated parkland designed to look like a scene right out of the TV show Gunsmoke, with a chuckwagon, kettle corn, blacksmithing and lumberjack demonstrations. Got a hankering for a beer or ice wine? Head over to the beer tent (with live music) or visit the ice wine station — a former storage shed decked out as an igloo where people can sample a variety of regional ice wines. Check out the curling demonstrations or partake in a snowshoe softball game with the Buffalo Audubon. And don’t forget to look for the snow sculptures along the festival trail. The first game will begin at 11:00 a.m. Tournament attendees include Ives Pond, the University of Pittsburgh, St. Lawrence University, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Geneseo. !
Midwest gears up for regionals
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ven with brutal snow storms occurring across the nation, the winter’s fury is not stifling the great plans currently brewing for Quidditch. Across the Midwest, muggles are beginning preparations for several regional tournaments that promise to be better than ever. This past season, Purdue University hosted a small-scale tournament as a precusor to the fourth-annual Quidditch World Cup. Now, players are back and more ready than ever. According to Peter Chen, IQA Midwest Director, this spring’s Midwest Tournament will be its biggest event to date and Chen hopes for participation from more than 15 universities. Just like at the 2010 World Cup, matches will occur on four pitches. After having Girl Talk as a musical guest last year, there is a good chance fans could see a great act lined up for this year’s event. As of now, 64',-.'/0#1-2&'3..%'+'!"#$"%&'()**
!"#+,')#-.' the tournament is scheduled to take place around April 15, but that is not the only thing in the works. With the development of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities’ program, there are currently nine universities in the Big 10 that have active Quidditch teams and there is talk of a Big 10 Tournament happening as soon as this spring. Elsewhere in the Midwest, there are even more Quidditch-related events lined up. In order to get ready for its own tournament in the spring, the University of Minnesota Morris’ Quidditch program has been doing everything possible to gain publicity. The tournament is set for April 16 and has been dubbed the Prairie Cup. It is the program’s first attempt at hosting an intercollegiate tournament and UMM Quidditch is looking forward with optimism, aiming for over 20 teams to compete. Other schools within the state, such as UMM’s sister school in the Twin
Cities and St. Cloud State have indicated interest in competing. The program’s “go big or go home” attitude was further demonstrated in this inaugural venture as Sam Bruno of UMM described this event’s potential with half-time performances and perhaps a Death Eater raid. To pump up the students on campus, UMM Quidditch held a pre-Prairie Cup dance called, of course, the Yule Ball. This promotional event had over 400 people in attendance and if those numbers foreshadow anything about the success of the tournament, I am sure we can expect to hear great things. Of course some of the details for all these tournaments are still being worked out, but with the excitement being generated and the dedication of many muggle Quidditch enthusiasts, this spring promises to be heading in an excellent direction for Midwest Quidditch! !
News
Quidditch flies into Finland
T
hough Vaasa, Finland may be experiencing its worst winter in years, that did not stop a newly formed Finnish Quidditch team from gathering for Finland’s first muggle Quidditch match this December. The team, known as the Vaasa Centaurs, is a collaboration of three universities: University of Vaasa, Åbo Akademi Vaasa and Hanken School of Economics. The team was founded by University of Vaasa student Beto Guzman-Abundes, who stumbled across a video of the Harvard Quidditch team in November while preparing for the upcoming Harvard National Model United Nations. In the week before the World Cup, Guzman-Abundes and friend Vincenzo Riccardi began organizing the Finnish team, recruiting players and finding equipment. As soon as videos from the 2010 World Cup appeared online, interest in the team rose considerably. “I was already getting people interested and then we got videos from the World Cup and everybody was like ‘this is awesome’ and they jumped into the bandwagon,” Guzman-Abundes said. The Centaurs’ first gathering attracted the attention of local and national media outlets. Three teams dressed in haalarit, overall-type suits used by students in Finland for school activities, rushed through the snow on heavy, rustic brooms. Many players were international students and Guzman-Abundes said this made communication comical. “You should have seen us trying to get them organized,” Guzman-Abundes said. “Yelling in English, Spanish, Italian and Finnish.” Guzman-Abundes had a copy of the International Quidditch Association’s official rulebook in English and Spanish and had a friend translate it to Finnish so that more students would be able to read it. Despite the language barriers, Guzman-Abundes said he has high hopes for Quidditch, or huispaus as it is known in Finnish. “I think it’s going to catch on here,” Guzman-Abundes said. “We’re already planning on expanding to other universities here in Finland.”
