Toronto quidditch team on how to make the grade,
At a team tryout, veterans of Harry Potter sport talk key skills — luckily, flying ability isn’t required
Like the odds-and-ends characters who inhabit the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Toronto’s Valhalla quidditch team is an eclectic mix of athletic talent from across Canada and has earned its stripes because of it.
Over the weekend, the team — ranked fifth nationally — held open tryouts for its upcoming season. The Star spoke to some of the players and captains about what goes into making a good quidditch-er.
“Aggressiveness and fast feet” Unlike many sports, quidditch — the real-world pastime derived from the one in the Harry Potter books — is a contact sport.
Players can tackle, snatch and try to hit players with balls — depending on their position — in an effort to knock them off their game or put them off the field.
Devin Dutt, 25 years old and Valhalla’s speaking captain, says that aggressiveness on the field is “key” if one wants to become successful at the sport.
“I look for aggression, for a little bit of fire. This is a full-contact sport, so it’s not the same as soccer or baseball.”
Hyperawareness “You really need to be spatially aware,” said Tyson Worrall, a quidditch player of six years whose position is “beater” — wielder of a dodge ball used not in scoring, but in thwarting the opposition.
“Beating is a lot about knowing where to be and where to look, because you can’t just have tunnel vision.”
Compared to other sports, Worrall says, quidditch is notable for players needing to do many different things at once and fill many different shoes. General athleticism, but no body type necessary Ittaana Krow, one of the team’s main captains, has played sports all his life and says that he’s used to the height requirements and size requirements of being in baseball and football.
With quidditch, however, Krow — who stands at around five-foot-10 — says that versatility of positions means that it’s unusual to find somebody who can’t play a certain role because of what their proportions are.
“Body type doesn’t matter. Anyone can get into it. You just have to be athletic, to a decent degree.” A good throw Sarah Baciano is one of the team’s main beaters. She and other members of Valhalla played for Team Canada in 2014 at the International Quidditch Association’s Global Games. She said that her long baseball career prepped her for the ability to throw hard, fast and accurately. The one thing she hopes to improve, however, is her ability to run for long periods of time.
“I can throw a ball and I’ll get it in, or I’ll hit somebody, but I generally can’t run for very long. It’s something I need to work on.” Community Among all else, however, many of Valhalla’s players say that, due to quidditch being such a young sport, the evolving sense of community and sportsmanship pushes new techniques and playing styles into the field constantly.
Team manager Yara Kodershah in particular says that, despite being involved in many sports throughout her life, quidditch has pushed her the hardest and taught her the most about self-improvement.
“This is the most fun I’ve had ever playing a sport. It feels limitless.” Teamwork “You get this with any sport, but quidditch takes a lot of coordination between team members because every role is so unique and crucial,” Krow said.
He noted how the sport’s four classes — beaters, keepers, chasers and seekers — all have individual tasks that only they can perform.
“If you can’t get people really on each other’s game, then it’s not going to work.”
Communication and a willingness to learn Kodershah says that, if there’s anything that will take a person far in quidditch, it’s being able to communicate and work out weaknesses — particularly because there’s no other sport like it.
“If you came in thinking that because you were good at one sport that you’ll instantly be good at this, it’s not true. People realize that quickly. I did.”