Monthly Seer The
November 2010
The official magazine of the International
Quidditch Association
Schedule Attending Teams Behind the Scenes 10 Tips
To Make You a Better Quidditch Player
Table of Contents 1 2 4 5 6 8
Commissioner’s Message Letter to the Editor Halloween with the IQA Upcoming Events IQA News Up and Coming Quidditch Teams
Outreach 9 Book Drive Ends November 13 10 Title 9 3/4
11 World Cup 12 Schedule 13 Attending Teams 14 Behind the Scenes: the Muggles Behind the Magic 15 Meet the IQA Staff: Jared Kowalczyk 16 Spotlight on the University of Maryland 17 Baking their way to the Cup 20 Ten tips to make you a better Quidditch player
From the Commissioner Monthly Seer November 2010 § Volume 1
Cover Design Alex Benepe
This month’s letter from me to you is for players and fans, and their friends and family, who might still be on the fence about coming to World Cup 2010. It is based upon a letter that I drafted personally to a team that is pulling through several obstacles right now to bring seven of their players down to New York City in two weeks. For every pumped-beyond-possibility player or long-time IQA supporter I speak to, I know there are others, who for some everyday obstacle or “Muggle” obligation, are trending towards the possibility of not making themselves present at Dewitt Clinton Fields in Manhattan on November 13th or 14th. I am writing to you to urge you in the eleventh hour to do everything you can to be in New York City for the 2010 World Cup. World Cup is a day unlike any other. It is the best day of the year, of any year that it takes place. There is no other kind of magic in the world as that of the assembly of hundreds of uniformed Quidditch players in the same place for the same reason. Any who have stood with me in World Cups of the past would probably agree. This year we are on track to have forty teams and over five hundred athletes, more than double the size of any past World Cup. Games will take place before hundreds if not thousands of spectators and thousands more will be watching the live webcast, and untold millions will see images from the game on major national and international media sources in the weeks to come. And this is not just a sports tournament. The Quidditch World Cup remains, as ever, firmly rooted in fun and festivity. All of the games will be announced by trained improvisational comedians, and entertainment between games will feature live music, dance troupes, exotic owls, Renaissance a capella choirs, fire breathers, and other spectacles that only a day like the Quidditch World Cup can bring. To those of you still on the fence, think about the weekend that you might spend at home on November 13th and 14th, in comparison to the wild, life-changing adventure you could be having in New York at that same moment. To consider the difference is to consider what would have happened if Harry Potter had stayed under the closet under the stairs and never made the journey to Hogwarts. I’m offering you the opportunity to take a bold step down a new path and create a weekend that you will still remember fifty years from now. It’s up to you if you want to decide to take it.
Editor in Chief Alicia Radford
Contributing Writers Laurie Beckoff Sarah DeBouter Alex Downey-Ging Andrea Hill Tom Marks Kathryn Mudgway Alicia Radford Rebecca Seidel Katie Stack
Art Directors Alex Terry Alicia Radford
Sincerely, Alex Benepe
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Letter to the Editor 60('$78"07$(1"(9-$:%(;$<"=0>1>"0?@(8"71$A( "0(1.$(6BC(D$&7>1$("0(E<1"&$'()F1.G Dear Editor, It has come to my attention that several colleges across the country are in the process of forming Quidditch teams at their respective campuses, with many facing several obstacles along the way. Whether there is a lack of community support, financial stability, or a combination of the two, genuine investment of time must be put into creating this unbelievably thrilling sport. I am a freshman at Stony Brook University and I want to show how you can start a team successfully, while raising enough money to supply official equipment (Alivans of course), hoops, shirts, travel expenses for tournaments, and IQA membership fees all in less than one monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time. The Stony Brook Quidditch Team Our team was formed, to give some insight on the matter, on September 22, 2010. Thus far, while we wait to become an official club (hopefully we will become one), we have competed in the Brotherly Love Tournament at Chestnut Hill College and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be going to Ithaca next week to compete against Cornell, Franklin and Marshall, and many more schools before we ride the Long Island Rail Road to participate in the most hyped, intense, and anticipated Quidditch tournament in history! In hearing that there are institutions that are virtually in the same situation as our team, variables such as money, equipment, and the lack of recognition from the university should not hinder the development and progression of the respective schools that are struggling to successfully start their team. With social mediums such as Facebook, generating interest for the sport has is not a hard task; however, it is extremely challenging to harness that level of interest and keep it as longstanding as possible. Yet with that said, college students have so many options and opportunities that they simply wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait a term or semester for the team to start. A little investment from one or a few students is all that is needed to effectively form this unique sports team. Whether or not a group is successful is based on the organization of the team members and if there is indeed some form of a tipping point that propels their development and progression to overcome the initial difficulties to create a team. Whether it is a small college like Swarthmore or a university with over 20,000 undergraduate students like Stony Brook, there is a way to make it work, and fast. If you would like more information as to how we started our team, please email us at sbuquidditchgmail.com and check out our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stony-Brook-Quiddit ch-2010-2011/132582263454280 Hope to see you all at the World Cup! Sincerely, Daniel Ahmadizadeh Stony Brook Quidditch )(5(-.$(/"01.23(4$$'(,(!"#$%&$'()*+*
Makers of the Official Broom of the IQA
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Halloween with the IQA Stony Brook marched in the Jackson Heights Halloween Parade.
