Monthly Seer The
October 2010
The official newsletter of the International
Volunteer with the IQA Making a Difference: First Annual Book Drive Book Aid International
Quidditch Association
World Cup Excited yet? World Cup IV is less than seven weeks away learn everything you need to know here.
Table of Contents 1 Commissioner’s Message 2 Upcoming Events Seven tournaments around the country, including an exhibition match at the New York City Medieval Festival, make October an extremely busy and exciting month for Quidditch.
Features 4 Outreach Learn about the IQA’s first book drive and what great prizes the top three highest donating schools will take home. The IQA is also announcing a partnership with Book Aid International.
5 Call for Volunteers Want to build your resume, gain real-life organizational experience and connect with new people? Volunteer for the IQA!
6 World Cup
From the Commissioner Monthly Seer October 2010 § Volume 1
Cover Photo Kate Lupo
To the first readers of the first-ever Monthly Seer,
Editor in Chief Alicia Radford
Thank you very much for taking a leap of faith and subscribing with us (especially with that intimidating monthly fee of $00.00!).
Contributing Writers
We have a lot of exciting projects and events coming up, especially this thing in November...I don’t know if you’ve heard of it...it’s called the World Cup? We’re thrilled to have 62 teams on the early sign-up form, and we hope that number remains relatively the same during final registration in late October.
Art Director
Alex Benepe Alicia Radford
Alex Terry
The Monthly Seer, just like our league, is a major work in progress. If you have suggestions for improvement, story or column ideas, feel free to send them to our Editor in Chief, Alicia Radford (alicia. radford@internationalquidditch.org). Additionally, we always need more writers on our Editorial team, so please contact Alicia if you would like to join us. Thanks again for your enthusiasm and support. We hope you enjoy our first issue and we would love to receive feedback. Mischief Managed, Alex Benepe IQA Commissioner & President commissioner@internationalquidditch.org
1
W
UPCOMING EVENTS
ith fall in the air and schools firmly back in session, Quidditch seasons all over the world are off to a flying start. There are eight tournaments around the country leading up to the mid-November Fourth Annual Quidditch World Cup, including an exhibition match at the New York City Medieval Festival.
Miami Invitational
10/2
Oxford, OH
Mid-Continental Tournament 10/3 Wichita State University, KS
2
NYC Medieval Festival
10/3
Fort Tyron Park, NY | 11:30am Chestnut Hill College and Vassar College will face off on the jousting field at the New York City Medieval Festival in Fort Tyron Park. The event is an annual New York City tradition, with over 40,000 attendees who flock to the festival to watch minstrels, jousting knights, performing wizards, animals, enjoy authentic medieval food, and more. Hundreds of children and their families will be excited to witness a Quidditch game as part of the festivities, and we will open a game to child participants after the IQA teams compete. The park is situated on a high cliff on the northern tip of Manhattan, and it surrounds The Cloisters, an authentic Spanish monastery transported from Spain and reassembled in New York by John. D. Rockefeller. Visitors can enter the castle and enjoy an uninterrupted view of the Palisades across the Hudson River, which were purchased by Rockefeller for the express purpose of preventing any real estate development destroying the impression of being in a truly medieval atmosphere.
UPCOMING EVENTS_Tournaments
Spartan Spectacular
10/10
Purdue Invitational
10/24
East Lansing, MI | 11am
Purdue University, IL | 10am-6pm
Michigan State University will host Eastern Michigan, Purdue, Penn State, Oberlin, and the new Bowling Green State first in pool play, then in a top four bracket to determine the champion. Games will be played at the field behind the Rock on MSU’s campus.
Purdue will take on Ball State, Transylvania University, Bowling Green University, Loyola Chicago, Ohio State University, Michigan, and Illinois State University.
Utah Cup Championship
10/16
Sugar House Park, Salt Lake City | 6pm The Quidditch summer season for all of Utah’s teams has lead up to this monumental and historical event! The points of this and every previous game will be tallied up and the winner will take home the much coveted UTAH CUP! The match will be between Utah’s leading teams, Judge Memorial high school, and the Utah Hex community team.
