Arkansas Quidditch in the Community
By Ethan McCormick | University of Arkansas Razorback Quidditch
One of the main objectives of the International Quidditch Association has always been to promote positive change in the world off the pitch. It is arguably the most important way in which teams and the organization as a whole impact the lives of the people around us. If your team has been involved in a project that has helped your local or global community email us your story editorial@internationalquidditch.org and we may feature it here.
Photos courtesy of Arkansas Quidditch Team. Image by Kat Ignatova.
This year, the Razorback Quidditch team at the University of Arkansas - Fayetteville made it a goal to help establish a greater quidditch presence throughout the state of Arkansas. In pursuit of this goal, the team has attempted to not only provide existing teams with opportunities to compete and grow, but also to help start opportunities for quidditch in new areas. The team felt that the time was right as one of its members, Lauren Grantham, just became the IQA State Representative for Arkansas, and could facilitate inter-team communication and organization.
A long-standing problem for Arkansas teams is the long-distance travel required to reach major tournaments. Situated on the edge of the region, the opportunities to compete are less than abundant, especially against unfamiliar teams. The Hog's Head Invitational in the spring semester continues to be an annual staple, however, especially with World Cup being moved to April this year, the officers of the team decided that a fall tournament convenient for Arkansas teams needed to be organized.
In mid-November, the University of Arkansas hosted the first Arkansas Scramble tournament. The four standing Arkansas teams were joined by Oklahoma Baptist University (Shawnee, OK) in what the team hopes can become a yearly tournament that can grow to include even more teams in the area. Besides a great opportunity for many of the attending teams to play some of their first official games of the season, the Arkansas Scramble was a platform for introducing students at Arkansas State University (ASU) (Jonesboro, AR) to the game of quidditch.
The two students, Taylor and Rachel Machen, had heard about quidditch through a friend on the Razorback team, and were invited to come to the tournament. Excited by what they saw, Taylor and Rachel decided to partner with the Razorback Quidditch team in order to start up a team at their school.
Hoping to jumpstart the ASU team's status with their university, the Razorbacks worked with Taylor and Rachel, providing a constitution template and advice on how to make the most of any resources their school would provide. The fruit of these efforts saw the ASU Red Wolf team become an officially recognized student organization in late December and early January.
However, as many know, starting a team is only half the battle; sustaining it is difficult. Because the funding possibilities for the ASU team from their university wouldn't start until the next fall, Razorback Quidditch decided to donate a set of goals and brooms for the ASU team to use.
The current goals for the Red Wolves involve training and raising enough money in order to field a team at this year's Hog's Head Invitational. To help them reach this goal, several members of the Razorback Quidditch team will be travelling to Jonesboro on the weekend before World Cup to hold workshops for the various positions and participate in a fundraiser with a local restaurant.
As eager to continue its efforts as the team was, the next project didn't wait around for the Razorback crew to find it, it decided to call them. Paula Morell, a dedicated mom from the Little Rock area got in contact with the team at the request of her daughter, Annaleise, to see if it would be possible to start a quidditch team that she could play on. Thus, Firebolts Youth Quidditch was founded.
The group practices Sundays from 2-4 p.m. at Riverfront Park in North Little Rock, and currently has around twenty kids signed up, ages 9-13. The kids mostly play because they love Harry Potter and play as many teams used to: with capes and goggles. The teams play with the adapted kidditch rules as outlined in Rule Book 5; the most important being no physical contact allowed. It is hoped that as interest continues to grow, age-grouped teams can form, allowing some of the older kids to learn the more advanced rules.
This past Sunday, a group of Razorback team members went down to North Little Rock to help facilitate a game day for the kids. They put on a rules presentation for the kids and parents, where they demonstrated many of aspects of gameplay and some of the major penalties. Then the team members helped referee and snitch the following matches, as well as acting as substitutes for the teams when kids got too tired. The Razorback team hopes to continue partnering with the Firebolt Youth league as it grows, and in the long-term, help the kids that come out of the league go on to form quidditch teams at their high schools.
The Arkansas Razorback Quidditch team hopes that by helping spread quidditch throughout the state, it can not only bring the fun and healthy lifestyle that quidditch promotes into the lives of both children and adults, but also the incredible sense of community that is one of the hallmarks of the sport. Razorback encourages any team with the time and resources to help new teams form at any level; collegiate, primary, or secondary. Quidditch has the capacity to create positive change in our communities, but it needs help spreading that message. For every child who loves Harry Potter, for every high school or college student who feels as if they don't belong, we can be that change. All we have to do is reach out our hands, and help.
