News
USQ Team Sponsorship Grant Recipients Announced
The team sponsorship grant recipients for the 2015-2016 season are the District of Columbia Quidditch Club and West Virginia University.
US Quidditch awards its 2015-2016 team sponsorship grants to the District of Columbia Quidditch Club and West Virginia University.The annual grant, consisting of membership dues for 14 additional players, is given to two official member teams with at least seven registered players in order to help defray costs for an upcoming season of competitive play.
All teams with at least seven registered member players were eligible to apply for the sponsorship. The sponsorship applications are evaluated on not only the team’s need for financial support, but also on what they plan to accomplish and their ability to do so (and to articulate it) over the course of the season.
This year’s applicants for the sponsorship were even stronger than last year, and the ultimate choice was a difficult one - thank you to everyone who applied!
DCQC
The District of Columbia Quidditch Club (DCQC) team has a goal of building a healthy quidditch environment in the Mid-Atlantic, centered around a strong community in Washington, DC. Many of their current players are recent working graduates, but at the same time, many of these recent graduates are working in lower-paying community-driven industries such as education and journalism. As with most teams, funding is a burden for their players.
With the cumulative experience from recent graduates and experienced players on the DCQC team, they have a goal to travel to colleges and universities in the area with fledgling teams, such as American University, Howard University and Georgetown University, and to help them to build more sustainable programs.
The team has plans to travel to eight events in the fall alone, as well has hosting an indoor fantasy tournament this winter.
"A sponsorship should go to a deserving team that exemplifies the sport they play to the nth degree and is a team that also gives back to their community. DCQC is a team that hits both of these pillars… They are a team that is building a future for our sport." Erin Mallory, USQ Mid-Atlantic regional coordinator, said about the team in a letter of recommendation.
Another community endeavor of the team involves sustaining the green spaces on which quidditch is played. Their pilot program, called "Cleaner Parks through Quidditch", involves working with public park to trade clean-up time for field reservations and team promotion.
"I am trying to work directly with Parks & Rec to identify what a potential practice or event park needs, be it watering or other care services, to ensure that we can, indeed, leave the park better than we came to it—every time," Steve Minnich, president of DCQC, explained.
WEST VIRGINIA
The West Virginia Mountaineers, the only USQ team in the state of West Virginia, was founded in fall 2010 as a floor activity in one of the residence halls at West Virginia University. The club achieved recognition as a student organization in 2012, and joined USQ as a member team in 2013. Later that year, the club became a member of WVU’s club sports federation, the nation’s third largest club sports program. In 2014, the team played its first full competitive season in USQ.
While the team does receive limited funding through the club sports federation, the funding comes with many restrictions and can be applied only to very specific line items in the team’s annual budget. Certain large and very common quidditch expenses, like hotels or gas for travel, cannot be charged to the club sports budget and so the team and its members are required to raise the funding elsewhere.
"WVU Quidditch team continues to grow into a leader, both on our campus and in the Mid-Atlantic region. With support from a large and well-respected educational institution, and a membership that prides itself on community service and involvement along with competition, we are positioned well to succeed in the future," Jeffrey Stevens, team captain, said in the application essay.
WVU has an impressive detailed and systematic tryout process for their traveling team roster, and already plan on attending 10 tournaments this season, including three events they are hosting themselves. Additionally, the team build a relationship with a local nonprofit organization, Stepping Stones, this past summer. The players had an opportunity to teach quidditch to adults and children in the Morgantown area with a variety of disabilities; the players adapted the game to suit the specific needs and abilities of the group, and plan on developing a regular program with the organization this upcoming season.
"The club was second runner up in the 2014-15 Student Organization of the Year. West Virginia University has a total of 450 student organizations and this was a huge honor." Bruce Brubaker, Senior Program Coordinator, Intramural/Club Sports at West Virginia University, said in a letter of recommendation.