Philadelphila Brotherly Love Cup 10/16 Chestnut Hill College, PA | 12pm The first-ever Philadelphia Brotherly Love Cup will be held at Chestnut Hill College on October 16 at 12pm. Matches will take place on two side-by-side pitches on the College’s soccer field, with CHC teams competing on one pitch, outside teams competing on the other, and the best teams from each competing in the final bracket. Competing schools include Penn State University, Stony Brook University, University of Maryland, and Christopher Newport University.
Ithaca College Tournament
11/7
Ithaca College, NY The final fall tournament leading up to the World Cup, the First Annual Ithaca College Quidditch tournament is being held on November 7th, 2010 in Ithaca, NY. The day will include a round robin tournament followed by seeded playoffs, as well as music, food and a t-shirt for everyone involved. The winner of the tournament will receive a specialized champion’s shirt as well as movie passes to the release of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I. The tournament organizers are an independent group looking to increase the visibility of the great sport of Quidditch.
3
OUTREACH
IQA teams making a difference in their communities and giving back, locally and globally.
Book Drive
O
n September 1st, the IQA launched its first-ever book drive. Thirty-two participating teams have been gathering and donating new or used books to local organizations like libraries, literary organizations and other nonprofits, with each school’s donation goal ranging from one hundred to seven thousand books. IQA Outreach Co-Director Aimee Howarth estimates that between five thousand and ten thousand books will be donated between now and the end of the book drive, on November 13th. The top three highest donating teams will receive great prizes: first place will win a full set of fourteen Alivan’s brooms (or $500). Second place will receive free team admission to the 2010 Quidditch World Cup, or one free year of official membership or $200 for their team’s budget. Third place will receive $100 toward their team’s budget. The book drive runs from now until midnight on November 13th. The IQA will accept books or receipts for donated books in person at the World Cup.
4
Buy Shirts, Build Libraries
W
hen the International Quidditch Association begins selling t-shirts online this month, twenty percent of every purchase will go to Book Aid International, a United Kingdom charity that “increases access to books to support literacy, education and development in subSaharan Africa.” In addition, $1 from the sale of every print and electronic copy of the rulebook will also go to Book Aid. According to the Book Aid International website, since its founding in 1954, Book Aid International has donated thirty million books to communities in need. In 2009 alone they sent half a million new books to over 2,000 libraries in thirteen countries. Book Aid International believes that books change lives. We agree. The reallife sport of Quidditch sprung from JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, and we have witnessed first-hand how the Harry Potter books change lives: this decade they were celebrated as the books that got kids reading again, and with more than 400 million Harry Potter books sold since the first book was published, Quidditch is an easy cultural access point to engage children athletically. Quidditch is an inclusive atmosphere that focuses on getting outside, having fun, and using the imagination. Through the IQA’s partnership with Book Aid International, we will be able to take our passion for books and share it with children who may not have otherwise had the opportunity to discover the joy of reading.
VOLUNTEER FOR THE IQA
Want to build your resume, gain real-life organizational experience and connect with new people?
W
ith new teams joining the league every week, the World Cup rapidly approaching, and the league generally growing in every direction at all times, the IQA is in need of dedicated, hard- working volunteers with a passion for creative organization and communication. Areas that need particular attention are our Team Support Specialist division, fundraising, and human resources. But we also can always use support in other areas: Media and public relations, creative design, video production, editorial writing for the website, and more. We especially need volunteers interested in helping us make long-distance preparations for the 2010 World Cup, and/or come to the event and help out on the ground on November 13-14.
We also need volunteers interested in being Regional Directors or Team Support Specialists for our high school league. Overall, we want to provide a fun and fulfilling experience where you have responsibility and decision-making abilities that you won’t have in any other job or internship for your age group, and learn real-life, marketable skills that will help you in any career path. We currently have over 50 volunteers from all over the world, and we are aiming to double that number over the next month. Can you help us? Interested applicants should fill out the Application Form on our website and send a copy of their resume by email to Alicia Radford (alicia.radford@internationalquidditch. org) and copy Commissioner Alex Benepe on the email (commissioner@internationalquidditch.org).