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Eight team members will travel to Boston, MA in February for the Harvard National Model United Nations and the IQA hopes to work with Guzman-Abundes to organize a series of matches between the Centaurs and interested American teams. As the Centaurs are currently the only team in Finland, the February games will likely be the team’s first intercollegiate matches. However, Abundes encourages American and other international teams to travel to Finland. The University of Vaasa administration has generously offered to provide free room and board to any team travelling to compete against the Centaurs. But for those teams unable to make the journey, Guzman-Abundes said he hopes the Centaurs will travel to America next fall for the fifth annual World Cup. “I think it’s something that can really get universities together,” GuzmanAbundes said. “It’s fun and it’s something that everyone already knows.” !
Huispaus anyone? Read about the Vaasa Centaurs online at www.centaur.fi/quidditch !"#$"%&'()**'+',-.'/0#1-2&'3..%'4H
News
IQA Volunteer of the Month
Andrea Hill
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ndrea Hill is the Carleton University Quidditch captain and Januaryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s IQA Volunteer of the Month. Andrea started volunteering with the IQA by offering to write stories for the Monthly Seer. In addition to being a great writer, she showed great initiative, enthusiastically accepting every assignment and taking time out from a busy World Cup weekend to interview players and sit at the foot of the headquarters booth typing away about high school teams at the Cup. Because of her dedication to the Monthly Seer and background in print journalism, Andrea has become the IQAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first copyeditor. In addition, she has taken up the post of IQA International Director, overseeing international development and communication. The IQA could not run without its amazing volunteers. Andrea is dedicated, hardworking, and a great asset to the IQA. We are proud to honor her with our first-ever Volunteer of the Month award. !
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News
Winter got you down? J'/<A-<>"#'31"1.'O2"&.%'"1'1-.'P0%2D'9$O'44'#*%+%!,-!./0')!1-2
Play Quidditch in the Caribbean!
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emember that part in one of the Harry Potter books when Harry laments about the fact that the Dursleys never took him on a cruise and that if he were free from Aug. 7 to 14, 2011, he would drop everything and set sail? Okay, well, he never said that, but he no doubt would have, had he only known what was in store. This summer, the Royal Caribbean “Wizards at Sea” cruise ship will depart from Port Canaveral, FL, Pier 9 ¾, for a week of family fun and wizardly mischief, stopping in Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Mexico. Onboard, the IQA board of directors will teach Quidditch lessons and there will even be a Quidditch tournament on the beach. Other onboard activities include a house cup competition, Hogwarts classes, a horcrux hunt, a Yule Ball and much more! And for those family members that aren’t Harry Potter fans, the ones you probably make sleep in the cupboard under the stairs, be assured there is plenty of non-Harry Potter themed fun to go around. The cruise even gives you the option of extending your trip to include a visit to Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
In true magical fashion, the IQA has more up its sleeve. Every IQA member who signs up will receive a custom cruise IQA t-shirt and be entered into a raffle to win some great prizes like Alivans brooms and a VIP lunch with our very own Alex Benepe! This cruise is a landmark event, or perhaps seamark, so make sure to sign up today! !
