Aka: What I’ve Learned as Games Coordinator

I’ve mentioned it in passing, but never as it’s own post: I play Quidditch. For the uninitiated see Wikipedia or this quick rundown by the Manchester club President. I play for Manchester and represented them at the British Quidditch Cup (BQC) in 2016 & 2017. Sport was generally a dislike at school but Quidditch is so much fun! Now I’m out in a field twice a week and at the fittest I’ve been in my life. The community is super welcoming and the spot generally aims to be  inclusive. I’d wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone: if it sounds like your bag, click here to find your local club.

Over the last year I’ve been Games Coordinator for Manchester which has meant talking to other teams to organise events, friendlies, and tournaments. On the whole it’s been great fun and a brilliant learning experience, but it’s also taught me that the sport is at an awkward stage of development. There’s a bit of a rift forming between those teams & players who are becoming super competitive, those who are still very much only in it for the fun, and betwixt a very blurry line.

This year I’m making the big step up and planning on running for President. As a team we’re also split between competitive & casual so it’s something I’ve been looking for a solution to. At the team level Sheffield dealt with this well by recruiting hard and setting up both a first and a second team. This allowed everyone to play at their own pace but kept fluidity between the two. A solution bandied about for the national level is to replace BQC with a multi-tiered league with relegation & promotion (e.g.). Both of these are no small feat to achieve, and the only answer I’ve got so far is that there’s no easy solution.

Something new this season is the Quidditch Premier League (QPL) which had selective tryouts for every team involved. In theory this should mean QPL has no split, but I have a feeling it’ll still be there. From what I’ve heard, Northern teams were slightly under-applied while Southern teams were massively over-applied. I’ll be representing Yorkshire so I’ll be keeping an eye whether that disparity has any impact. Nonetheless it’s set to be a fun summer, and I’m very much looking forward to it!