IQA Names New President of the Congress

Last week the International Quidditch Association elected Brian Gallaway President of the IQA Congress. Gallaway, a Canadian delegate who does not have an official role with Quidditch Canada, succeeds outgoing President Matthew Guenzel, the Vice President of Quidditch UK who has stepped down due to time constraints.

“It is an exciting opportunity to be involved with the IQA right as we are first establishing ourselves as an international governing body for quidditch,” said Gallaway.

A two-year veteran of the sport, Gallaway serves as beater captain for Canadian Western Regional Champions the Alberta Clippers and is a board member of Central Alberta Quidditch, the first quidditch nonprofit organization in Canada. He was first introduced to the sport when he volunteered at a convention booth in Calgary.

Outside of quidditch, Gallaway has ample experience in the administration of sport. He has played, captained, coached, and refereed water polo. He also serves on the board of directors of a water polo club in Saskatchewan and is the Vice President of the Alberta Ultimate Association. Gallaway works in Alberta as a Software Engineer and is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan where he studied Computer Science.

“A lot of my experience has been with new organizations that were looking to establish themselves and grow their sport,” said Gallaway. “I believe that I can bring much of what I have learned to this new position. Quidditch is very unique in many ways, but we can still learn from what other organizations have done before us.”

As President of the Congress Gallaway manages the day-to-day activities of that body. He also sits on the IQA Executive Committee ensuring that the member National Governing Bodies are represented across the organization.

Gallaway is ambitious about the future of quidditch and hopeful of what his organization can accomplish. “My ultimate goal is for the IQA to host high quality events, in order to grow worldwide interest in our sport,” he said. “I am hopeful that the work of our events committee and rules committee will lay the groundwork for us to do so.”