Boston University Goes “Trick-or-Canning”
really enthusiastic.”
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By Katie Stack
On October 28th, Boston University Quidditch joined the Boston University Community Service Center in a “Trick-orCan”, an event that required groups of BU students to travel from house to house in Boston area neighborhoods in order to trick-or-treat for canned goods. These nonperishables were then donated to local food kitchens and shelters in Boston. The Quidditch team donned Harry Potter-themed costumes and marched through the city of Cambridge for over two and a half hours asking residents to donate. BU Quidditch President Caroline Stack says, “It was great to get more involved in the outside community as a team. The younger children thought it was awesome when they heard we actually played Quidditch.” Joe Barkus, Vice President of BUQ, adds, “It was nice to be able to get together with different student groups in a large project… the families in our neighborhood were
UPCOMING EVENTS By Rebecca Seidel
11.06.10 | Ball State Invitational The Ball State University Horcruxes in Muncie, Indiana, are hosting their first-ever home tournament on November 6th. Loyola University and the Purdue team have signed on for the event, and the Horcruxes are hoping that other teams in the Midwest or anyone who’s interested will make a showing. The tournament will take place on BSU’s West Campus Fields from 11am to 4pm. For more information, contact the team at bsuquidditch@gmail.com.
11.07.10 | First Annual Ithaca Tournament Ten teams will be contending for the win at the first annual Ithaca College Quidditch Tournament on November 7th. Ithaca will be hosting teams from Ives Pond, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Geneseo, Cornell University, Franklin and Marshall, UMass Amherst, Stony Brook University, and St. Lawrence University. For some teams, it will be a warm-up for the following week’s World Cup in NYC. For the teams who can’t make it to the World Cup, it’ll still be a chance to play other schools in the region. The tournament will span from 11 AM to 9:30 PM, and will take place on Ithaca College’s Fitness Quad.
11.13.10 | Berkeley vs. Stanford New York City won’t be the only Quidditch hot spot on November 13th. The University of California at Berkeley will be hosting Stanford University for a match that day as well. The rival schools both formed teams this year, and hope that this game will help them expand their Quidditch horizons. The match will be kicking off at 2pm.
The NYCWRF is an incredible event for fans of the Harry Potter book series and for lovers of independent music. New York will host the return of the NYC Wizard Rock Festival, featuring bands from the Wizard Rock community. Families, sci-fi/fantasy fans, and music enthusiasts from all over the world will converge upon New York to “wrock” out to a great line-up of amazing bands. This festival will be an all ages, day-long wizard rock extravaganza! In addition to the musical performances, there will be all kinds of Harry Potter geekery. This will be a truly magical event for witches and wizards of any age!
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IQA NEWS Canada
by Andrea Hill
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ver the last twelve months, a handful of active teams have formed in eastern Canada and teams from Carleton University (Ottawa, ON), Ryerson University (Toronto, ON), and University of Toronto (Toronto, ON) have registered for the World Cup. Carleton Quidditch, now in its second year, was thrilled to become a certified Carleton club with funding in early October. Carleton hosted its first exhibition game against St. Lawrence University (Canton, NY) on October 23. The two teams played three matches before swapping players for a friendly scrimmage. In between fundraising and training for the upcoming World Cup, Carleton team members are giving back to the community by participating in Trick or Eat, an event that raises money and food for the Ottawa Food Bank.
Ryerson Quidditch, though only formed this summer, is excited to head to New York City this November. Because the team is so new, coach Suraj Singh says many people on campus still don’t know it exists – but not for long. The team is attempting to promote itself through online campaigns and coverage by local media. Bake sales and sales of Quidditch-themed t-shirts will serve to raise awareness of the team while generating funds for equipment. Ryerson will play its first exhibition game Oct. 31 against U of T. U of T is excited to host its first game and hopes it won’t be the last. Though the team only officially formed in October, coach Patrick Treacy says he is already contemplating organizing a Canadian Ice Quidditch Cup in the dead of winter. The team has been successful acquiring funding from the university and will also organize bake sales to further
Western USA
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he Utah Quidditch Organization’s first season ended with the Utah Cup between the Utah Hex Community Team and Judge Memorial High School. The two teams have played each other all season with cumulative point totals determining the winner at the conclusion of the Cup. The Utah Hex won with a 60 point lead over Judge Memorial, 290 to 230. According to Nicholas Burk, UQO President, “The event drew record crowds, and was even complimented with coverage by KUTV 2News! Wizard candy was available at the concessions with Harry Potter merchandise and raffles.”