Book today! Register for this IQA/Wizards at Sea Royal Caribbean vacation at http://www. wizardsatsea.com. Be sure to mention the IQA when you book. For more information or if you have any questions please contact Alicia Radford at alicia.radford@ internationalquidditch.org. !"#$"%&'()**'+',-.'/0#1-2&'3..%'4N
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Official Membership launch
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n September 2010 the IQA unveiled its Official Membership program, where teams pay annual dues to the IQA in exchange for a number of yearly benefits including free registration to any official IQA tournament, eligibility to compete for grants, discounts on Alivans merchandise and team pages on our website. As we enter the new year, the IQA is ready to officially launch many of these benefits. Starting in January, the IQA will release regional tournament hosting applications, t-shirt fundraising programs, and a World Cup application bid.
Regional tournament applications
eligible to compete in an application process to host a regional tournament. Teams may submit applications until Feb. 1. The IQA board of directors will preapprove each application and all official member teams will be able to vote online for the tournament they want recognized as an official IQA regional tournament. Each tournament selected as an official regional tournament will receive $1,000 sponsorship from the IQA as well as extensive logistical and promotional support, including a full PR campaign and assistance with equipment funding and volunteers. The IQA will also send at least one chief officer or director to each tournament.
In spring 2011 the IQA will sponsor six regional tournaments: one in each region of the United States and one in Canada. All official member teams will be
For more information about regional tournaments please visit http://www.internationalquidditch.org/regionals
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News
World Cup application bid
Team fundraising
Where do you think World Cup 2011 should be held? New York? Los Angeles? Chicago? This winter the IQA is giving the league a chance to voice their opinions. A comprehensive World Cup application bid form can be downloaded from the IQA website at http://www. internationalquidditch.org/worldcup.html. Detailed application questions include the population and ambiance of the location, nearby accommodations, airports and public transportation and the event planning and hosting experience of teams in the area. The IQA will take all applications under consideration. All interested teams are enouraged to participate. The submission deadline is Feb. 15 and the IQA will announce a World Cup 2011 location and date on March 1.
Official member teams will have access to more ways to fundraise through the IQA. Entering an official member teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name at checkout when purchasing merchandise from the IQA store will give 10% of that purchase back to the team mentioned. This is an easy way for fans to support their favorite schools. The IQA can also sell official member team t-shirts on the IQA website and take care of packing and shipping for a percentage of sales, allowing teams to concentrate on playing. To learn more or to sell your teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shirts on the IQA website, contact Alicia Radford at alicia.radford@internationalquidditch.org. !
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I.Q.A.
Features
Message from the Commissioner
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Fundraise for your team
ear Quidditch Captains, We’re aware that it’s hard to raise money for your team, particularly if you have a small or non-existent school budget. That’s why we’re excited to be launching the IQA Team Funding Project in partnership with My Sports Dreams, a sports team fundraising company that I personally endorse, and will be working closely with over the next year to ensure that all of our teams are well funded. The project requires less than one hour of work on your part (sending text about your team and photos as well as having your players enter the contact information of potential supporters), and then you can sit back and relax while My Sports Dreams conducts a complete fundraising campaign for you. This entails mailing custom-made promotional materials that they produce for your contacts. The average team raises over $4,000. My Sports Dreams splits the first $2,000 raised (50/50 and everything else is yours). That means no up-front cost and no risk for your team. Even if the campaign doesn’t work out, you still keep 50% and My Sports Dreams takes the loss. It is very little work, and you’ll probably raise thousands of dollars for your team. There is seriously no reason why any team should not sign up for this. It sounds too good to be true, but it isn’t — it’s just a really smart business model. If that’s not enough to convince you, My Sports Dream is making a special offer for high school teams only – if you sign up with them, they’ll pay for your first year of official membership in the IQA (a $100.00 value).
we’ll have more official members and more participants at the World Cup. It also means that sponsors and other partners will be more interested in working with us. If you’re interested in signing up, please take a few seconds to fill out this form: http://www.mysportsdreams. com/site/signupnow If you any questions, please email Mike Gabrielsen at MikeG@MySportsDreams.com, or call him at the office at 1-800-376-5988 ext 318. Thanks very much and we look forward to working with you in 2011!
