News
USQ Team Sponsorship Grant Recipients Announced
US Quidditch awards its 2016-2017 Team Sponsorship grants to the Los Angeles Gambits and the Silicon Valley Skrewts.
US Quidditch is pleased to announce that the Los Angeles Gambits and the Silicon Valley Skrewts will receive the 2016-2017 US Quidditch Team Sponsorship grant. This annual grant awards 14 individual player memberships–a value of $840–to two USQ member teams to aid in recruitment and member registration. USQ is proud to award grants to these two outstanding teams in order to help offset their costs for an upcoming season of competitive play.
Each season, Team Sponsorship applications are evaluated on not only a team’s need for financial support, but also on a team’s competitive goals for the upcoming season and their dedication to serving their local communities off the pitch.
LOS ANGELES GAMBITS
The LA Gambits are a community team based out of Southern California with two West Regional Championships to their name. After experiencing first-year growing pains and a season of rebuilding, the Gambits are entering their third season with high ambitions and an eye on capturing the championship at US Quidditch Cup 10.
The Gambits are a competitive team that also play a role in strengthening and diversifying competition in the West region and beyond. The Gambits’ tournament calendar is already filling up less than two months into the 2016-17 season, including two tournaments they are helping to host themselves: Gauntlet Throwdown and Sunset Invitational.
In its second year, Gauntlet Throwdown will be a testing ground for western teams. This tournament remains unofficial each year, allowing teams to experiment with new players and leadership combinations without team records and standings on the line. In their application, LA Gambits Captain Steve DiCarlo explains, “The event also allows teams to try their hand at head, assistant and goal reffing in a similarly lower-intensity setting, and that sort of practice is invaluable in giving people the confidence and experience they’ll need to officiate in official tournaments later in the season.”
The Gambit philosophy guiding Gauntlet Throwdown is also evident in their team practices. Liz Barcelos, West Regional Coordinator, lauds the LA Gambits for their positive impact in the West. In a letter of recommendation for the LA Gambits, she writes, “They hold the most regular open SoCal practices, which greatly boosts the overall skill in an already intensely competitive area of our sport.”
This appreciation of quidditch competition and skill will be showcased later in the season during Sunset Invitational. This event will attract out-of-region talent to compete at a higher level as the Gambits tune up for their shot at winning their third-straight West Region Championship.
The LA Gambits exemplify US Quidditch standards by encouraging regional and national competition while promoting inclusivity and sportsmanship. US Quidditch is thrilled to see what they can accomplish this year!
SILICON VALLEY SKREWTS
The Silicon Valley Skrewts have a long quidditch history. Founded in 2010 as the first community team in Northern California, the Skrewts have five consecutive national championship appearances and are the defending Northern California Quidditch Conference champions.
The 2016-17 season is ushering in some changes for the organization, with a fresh new logo and plans to expand their tournament calendar. In addition to attending various tournaments throughout the West - including Crimson Cup in Salt Lake City and Sunset Invitational in LA - Skrewts President Forrest Stone writes in their application that there is “considerable interest from the team to go to a tournament in the Seattle area for the first time in history.”
The Skrewts’ competition schedule places the greatest strain on team resources. The Silicon Valley Skrewts are based in an area that incurs both high living costs and high travel costs for their team members. Stone explains, “Our team is comprised of veteran adult players who have jobs and bills to pay. On top of this, we are living in one of the most overpriced housing markets in the nation. These factors are compounded when one considers the geographic location of the Skrewts, who make multiple trips a season to Los Angeles averaging seven hours of travel time each way, in addition to the team’s annual trip across America to compete in US Quidditch Cup.“
While the Silicon Valley Skrewts are competitive on the pitch, the team is also dedicated to the development of the quidditch community as a whole. A large percentage of their players are also referees and US Quidditch volunteers in a variety of departments. The Skrewts want to share their passion for developing and supporting quidditch by hosting a number of referee clinics on or near NCQC tournaments during the season. These clinics, led by USQ Referees of the Month Martin Pyne and Ra Hopkins, will be open to any potential referees and will workshop rulebook knowledge and essential on-pitch referee skills.
US Quidditch is pleased to support such a storied team that maintains an outward focus on helping support the league as it grows and changes over the years.
For questions about team sponsorship grants, please contact Membership Director Eric Schnier at membership@usquidditch.org.