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subsidize costs associated with travelling to the World Cup. After acquiring many new players in September, McGill recently wrapped up tryouts for the World Cup team. Funds for transportation to New York City are being raised through samosa and t-shirt sales and the team is hoping to eventually receive money from McGill’s student society. The tournament games in November will be the teams’ first of the season, though players have scrimmaged regularly amongst themselves since term began. A number of other Ontario universities including McMaster University (Hamilton), York University (Toronto) and University of Waterloo (Waterloo) are in the process of forming teams.
By Alicia Radford
Utah has served as a great example for the rest of the IQA for using Quidditch to improve local communities. The UQO has paired up with local Cub Scouts to help them achieve a Bear requirement of learning the rules to a new sport. “Even though they tend to always go for the three foot high hoop, they can’t get enough of Quidditch,” said Burk. “Sometimes the kids at the park invite their friends and ask us when we will come agian, so it has become something of a neighborhood event. We’ve been asked dozens of time if the UQO will start a junior league, which we may do when it warms up depending on
the number of kids who sign up.” A new team at the University of Utah has also officially joined the UQO. Occidental College in Los Angeles will be hosting a tournament in November. The Occidental team are West Coast Quidditch vererans, and the school has been chosen to host the 2011 Western Regional Championship tournament in the spring. On November 13, Berkeley and Stanford Universities will face off in what will be the start of an eventful season for California Quidditch, with active and competitive teams at Moorpark College, UCLA, USC, Occidental, Berkeley, and Stanford.
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Northeastern USA
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hestnut Hill Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Philadelphia Brotherly Love Cup was a success, with Villanova taking the trophy. Penn State University, Stony Brook University, University of Maryland, and Christopher Newport University also attended. Photo credit to Linda Johnson.
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UP AND COMING QUIDDITCH TEAMS C(%"01.23(2""U(:1(1.$(%"71(8'"%>7>0=(0$D(1$:%7(&3(4:':.(V$W"N1$'
I Will Try... At Quidditch?
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orwich University is located in Northfield, VT and is known as being one of the oldest and most prestigious military colleges in the country. With their two strong lifestyles of the Corps of Cadets and Civilians, they have students with ambitions in both the military and civilian worlds. Cannons going off in the morning, taps at night, dry campus, and their meal times or “chow” as they call it, make them distinct from other colleges around the world. Their school motto: I Will Try. This is the last school anyone would expect to have a Quidditch team, but lo and behold, a group of students managed to bring the campus to life with magic! Sarah DeBouter, a sophomore at Norwich University, has been working for over a year to get the team started, and with the help of some dedicated peers and the Student Government Association, she made it happen. Sarah says, “I am originally from Middlebury, VT and have seen the X(5(-.$(/"01.23(4$$'(,(!"#$%&$'()*+*
magic of Quidditch grow from the ground up. I wanted to bring that magic to the Norwich Community, and make it available to everyone, including rooks.” Rooks are freshman Corps students who have a very restricted lifestyle their first year. They are allowed little until privileges are gained, but there is nothing in the rulebook about being in intercollegiate sports! As an up and coming Quidditch team, the group has set a lot of goals for themselves. First and foremost, fundraising! Breena Hughes, the treasurer of the team, has a few ideas. “We have already raised $300 by driving golf carts around for all of the parents during parent’s weekend. We have our own butterbeer recipe, and plan on selling cauldron cakes and hot brews (a.k.a. hot chocolate) at rugby and soccer games,” she says. Their next big goal is to get to the 2010 Quidditch World Cup! They are very excited to be spectators and see the game first hand. “I’m hoping that by going to the
World Cup and possibly getting into our own college newspaper, we can raise awareness throughout the campus and get people interested. We still have a lot of fundraising for brooms and shirts, plus we are hoping to hold a spring tournament ourselves,” says Sarah. The team has a mission very similar to that of the International Quidditch Association. They plan on giving back to their community as well by reading to children or teaching Quidditch. The Norwich Cadets are on their way to becoming a prominent team, and they have all the goals to sweep them into the next World Cup.
OUTREACH
IQA teams making a difference in their communities and giving back, locally and globally.