Who this benefits: "#You and your team — you will raise thousands of dollars, Sincerely, spend no money, and do almost no work. Alex Benepe "#The IQA – By making sure our teams have more funding, IQA Commissioner *)4',-.'/0#1-2&'3..%'+'!"#$"%&'()**
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World Cup injury report
Knee scraped Swelling ankles Short of breath Elbow pain Knee pain Arm pain Elbow scrapes Head butts Knee dislocation Thigh pain Bee sting
27 7 4 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1
One patient was taken to the hospital for a concussion and another for lacerations to the head. Most injuries were treated with ice packs and wrapping.
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I.Q.A.
Lifestyles
Live like Joe Quidditch
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eet Joe Quidditch: he’s your all-American/ Canadian/[insert country of origin here] chaser from a campus near you. And just like you, Joe doesn’t just play Quidditch, he lives Quidditch. He walks into the dining hall and puts syrup on his Quaffles…he means waffles! He imagines that Benedict Arnold dressed in gold with a sock hanging out of his stockings. He has an irrational hatred of the International Quilt Association for coming up in IQA Google searches. Yes, there is a certain lifestyle that goes along with being a Quidditch player, and these are Joe’s top picks for how to live the life…in style. As we head into the dead of winter, how does Joe brace himself for practice? First, he dons a hat made to look like an animal because it’s quirky and fun, just like him! He’s really glad that he saved his high socks from when he played soccer in high school; even though they don’t keep his toes any warmer than socks of a more traditional height, they sure do work wonders for his shins and his athletic image. The fingerless gloves he got as a winter solstice present from his parents let him grip the Quaffle while making sure that his palms stay nice and sweaty. Joe really wants a Gryffindor scarf but he’s holding out for when his family takes a trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter this summer. Joe’s cousin Jose goes to school in Florida and wears shorts to practice. His other cousin Josefina goes to school in Michigan and wears shorts to practice anyway. Quidditch isn’t Joe’s only form of entertainment. When he went to see Part 1 of HP7 this November with his team, he thought that it was a very well done movie, but could have been confusing to a person who didn’t read the books. The lack of Quidditch was disappointing, yet accurate. In line at the premiere, people saw his uniform and told him they had been watching clips *(4',-.'/0#1-2&'3..%'+'!"#$"%&'()**
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Lifestyles from the World Cup on YouTube all week. Joe saw Eclipse over the summer but told his teammates he didn’t. He hears that The Hobbit is coming out in 2012 and is mildly excited. When Joe goes out and is forced to endure frat music instead of his usual choice of MGMT, Vampire Weekend, Matt & Kim, or Passion Pit, he looks forward to when “Like a G6” comes on so that he can mutter the lines to “Like it’s Quidditch” under his breath. He only drinks butterbeer, and his first move on the dance floor
is always a waltz. After the party, Joe returns to his room by himself and watches clips of the World Cup, looking for glimpses of himself and correcting reporters on their misinformation until he falls asleep. Yes, Joe lives Quidditch. This isn’t a part-time activity that can be contained to two hours a week on Saturdays, but an unspoken code that dictates how he walks, talks, and chalks his campus as a way to promote the home match that is coming up next week. Meet Joe Quidditch: the Quidditch player in all of us. !
Why do you love Quidditch? Why do you love Quidditch? Is it because you finally get to play the game from your favorite book? Is it because of the victory that you share with your fellow teammates after the fight is over? Or is it the journey that you took to get where you are today? Well, whatever the reason, we at the Monthly Seer would like to hear about it. Starting with the February issue, the Seer will feature one story each month about why you (the athlete or fan) love Quidditch. Entries should be at most one page single spaced. If you’re interested, please send all entries to kathryn.mudgway@internationalquidditch.org. Thank you for your time and have a save New Year everyone! — Kathryn Mudgway
IQA & World Cup T-Shirts: Just because you can’t fly doesn’t mean you can’t look fly. Get yours.
