International Weekend Wrap-Up - February 11-12 and 18-19

Contributions by Yeray Espinosa Cuevas, Chula Bruggeling, Austin Wallace

There is a lot going on in the world of quidditch on any particular weekend, and most of us only see the stories immediately relevant to our regions. However, it can be very interesting to look outside of our own bubble every once in a while and take a look at the rest of the global community. To that end, each week the Quidditch Post collects information about tournaments and events that happened during the weekend around the world. 

This week we are covering the Southwest Regional Championship, Spain’s Liga Centro, Spain’s Euskal Quidditch Liga, and tryouts for the Quidditch Premier League in the UK.

USQ Southwest – Regional Championship

By Austin Wallace

1. Lone Star Quidditch Club
2. Texas State University - San Marcos
   
   

Twenty teams came to Bryan-College Station, Texas with hopes to qualify for this year’s US Quidditch Cup. A favorite to earn a bid, Texas Tech Quidditch, was disqualified before the tournament for not submitting its roster on time. After some shuffling of pools, the tournament went ahead as planned, setting up a set of semifinals featuring community team favorites facing two top college teams. Texas Cavalry was upset by Texas State University - San Marcos 110*-70 on a snitch catch by Austin “Springs” LaFoy, just weeks after Texas State lost 90*-60 to Cavalry at Diamond Cup V. Lone Star Quidditch Club (LSQC) won as expected against Texas Quidditch, in a 140*-20 game that belied their historic battles during Texas’s reign of three consecutive national championships.

Lone Star keeper Stephen Bell taking a shot on the Texas Quidditch defense. | Photo Credit: Alex Russell

The championship game between Texas State and LSQC was one of the most exciting regional finals in recent memory, with the game staying consistently in snitch range with both teams holding the lead for long periods of time. Before snitch on pitch,  both teams were conservative offensively, often relying on their beaters to make a play. After the snitch game began, play became much more fluid and fast paced, featuring the immense skill present in both team’s chaser lineups. This game was also marked by the dominance of snitch Gabe Garcez, a former Osos de Muerte player. Both teams were able to give their seekers one-on-one time with Garcez; however, neither team could capitalize until 32:37. After four minutes of one-armed handicap, former Texas State and Team USA player Eric Reyes took advantage of a rare occasion where neither seeker was beat out, and drove through a preoccupied Garcez to win the game 230*-180.

Twelve teams qualified for US Quidditch Cup 10.

From the primary bracket:

Texas Cavalry

Gulf Coast Gumbeaux

University of Texas at San Antonio

Texas State University - San Marcos

Lone Star Quidditch Club

Oklahoma State University

Texas A&M Quidditch

Texas Quidditch

From the secondary bracket:

Baylor University

Tribe

From the tertiary Bracket:

SHSU Quidditch

The Silver Phoenix

Spain – Liga Centro

By Yeray Espinosa Cuevas

1. Madrid Wolves
2. Madrid Lynx
   
   

The third and final fixture of the central league was played this past Saturday in Madrid. Salamanca Quidditch, Madrid Lynx, and Madrid Wolves were all originally supposed to compete, but Salamanca dropped out before the first fixture.

Madrid Wolves have dominated Madrid Lynx in the games played until now, but Madrid Lynx have improved in the past few months, as seen in Mangamore Kopa and Copa de España, while the Madrid Wolves appear to have become stagnant.

Madrid Lynx and Madrid Wolves after their match. | Photo Credit: Sara Moya

This was shown in this weekend’s game, where neither team could get out of SWIM range during the whole match. A tactical revolution by Lynx surprised their neighbors, as Jorge “Pochi” Expósito changed from beater to keeper and Diego Ávila from keeper to beater; both had a great performance. Artur Martin of the Madrid Wolves continues to improve as a quaffle player and in physical contact. The game was 40-60 for Madrid Wolves when the seekers were released. Madrid Lynx made a strong seeker defence with their captain Ávila as beater, but Martin, the Madrid Wolves’ seeker, took advantage of a moment without this beater pressure to catch the snitch and win the game for his team.

This has been the closest game between these two teams in history with a final score of Madrid Wolves 90*-40 Madrid Lynx.

Spain – Euskal Quidditch Liga

By Yeray Espinosa Cuevas

1. Bizkaia Boggarts
2. Blue Gryffins Burgos
3. Gasteiz Gamusins
   
   

The Basque League was rebooted this past weekend; Gipuzkoa Golden Dragons dropped out of the league and the Blue Gryffins Burgos entered.

The first game on Sunday, February 19 saw the debut of Burgos Blue Gryffins, a team created by German National Team player Sven Schulz that surprised everyone with their performance.

The first game saw Gasteiz Gamusins, who took fourth in the first Spanish Quidditch Cup, face off against the newcomers. From the beginning, the Gryffins showed great tactical development; there is no doubt they are learning from the experience of their international player, and they quickly surprised everyone with their skills and physicality. Neither team could easily defeat the other, but Gasteiz Gamusins were able to create a small advantage in the score when the snitch runner was released. Schultz proved to be the better seeker and caught the snitch when his team was 20 points down, but the catch was not good because the keeper made a play dismounted. A couple of plays later, he again caught the snitch just after the Gamusins scored to go 30 up. The game went to overtime after the Gryffins racked up many quaffle points and caught the snitch.

In the second game, the Bizkaia Boggarts showed a better beater play to dominate the game against Blue Gryffins Burgos. The fast-paced game and the strong pressure of the beaters helped them put a significant distance in the score between them and their rivals. The final score, 150-60* in favor of the Boggarts, showed the current difference between this two teams, but not the potential of the Gryffins, who could easily make it to the upper bracket in Copa de España 2017.

Bizkaia Boggarts and Blue Gryffins Burgos after the match. | Photo Credit: Ane Aranguren

The last game, between Gasteiz Gamusins and Bizkaia Boggarts, was not played because two of the three non-male players in the local team were injured. A friendly game between Bizkaia Boggarts and a mixture of the other two teams was played, but the score was not recorded.

UK – Quidditch Premier League Tryouts

By Chula Bruggeling

This past weekend, the entire Quidditch Premier League (QPL) South Division, consisting of the London Monarchs, the Southwest Broadside, the Southeast Knights, and the Eastern Mermaids, as well as the West Midlands Revolution from the North Division, held tryouts for their inaugural season. Various QuidditchUK teams helped with hosting these tryouts.

Out of over 400 total QPL applications, 150 hopefuls attended one of these six tryouts – West Midlands held both of their tryouts this weekend, in two different cities – to show off their quidditch skills and try to ensure a spot on one of these teams. Rosters will be announced publicly in the beginning of April with players being informed of their status toward the end of March.

London Monarchs manager Ben Pooley addresses potential players at tryouts. | Photo Credit: Jack Lennard

International Weekend Wrap-Up is a roundup of quidditch tournaments our correspondents attended last weekend. Were you at a tournament and want to make sure it gets featured in International Weekend Wrap-Up? You can send in your short submissions to quidditchpost@gmail.com until Tuesday.

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