Book Drive Ends November 13th By Kathryn Mudgway
A
fter a brief confrontation with Draco Malfoy to get Neville Longbottom’s Remembrall back during their first flying lesson, Harry Potter was surprised to learn that he had been chosen (by Professor McGonagall) to become Gryffindor House’s new Seeker instead of getting expelled for disobeying Madam Hooch’s orders. This was the moment, in chapter nine of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, that readers were introduced to the magical game of Quidditch for the very first time. Seven years later, in 2005, a group of Middlebury College students decided to come up with a Muggle (or nonmagical folk) version of Quidditch as a way to pass time on a boring day and to have fun with friends. Since Muggle, or ground Quidditch as this new sport is called, was inspired by a game that came from a book, it only seemed fitting that a book drive be held just in time as schools were starting up again. So, on September 1, 2010, the IQA launched its very first book drive in hopes of having teams help spread more magic in their communities. In order to participate in the book drive, teams have to begin by signing up via a link posted on the IQA book drive website article. Once they’ve signed up and collected their books, they can then donate those books to any “location that accepts used books.” These locations may range from “libraries, literacy organizations, and other non-profit” organizations. However, before teams drop off their books, they are required to keep all receipts and official documents and send them back to the IQA as proof for their participation. The team who donates
the most books will receive the grand prize of a “full set of 14 Alivan’s brooms (or $500 to go towards [their] team’s budget)”. Second place winners will receive “FREE team admission to the 2010 Quidditch World Cup (OR one free year of official membership OR $200 for [their] budget). Finally, third place winners will be granted “$100 towards [their] team’s budget.” The book drive will end on November 13th. As of October 23rd, these are the current statistics for already participating teams: Ives Pond Quidditch Club Oglethorp Ringling College of Art + Design UMass Amherst Diana Seely Villanova University Moorpark Chestnut Hill College Loyola University Bowling Green State University St. Cloud Pace Academy High School The Ursuline School Texas Tech OSU
600 528 450 445 375 300 100 100 60 50 50 30 25 20 12
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TITLE 9
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imee and Kristen Howarth, twins who founded the Texas A&M Quidditch team, always knew there was something special about the Harry Potter books. “Once I started thinking about it, I realized that the entire Harry Potter series is based on a society that recognizes equality between women and men,” Aimee said. “You do see some of the typical gender stereotypes but there are a lot of characters who challenge it - constantly. I do not think this was an accident [on] J.K Rowling’s part and I think that as readers, we can take away a lot of empowering messages from her books. Were there men’s Quidditch leagues and women’s Quidditch leagues in the Harry Potter books? No.” Since the IQA rulebook version 3.2, the rules have stipulated that each team must have at least two female players on the field at all times, to reflect the co-ed nature of the sport in the books. With the release of version 4.0 in October, the rule has been amended to read that each team must have at least two players of any gender. “In a society where we are constantly bombarded with messages that women and men are so different from each other and ‘on different planets’, it’s really refreshing to be in a setting where we are seen as the same,” Aimee said. “We are just people - competing and playing a sport that we love - together, not separate.” Aimee graduated from Texas A&M in 2010 with degrees in psychology and women’s studies. She is now in graduate school for counseling psychology and women’s studies. This realization about Harry Potter led Aimee and Kristen to create Title 9 3/4, a play on the real Title IX, which opened athletics in schools to women and girls. The implications of Quidditch as a truly co-ed sport may not be immediately obvious to those around the sport who are used to it. According to the Howarths, Quidditch is “rare if not unique among other organized sports. Today, I can’t think of a single established, +*(5(-.$(/"01.23(4$$'(,(!"#$%&$'()*+*
exclusively co-ed sport in the world (besides like intramural teams or club sports).” The way sports regulations are structured says a lot about how our society thinks men and women should interact. “We believe that if men and women learn to compete equally, then they will learn to respect and value each other’s abilities regardless of gender. Sports participation improves the lives of women and levels the playing field not only in sports but in every aspect of society; with Quidditch we would like to take those benefits a step further by promoting a sport that is truly co-ed, rather than evenly segregated (as it currently exists under Title IX).” The Quidditch World Cup and Title 9 3/4 have been featured on the Feminist Event Calendar and received a small amount of press in the blogosphere. This is just the beginning for Title 9 3/4. Aimee and Kristen hope that it “will inspire other sports leagues and athletes to reconsider their gender regulations and in turn affect broader positive change in gender equality worldwide.”
Fourth Annual
World Cup In just ten days, New York City will play host to the biggest Quidditch tournament in history.
SCHEDULE November 13th & 14th
Saturday, November 13th Sunday, November 14th 8am: Opening Parade
All World Cup teams will assemble at Hudson River Park and 52nd Street and march with school banners along W 54th Street, turning onto 11th Avenue and then into Dewitt Clinton Park.