$14.99
$17.99
Enter ‘JanSeer’ at checkout for 10% off http://www.internationalquidditch.org/store.html
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Lifestyles
College selection tips for Quidditch players !"#+.,2%)#!)&'655
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t’s that time of year for high school seniors: college applications. Portfolios, SAT scores, interviews, acceptances and decisions. You’re looking into what programs each school offers that might make it a better choice than another or that confirm your conviction that this is the school for you! Maybe you got into your first choice early and now you’re just exploring every aspect of it and getting ready for the next four years. Maybe you didn’t make your first choice, but you’re trying to find the best aspects of your second choice that did accept you. Maybe you really can’t make up your mind between two schools. Football players might look into what school has the strongest team. Swimmers may want to know where the best facilities are. And Quidditch players can partake in the search as well. Sure, your first criterion probably may not be which school has a full set of Alivans brooms, but you’re curious.
established team, or perhaps you’d rather be involved in the initial organization. School newspapers are a great resource for finding out the status of a team. Are there appropriate premises? If the school doesn’t have a team but you hope to form one, make sure there is somewhere to play. Not all colleges have a big, grassy campus, especially when it comes to urban areas. If there isn’t a large open space on campus, see if there is a nearby location that would serve the purpose. For example, Emerson College plays at Boston Common, a public park right across the street from some of their buildings.
How competitive is the team? Some schools are known for hardcore, intense gameplay and/or regular intramural or intercollegiate matches. Others have a more leisurely approach and are less physical. The latter might be better for someone who would rather have the opportunity to play in a less vigorous environment and keep games light and friendly. Those who are more athletic or competitive may prefer more cutthroat and aggressive matches. Search your college on Is there a team? You can check the IQA’s list of official teams to see if a YouTube for any videos to get an idea of their style. You college has a registered team. Information about unofficial may also want to research the frequency and duration of teams is available on Facebook, in school newspapers, or practices to get an idea of how strenuous their regiment is. by asking around at open houses. If there isn’t a team for Like every step of choosing a college, it all boils you to join, you can be a pioneer and create one! The IQA down to what is right for you. Quidditch could be the has plenty of resources to help you in your endeavors. thing that changes your entire college life for the better. Best of luck in your search and college career! You What is the team’s current situation? Some teams have been active for years, are might just find your own Hogwarts. !
Questions to ask about college Quidditch
recognized by the administration, receive funding, attend the World Cup, hold tournaments, and/or have multiple leagues with many players. Others are up-andcoming and still trying to get off the ground, literally as well as figuratively. You might prefer an already *64',-.'/0#1-2&'3..%'+'!"#$"%&'()**
Is there a team at your future school? Find out now by visiting the IQA website: www.internationalquidditch.org/teams.html
I.Q.A.
Off the pitch Sandy Wood
The Monthly Seer’s player of the month
W
hen she’s at school, Vassar College sophomore Sandy Wood’s life is dominated by two activities: Quidditch and Jhamtse Club. But while Quidditch teams are quickly becoming mainstream activities in American colleges, the Jhamtse Club remains exclusive to Vassar – at least for now. Jhamtse Club is a fundraising group that supports Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community, a school and home for disadvantaged children in the Himalayas of northeast India. Wood learned about the school in 2000 when the Buddhist monk who would go on to found the school in 2006 came to Massachusetts to raise awareness of poverty in the region. Wood, who was heavily involved in community service and outreach projects throughout middle and high school, took an instant interest in the project and after graduating high school she made the trek to the remote community. “I completely fell in love with the kids there and everybody at the community and its entire spirit and the change it’s making for the villages around it,” Wood said. “It really has this incredible sense of community and vision and mission and I’ve been trying to do whatever I can since then to help it succeed.” Wood has since spent three summers in Jhamtse Gatsal. While there, she teaches English classes and helps out with the chores performed by every member of the community. Though she works hard during her time there, Wood is always thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the community. “In a lot of ways when I go I feel that I’m the lucky one,” Wood said. “I’m a guest in their home and I just feel really grateful that they welcome me in and share all this incredible generosity and kindness with me.”