5
UPCOMING EVENTS_World Cup
Fourth Annual
WORLD CUP NOVEMBER 13-14 - DEWITT CLINTON PARK, NYC
T
his November, 60 teams from all over the United States and Canada will battle for dominance and the right to call themselves the best Quidditch team in the world. The fourth annual Quidditch World Cup will take place all day on Saturday and Sunday on the Astroturf fields in Dewitt Clinton Park in New York City, just west of Midtown and next to the Hudson River. It will be Quidditch unlike anything seen before. Four fields mean eight teams will play at once, and for the first time the tournament is open to high school teams, who will compete in their own bracket. An estimated 10,000 spectators will attend over two days and audiences in excess of 100,000 are expected to tune in at home through the live stream on the IQA website. Although the World Cup made the move from Middlebury, Vermont to the Big Apple “to expose the game to a wider audience and allow more teams from around the country,” Commissioner Alex Benepe stressed that the atmosphere will stay the same. Vendors and musical acts throughout the tournament will keep the mood festive. But some Quidditch captains think Middlebury itself was the key to the unique atmosphere of past World Cups. “It was great walking out onto a pitch at Middlebury and seeing the gothic style buildings that almost
6
made us…feel like we were at Hogwarts,” said Nicholas Kelly, captain of the Ive’s Pond Club team, which has attended the World Cup since 2008. “Another thing that will be missed was seeing all the teams dressed from head to toe in Quidditch gear, sitting in Middlebury’s cafeteria eating breakfast.” Teams this year will be responsible for their own accommodation and meals, though the IQA partnered with Group Travel Consultants to offer teams affordable weekend lodging at a hotel in New Jersey with breakfast provided and shuttle buses to and from the field both days.
F
or newcomers to the World Cup, like University of Minnesota captain Luke Zak, the World Cup is a chance to meet new people and take part in something fantastic. “The thing I absolutely cannot wait for in New York will be getting to meet other officers of Quidditch programs across the nation,” Zak says. “I really want to see how other well-established teams run their groups and maybe even share some of our own tips to success. Bringing back techniques from other Quidditch leagues would be great since this is our first year and we have been rolling with the punches the whole way through.”
Quick Stats Preregistered teams: 63 Colleges: 54 High schools: 9 Admission: Free! Game start: 9am
DEWITT CLINTON FIELDS TOURNAMENT SET UP
Tournament Planning
P
lanning an event as huge as the Quidditch World Cup is an enormous job, but Commissioner Alex Benepe keeps everything on track. There are fields to book, permits to secure, bleachers and a sound system to rent, stages and platforms to build, banners to sew, press releases to write and send, donations to solicit, and volunteers to assemble. Around fifty volunteers will help out on the ground during the Cup, with at least a dozen more helping long distance. Promotion is also a huge part of a successful World Cup. On September 19th, the IQA filmed a promo video to be released this month including a Snitch chase through New York City (see the cover photo of this issue for a production still).
Getting There
F
inancial hurdles are the biggest barrier for any team considering making the trek to New York, but with determination, any team can find a way to go. Suraj Singh, from Ryerson University in Toronto, said “the decision to go to the World Cup was a no brainer from the first meeting.” Their fundraising plan includes “working on finding official status to get money through the school and also through student based funding initiatives, and of course bake sales.” The University of Minnesota will use membership fees as well as apply “for grants and [look] for local companies to sponsor us.” For Zak, in the end, “no matter how the program turned out, we would need to go to the World Cup.” That level of determination and dedication is what often makes or breaks a team. This November, after overcoming the challenges of financing a trip to New York, the 60 most determined teams in the United States and Canada will have one thing left to do - overcome the competition. be responsible for their own accommodation aneals, though the IQA partnered with Group Travel Consultants to offer 7