9am-6:30pm: Tournament
The first four games will begin. Teams will be randomly split into groups of four. Each group will play a round of round robin, guaranteeing each team three games. Games will last around 30 minutes. Every team’s points scored and points allowed will be recorded from every game. These stats will help determine which teams move on to stage two. Entertainment during the day will include trained improvisational comedians as announcers, Renaissance a capella, a firebreather, and live owls from the Greenburgh Nature Center.
8am-4pm: Tournament
The top teams from Saturday will play in a single-elimination tournament on two of the four fields. The other two fields will be left open for other teams to organize matches on their own throughout the day. The day’s entertainment will include live owls and musical acts.
3:15pm: Championship Game
The top two teams will face off for the championship, with an awards ceremony following immediately afterwards.
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7pm: Harry and the Potters Concert
Wizard Rock legends Harry and the Potters will play a free concert in the park.
9pm: 21+ After Party at the Village Pourhouse
All teams and spectators who are “of age” are invited to the Village Pourhouse on 366 W 46th Street, only a short walk from the park. The bar will be decorated like the Three Broomsticks. +)(5(-.$(/"01.23(4$$'(,(!"#$%&$'()*+*
Opening parade, World Cup 08. Photo by Stephen Mease. Harry and the Potters photo by Emily Barnett
Attending Teams Carleton University Carleton, Ontario Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan Ives Pond Quidditch Club Buffalo, New York Emerson Cup Quidditch Boston, Massachusetts University of Richmond Richmond, Virginia Green Mountain College Poultney, Vermont Penn State University State College, Pennsylvania America’s Finest QC Rochester, New York University of Vermont Burlington, Vermont Tufts University Medford, Massachusetts Ringling College of Art and Design Sarasota, Florida University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, Louisiana Villanova University Villanova, Pennsylvania Boston University Boston, Massachusetts Franklin & Marshall College Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lafayette College Easton, Pennsylvania Unofficial NYU New York City, New York Harvard University Horntails Cambridge, Massachusetts University of Rochester Rochester, New York
University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst, Massachusetts Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia QC Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Ryerson University Toronto, Ontario McGill University Montreal, Quebec Chestnut Hill College Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dumbledore’s Army QC Mississauga, Ontario Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland Toms River Quidditch League Toms River, New Jersey Gryffindor QC Poughkeepsie, New York Vassar College Poughkeepsie, New York Texas A&M University College Station, Texas
University of Maryland College Park, Maryland Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Syracuse University Syracuse, New York Middlebury College Middlebury, Vermont The Ursuline School New Rochelle, New York Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti, Michigan St. Lawrence University Canton, New York Yale University New Haven, Connecticut Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana Stony Brook University Stony Brook, New York
The Prodigal Snitch Rainey Johnson ne of the original Middlebury Snitches, Rainey Johnson was a pioneer. Dodging Seekers, throwing them off with powerful wrestling moves surprising for his size, Rainey helped write the book on successful Snitching. Rainey graduated from Middlebury in 2009 and will be returning to the World Cup this year as head Snitch, leading a Snitching workshop on Friday for all registered Snitches.
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TGTSNBN – Badassilisks New York City, New York University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minnesota
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Behind the Scenes:
the Muggles Behind the Magic By Alex Downey-Ging he Quidditch World Cup is just days away, and for the Muggles behind the scenes who have been planning the big event, the past six months of work will soon be paying off. Organizing the World Cup is insane,” says Aimee Howarth, Co-Director of Outreach for the International Quidditch Association (IQA). “I don’t know how it gets done!” Aimee shares the position with her sister Kristen Howarth. Kristen says planning for the Cup began in May. “It takes a lot of hands and a lot of flexibility! It’s been really fun though.” This year’s Cup will take place in New York City, a larger and more accessible location to accommodate the more than 50 teams that will be competing. It’s been a lot of work preparing for the unusual event, and even those working for the IQA wouldn’t describe it as a typical job. For many, working for the IQA was an unexpected career move. For most of the World Cup organizers, getting involved with the IQA started with seeing Muggle/real-life Quidditch clips, and then deciding to form their own team with some friends. “I watched a YouTube video of Middlebury playing during the 2008 World Cup and I just about died,” says Kristen, who got a job with the IQA after attending the Cup the next year. She was excited about the opportunity to be part of a Quidditch team, but this was not the case for Alex Benepe. “I was actually adamantly against it because it was proposed as a replacement to our tradition of a Sunday bocce game each week.” Eventually he changed his mind. Besides breaking routine, it’s understandable why he would be hesitant to play an untested and unusual game – and one from a children’s fantasy series, no less. At
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the time there were no YouTube clips of teams running with brooms between their legs, explaining what to do. “I happened to be there the first day real-life Quidditch began, and it was love at first sight.” Now Benepe is the CEO and President of the International Quidditch Association, a title perhaps too formal for his tastes. “I prefer the term Commissioner, as it was handed down to me from the creator of real-life Quidditch, Xander Manshel, a classmate at Middlebury.” Ah, the legendary Middlebury. It is very difficult to be a Quidditch player and not have heard the school’s name and the story of the students who were brave (or insane) enough to try and play a game that existed only in the books of Harry Potter. Thus, Muggle Quidditch was born. Middlebury has won every World Cup in the three years since the event began. They will definitely be a team to keep an eye on this year, though competition is not the only focus. “It’s all about the fun,” says Benepe. “Watch any professional sport today and you will see a serious, white-knuckle drama. Quidditch is less about a sport and more about a game.” It may not be a ‘professional’ sport, but there were still some legal issues to consult professionals about. The IQA operates independently of Warner Brothers and J.K. Rowling, who hold the rights to Harry Potter. Alex Terry, Chief of Marketing, says they looked to patent lawyers to work out some of the legal details. “We are in the clear for [using] the word Quidditch as a sport,” says Terry, which is a relief, because “The-gamewhere-you-pretend-to-fly-on-a-broom” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.