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When she returned home, Wood was determined to continue supporting the community from afar. She soon realized that by living in America she had an opportunity to fundraise for the community in ways the teachers and housemothers in Jhamtse Gatsal would never be able to. “In a way it’s kind of sad that the role that I can make the biggest difference in is the one that means that I have to be far away,” Wood said. “But I’m really grateful to be able to help support it.” As a freshman at Vassar, Wood founded the Jhamtse Club. She persuaded a small group of people on her residence floor to plan and execute the group’s first bake sale, which brought in a couple hundred dollars. Not only did the event raise money, but it increased awareness of the community and
soon more students were seeking ways to help Jhamtse Gatsal. At the end of last year, the group pulled off a three-day hug-a-thon that raised $1,000 towards funding the construction of the new bathhouse facility being built at the school. “It was so exciting,” Wood said. “We could never have done this in November when we started.” The hug-a-thon has become a semiannual event and a second one occurred in the fall 2010 semester. The group has also raised money by selling chocolates and pies and is working with a local middle school to teach students about global issues and get them passionate and excited about helping others. Wood was thrilled when students at the middle school took the initiative to !"#$"%&'()**'+',-.'/0#1-2&'3..%'4*H
Off the pitch
organize a yard sale to raise money for the Jhamtse Gatsal school. “It’s a cause and a community that really inspires me and I was hoping that the energy of that would be able to transmit and get other people excited,” Wood said. When she is not organizing the activities of the Jhamtse Club, Wood plays chaser for the Vassar team. She said her involvement in the team has become an important part of her college experience. “It’s a really wonderful community and it really helped me find a home here and I’m so grateful for everyone on the team,” Wood said. While the Vassar Quidditch team and Jhamtse Gatsal may be worlds apart, Wood said she has seen the two collide. “Whenever I go I always bring pictures of my life back home, which since I started Vassar inevitably includes a bazillion pictures of the Quidditch team,” Wood said. “I have to very round-about-ly in simple English and a lot of hand gestures try to explain to them about Harry Potter and Quidditch and Muggle Quidditch.” Though she is never sure how much the kids understand, she was flipping through photos the kids took on a borrowed camera and found pictures of them jumping off their beds with brooms between their legs, looking as if they were trying to fly. !
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Who inspires you? The people who play Quidditch are an extraordinary bunch and the Monthly Seer wants to tell their stories. Each month in “Off the pitch” the Seer will run a profile of a Quidditch player or fan who inspires those around him or her. If you know someone on your team who deserves to be profiled, e-mail Andrea Hill at andrea.hill@internationalquidditch.org with the person’s name, team, contact information and a brief explanation of why they deserve to be featured in the Seer.
The diaries of a Quidditch parent
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asked was what sport his daughter played. “When we said Quidditch the expression on his face was just priceless,” Eagleson said. “We actually had to explain to him that this is real and it’s a heavy contact sport.” But despite the fact that their kids are playing a game that did not exist when they were in school, many parents are simply pleased that their sons and daughters have found ways to stay fit, make friends and enjoy themselves. Debbie MacKenzie, whose daughter plays on the Carleton University Quidditch team, has never read the Harry Potter books and only had a vague notion of what Quidditch was before her daughter began speaking about it constantly. Though she has yet to see her on the Quidditch pitch, MacKenzie said she is glad her daughter has found something she is so excited about.
“I’m proud of her, she definitely has a passion for it,” MacKenzie said. “I think it’s kind of cool being a part of a sport that’s on a trail blaze.” !
