The most important part of the Quidditch season is past. The World Cup has ended, practices have slowed down in preparation for finals and all seems fairly quiet in the most magical sport on campus.
But that is not the case, for while Stony Brook University’s Varsity Quidditch team may not be on the Physics field every night practicing now that the Cup is over, the team has been working harder than ever to build the program into a well-run organization.
SBU Quidditch founder and team captain Daniel Ahmadizadeh has completely reorganized how the team is managed, creating an administrative group that boasts of tournament organizers, marketing leaders and a new Quidditch program president.
“We felt that it was time to radically reformat how we operate as a sports club,” Ahmadizadeh said. “We needed a fresh batch of dedicated and enthusiastic leaders to ignite our future endeavors.”
And what future endeavors they are.
First on the agenda for the spring season: a trip to New Orleans, La., for a Mardi Gras Quidditch tournament on Feb. 18, 2012.
Stony Brook will be competing against the likes of Texas A&M, LSU, Kansas, Duke and Arizona State, to name but a few of the teams currently signed up for the tournament.
The most important part of the Quidditch season is past. The World Cup has ended, practices have slowed down in preparation for finals and all seems fairly quiet in the most magical sport on campus.
But that is not the case, for while Stony Brook University’s Varsity Quidditch team may not be on the Physics field every night practicing now that the Cup is over, the team has been working harder than ever to build the program into a well-run organization.
SBU Quidditch founder and team captain Daniel Ahmadizadeh has completely reorganized how the team is managed, creating an administrative group that boasts of tournament organizers, marketing leaders and a new Quidditch program president.
“We felt that it was time to radically reformat how we operate as a sports club,” Ahmadizadeh said. “We needed a fresh batch of dedicated and enthusiastic leaders to ignite our future endeavors.”
And what future endeavors they are.
First on the agenda for the spring season: a trip to New Orleans, La., for a Mardi Gras Quidditch tournament on Feb. 18, 2012.
Stony Brook will be competing against the likes of Texas A&M, LSU, Kansas, Duke and Arizona State, to name but a few of the teams currently signed up for the tournament.
“This will be the first time our team will be literately flying to compete in a tournament. It is safe to say that we are beyond excited to compete [in New Orleans],” Ahmadizadeh said.
But it won’t be the only big tournament that the SBU Quidditch team will be playing in. Stony Brook University is scheduled to host the North American Cup the weekend of March 31, 2012.
It will be the first time in school history that a Quidditch tournament will be played on Seawolves’ turf, with a grand total of 32 teams expected to sign up.
“Villanova, Boston University, Penn State, and Rutgers are a few of the teams that have signed up [for the North American Cup] so far,” Ahmadizadeh said. “It is bound to be an absolutely epic weekend, with food stands, music, and up to 10 games being played at the same time.”
And while Ahmadizadeh said that the North American Cup will be SBU Quidditch’s “biggest event of the semester,” he claims that another event, scheduled to take place April 2-6, 2012, will be “by far the most epic thing [SBU Quidditch] will be a part of,” in the upcoming semester. The grand event? A trip to Finland, hosted by the University of Vaasa, Finland.
“We were one of three teams that hosted [the Univeristy of Vaasa’s Quidditch team] last year. We have established and maintained an unbelievable mutual appreciation for one another, and our friendships go beyond the Quidditch field,” Ahmadizadeh said by way of explaining how a public college on Long Island made a connection with a university in Finland. “They are now working very hard to get our team to fly to Finland from April 2-6, 2012. We are going to be the first American team to ever compete in Europe. Apart from the competitive games we will be playing in, we are very excited to learn more about their culture, language, and country.”
Seven players will be selected from SBU’s Varsity Quidditch team to travel to Finland in April, although Ahmadizadeh made it very clear that all of the spots are still wide open to anyone who is interested in joining the program.
“Every semester, our team starts from scratch. The team that competes and travels at tournaments is selected amongst all the members, [and] we encourage everyone to join.”
So if you think you have what it takes to play a magical sport on a broomstick, then contact the team via its Facebook page (Stony Brook Quidditch), or email its directly at [email protected].
Allyson Lambros is a member of the Stony Brook Qudditch team.