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The IQA has unsuccessfully tried to get in contact with J.K. Rowling, says Benepe. “We’ve sent her letters and received responses from her assistants, who are supportive.” As for Warner Brothers, he says they “seem to be okay with us as well, as we are giving them a lot of free media exposure.” Convenient, since the latest Potter film premiere will be taking place in New York during the weekend of the World Cup, though that wasn’t the IQA’s intention. “The purpose of the IQA is to promote and govern the sport of Quidditch,” says Alicia Radford, the IQA’s Director of Communications. She says that they try to help teams find ways to compete and spread the joy of Quidditch to others. “Playing Quidditch is fun and unusual, and it has a lot of momentum. When people catch a glimpse of it, they have to learn more.” With the Cup in a busy city, the IQA hopes to introduce others to the game. Quidditch is still a very new sport, and it will be interesting to see what the future holds. Benepe sees a lot in the game’s future, including “a full time staff, which will improve the league’s organization, help us raise more money, offer more grants for starting teams, host larger fundraisers for partnering nonprofits, and in general improve the sport of Quidditch.” The fact that the IQA staff have other jobs, many of them still being students, has been an obstacle. “We have busy lives and very little money,” says Benepe, “but we make do with what we have.” Benepe only sees the sport getting bigger from here. And if he’s wrong? Well, at least he, and the rest of the IQA staff, will have something unique to put on the ol’ resume. Let the games begin.
Meet the IQA Staff: Jared Kowalczyk By Alicia Radford ecently I spoke with Jared Kowalczyk, the IQA’s Director of Rules and Game Play, about his role in planning for the World Cup. Jared has been running Quidditch at Emerson since the team first started in April, 2008. Emerson runs a four team league in the fall, winter and spring, and the team has attended the World Cup twice finishing 5th and 2nd, won the Veteran’s Day tourny at UMass Amherst and have come in 2nd and 1st in the New England Cup hosted by Emerson two years in a row. Jared is a film production major and works as a bartender in Boston.
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C;_(R.:1(:'$(3"N(>0(<.:'=$("](]"'(1.$(R"'2A(PN8f JK: I’ve been put in charge of scheduling the tournament and overseeing gameplay operations of it. I’ll need to hire referees and organize them to officiate their respective fields. I’ll need to make sure we have all the necessary equipment for every match. I’ll need to make sure the tournament runs on time and be able to readjust the schedule in case unforeseen events occur. It’s bascially my job to ensure that the tournament happens and that it happens in the smoothest and most professional way possible. Any questions that players or captains might have in terms of schedule or rules or procedures will be directed to me.
C;_(g"D(D>22(1.>7(3$:'(&$(A>]]$'$01(1.:0(8'$#>"N7( 3$:'7f JK: It’s bigger, it’s in New York and it’s going to be uniform. What I mean by that is that all four fields will have the same size hoops, the same size balls and the same kind of refereeing crew. This way when a team plays on three different fields, there won’t be any sort of adjustment period for them, getting used to the equipment. We’ll also be color coding each field with the equipment. This way Quaffles and Bludgers and Snitches won’t get mixed up between the fields.