When I was your age. . .
T
hough Quidditch may have taken the media by storm in the weeks before and after the Quidditch World Cup, many people, especially those in older generations, are still oblivious to the existence of the previously fictitious sport. This has a tendency to make life entertaining for the families of Quidditch athletes. Glen Eagleson, whose son and daughter play Quidditch at Canadian universities, said he always gets a reaction when he tells family and friends what his kids are up to. “You get that smirk on their faces,” Eagleson said. “Half of them don’t think you’re telling the truth.” Eagleson said his most interesting experience as the father of a pair of Quidditch players came when he was trying to find a mouth guard for his daughter before her first game. The first question the SportChek clerk
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we listened to records.
Pluto was a planet. Quidditch wasn’t a sport!
— Graphic by Katie Dooley
Off the pitch
Meet the IQA Board of Directors Max Kaplan
P
osting Facebook statuses, tweeting links to amusing news stories and uploading videos to YouTube may seem nothing more than distractions from schoolwork, but for Max Kaplan, Social Media Director for the International Quidditch Association, this is all part of a day’s work. Kaplan, a student at Chestnut Hill College (Philadelphia, PA), joined the IQA Board of Directors in 2009. His first job was to help CEO and Commissioner Alex Benepe establish the IQA as a nonprofit organization. This was accomplished in March 2010 and Kaplan then focussed his attention on promoting the newly recognized nonprofit through social media. Though Kaplan said many people think of Facebook when they think of social media, this is not his sole focus. Besides being the face behind the IQA’s Facebook, Kaplan is trying to increase the IQA’s presence on both Twitter and YouTube. Since the summer, the number of MuggleQuidditch Twitter followers has more than tripled from 500 to 1,649. Despite this growth, Kaplan said the number of followers is not so large that people become neglected. “I like that we’re a small enough company that people can tweet to us and I can respond and give individual replies to people,” Kaplan said. “I really just want it to be a one-on-one interaction with the IQA.” Over the past couple months Kaplan has sifted through myriads of Quidditchrelated web content. His goal is to tweet links to the most outstanding news articles and videos. “You have tons of videos out there on the web of kids playing but we really want to take the best ones,” Kaplan said. “It’s finding all that great stuff that might
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otherwise slip through the cracks and using it to our advantage and sending it out to as many people as possible.” Kaplan said one of the best videos he has found was created during the World Cup by a seeker who wore a front-facing camera throughout the game. The video, titled “POV Quidditch Match: Seeker,” can be viewed on the IQAQuidditch YouTube channel. Kaplan’s love of all things Quidditch was born in spring of 2008 after watching a YouTube video of Middlebury College students playing the sport. He became convinced that Quidditch would be able to unify students at the Hogwarts-esque Chestnut Hill campus in a way nothing else could. His dream was not far from the mark. “So many kids were coming out to [play
Quidditch] that would have never interacted before,” Kaplan said. “You think of the high school cafeteria scenario where you have all tables with all the different groups of kids, all the stereotypes, and the Quidditch pitch became the one place where all these kids could hang out and they were all literally on the same playing field.” Though Kaplan graduates in May, he said he has no plans to end his involvement with the IQA because he sees Quidditch as such an important part of college culture. “Quidditch is the common thread between so many different kinds of people,” Kaplan said. “It brings people together and you really have to have no inhibitions when you’re running around on a broomstick and that’s what’s so great about it.” !
Learn more about the IQA Board of Directors
Visit our website to find out more about the people who make muggle Quidditch a reality http://www.internationalquidditch.org/board.html !"#$"%&'()**'+',-.'/0#1-2&'3..%'4*N
Contest 1 Winter Wonderland Send the Seer pictures and stories of your team playing in the snow. The best will be published in the February edition of the Seer.
Deadline: Jan. 25
Send submissions to alicia.radford@internationalquidditch.org â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Graphic by Katie Dooley
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