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Heading to the Cup:
Spotlight on the University of Maryland
Photo by Jaclyn Borowski
he University of Maryland will be among the sixty-six Quidditch teams currently registered to participate in the World Cup in New York City on November 13 and 14. The team was formed last fall, and interest was increased by coverage in the school paper, The Diamondback, but they just gained Student Government Association, allowing them to apply for funding. They hope to have enough money to host other teams in the spring and purchase a set of Alivan’s broomsticks. UMD began fundraising using partnerships with local stores, and has been successfully selling t-shirts with the phrase “Broom shakalaka” printed on the back. Although the team is fairly new, they have developed their own special customs. They give their scrimmage teams creative, or just silly, names, from the New York Nearly-Headless
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By Laurie Beckoff Knicks to the Laser Raptors. UMD attended their first tournament at the Brotherly Love Cup in Philadelphia on October 16. It was a strong start for them, defeating Johns Hopkins 70 to 10 and losing to Vassar at a very close 70 to 60. Captain Logan Anbinder comments, “It was really great not just being able to play other schools, but to see other students playing Quidditch with the same intensity and commitment with which we’d been practicing. It certainly made us more excited for the World Cup!” The team has been practicing three days a week in preparation for the upcoming tournament. Their performance at the Brotherly Love Cup gave UMD new confidence, and they’re prepared to win some matches in the World Cup.
UPCOMING EVENTS_World Cup
Baking their way to the
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Cup
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icorice wands, peppermint toads and cauldron cakes. Many students and staff at Carleton University may have thought they stumbled into Honeydukes when they walked through the university in mid-October. The magical treats were part of a Harry Potter-themed bake sale, an event organized to raise money for Carleton’s World Cup Quidditch team. The team’s fundraising work started in September with players taking letters to business owners in the Ottawa community requesting sponsorship for the World Cup team. Unfortunately, this was not hugely successful and most businesses we approached were either unable to help or never returned follow-up phone calls and emails. However, we did encounter some luck with a local comic book store. The Comic Book Shoppe, though strapped for cash, gave us $100 and a couple of awesome Harry Potter busts to auction off. When community sponsorship failed to yield results, we turned to baking. With recipes downloaded from Harry Potter fan sites such and Mugglenet and the Leaky Cauldron, we gathered in team members’ kitchens and produced a wide array of Harry Potter-inspired goodies. By far the most popular were the chocolate frogs that came with homemade collectable cards of famous witches and wizards. We sold out of most of our treats and many people handed us cash just for “being awesome.” One student cornered us while we were packing up to say that although he was allergic to
Opposite page: Carleton University bake sale. Above: Carleton cauldron cakes
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By Andrea Hill and Alicia Radford everything we had made he wanted to donate to such an amazing team and handed us a $10 bill. By the end of the day we had raised over $500. Not a huge amount, but something that will help alleviate personal transportation costs imposed upon team members travelling to New York City.
Ringling College of Art and Design
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ingling College in Sarasota, Florida, is no stranger to bake sales. According to Ringling Commissioner Alex Terry, they hold bake sales “all the time.” During their most recent one, to raise funds for the World Cup, Ringling sold over one hundred t-shirts and as many butterbeers (created using an in-house recipe) and baked goods, netting a total of $1,000 - all from a student body of less than 1,300. But unlike most schools, Ringling didn’t have to fundraise at all. Even though his administration initially denied the team’s request for full funding for the trip to New York City, Terry refused to back down. In the end the administration agreed to cover all expenses. “It really comes down to a very basic fact,” Terry said. “Either we could continue on without receiving help from the authorities at hand. Or we could stand up for what we believe in and go straight to the top.” Even though the trip costs have been covered, Ringling
will use the bake sale proceeds to to pay back the school as much as possible. “We are trying to pay back every dime the school spent on us,” Terry said. “We appreciate their giving but we want to become standalone... We are headstrong about thanking our benefactors.”
UMass Amherst
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he UMass Amherst team sold t-shirts, posters, and baked goods and crafts at their Troll! in the Dungeon! Commemorative Tournament on October 30th to fundraise for the World Cup. Kristina Moy is a Team Support Specialist for the IQA and former treasurer and President of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Quidditch team. When asked why bake sales are such popular and effective fundraisers, she replied, “Bake sales are really great for Quidditch events, especially tournaments, because it allows us to create the atmosphere and mood for our events. From Butterbeer and Cauldron Cakes to homemade brownies and delicious cookies, it’s a great way to make sure our audience is happy and also a great way fundraiser to raise money for the team and for charities!”
UMass Amherst held a bake sale to fundraise for the World Cup. Photo by Chris Chan and Sarah Madden.
Buy an IQA T-Shirt: Support the League and Book Aid International Express your love for Quidditch with one of our official IQA t-shirts. By buying a shirt, you’ll be directly supporting the IQA’s mission. T-shirt sales help the IQA fund the World Cup, regional tournaments in the United States and Canada, a grant program for our official members, and outreach efforts to teach Quidditch to kids. In addition, 20% of each sale will be donated to Book Aid International, one of the world’s foremost library development charities. Youth and adult sizes available. $17.99 on the IQA website: http://www.internationalquidditch.org/store/
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10 TIPS
that will instantly help any new Quidditch player By Tom Marks y name is Tom Marks and I am captain of the UCLA Quidditch team. When you are part of a school with over 20,000 undergrads you end up having new people come to Quidditch practice every day. After helping a lot of new players pick up a broom and learn the ropes I noticed some things that almost all people do their first time playing. Here is a list of tips and tricks that can instantly make someone new to the game, or maybe even an experienced player, better!
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Where you grab the broom may not seem like the most important thing, and honestly, it isn’t. But at least 90 percent of the people who’ve come to play with us all started out holding the broom near the front end. This does a few things: it puts a lot more torque on your wrist, making your arm tired quicker, and it makes it far easier for the broom to swing forward and out from between your legs. Holding the broom near the middle with your broom hand close to your body gives it more balance. (NOTE: There is no standard way to hold the broom, this is just what I have found works best. If something is more comfortable for you, then do that instead.)
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New Beaters always seem to get themselves into some sort of oldwestern stand-off with each other, neither one wanting to throw their Bludger first. You shouldn’t throw when you don’t have a shot, but while you are staring someone down, the other team is walking right by you. The same goes for when you are against someone with the Quaffle. If they throw it don’t just follow the Quaffle, hit the now defenseless passer first.
HG(P.:7$'7?(3"N(.:#$(1$:%%:1$7_(8:77( 1"(1.$% Quidditch is an epic sport, and playing it can make you feel like, well, The Chosen One. But you aren’t. You’re a Muggle. But luckily, you have some Muggle friends to help you out! If you have the Quaffle, know where your teammates are. If you don’t, keep moving until you are in an open position for a pass.
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This game is essentially only stopped if either a hoop or a bone is snapped, so just because a goal was scored doesn’t mean you can let your guard down. If you just scored, hustle back to your side and get
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ready for the other team’s response. If you were scored on, regroup fast and try to catch them off guard, but don’t think a goal means orange slices and juice. If you are tired, sub out! Which leads me to...
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New teams may not have the luxury of substitutes and that’s okay, but this one is especially important for the “Chosen Ones” we were talking about earlier. Everyone gets tired, more so in this sport. Here is an interesting thing to think about: humans swing their arms while they run; it helps maintain momentum and takes stress off your legs. When you have to dedicate one arm to holding a broom your momentum is thrown off every time that arm should be swinging forward. This means running up and down a Quidditch field is legitimately more exhausting than almost any other field sport. Add full contact to that and you’re going to get very tired. Sub out, take a break, hydrate. You’ll thank me.
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Just because you are the Keeper doesn’t mean you have to stay by your hoops. If the chasers need an extra hand, move up with them. You can play deep into the other side of the field as long as you are ready to get back to your hoops quickly if something goes bad. If your Chasers are in trouble and need to drop back, come up a bit so that they can pass it to you easier. The Keeper is a versatile position and that should be taken advantage of.
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You should never be reckless or unnecessarily rough, but this is a full contact sport and being timid will only help the other team. If you’re running up the field with a ball and someone tries to get in your way, you don’t have to get into contact with them – in fact, you should probably try to get around them or pass (remember that?) instead, but you can’t stop in your tracks. It can be freaky at first, but everyone starts out playing with a lot less contact. Just get used to it and you’ll see it isn’t bad.
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Too many times have I see a confident Chaser run straight to the other team’s hoops only to get stopped three steps later by a Bludger. It’s not a fun feeling but it can be avoided. Chasers, Keepers, and Beaters alike should always be keeping track of who has the Bludgers and where any others may be. This way you’ll know when you can charge and when you need to take it easy.
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A Bludgerless Beater makes a great human shield. Too often do I see new Beaters tell me that once all three Bludgers have been picked up, they can’t do anything. You can do more than you know. Protect the Chaser who has the Quaffle by getting in between them and enemy Beaters. Or, if you don’t want to wait for them to throw their Bludger, charge in and take it from them!
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This is my number one, all-time favorite unwritten rule of Quidditch. Have fun with it, don’t take things personally, and don’t take things too seriously. This game was invented for a bunch of Harry Potter nerds to run around on brooms, and although it has evolved leaps and bounds beyond that, we must honor its roots. I mean, honestly, how can you get angry and petty when you’re riding a broomstick? Loosen up and relax, it’s Quidditch! Tom Marks will be starting up a weekly blog on the IQA website filled with tips, tricks, and stories about everything Quidditch.
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