PRESS RELEASE: The Eighth Man Announces New Hires

The Eighth Man’s goal is to provide high-quality and professional analysis and news to the quidditch community in a timely manner. It is with those interests in mind that we are pleased to announce the newest additions to our staff. We feel that these individuals will breathe life into the site and put us back on the course we set for ourselves when we launched it two years ago.

Effective immediately, Amanda Dallas will assume the role of The Eighth Man editor-in-chief. Dallas has an impressive marketing and journalism background that we trust will go far in furthering our image. She also has displayed skills in editing and personnel management in her year as the head of the International Quidditch Association (now US Quidditch) Editorial Department, areas the Eighth Man has much room to improve upon.

Dallas will succeed Ethan Sturm, who has served as the site’s editor-in-chief since its inception. Sturm will remain on staff as managing editor and chief correspondent.

“The Eighth Man pioneered quidditch journalism, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to build upon the work this staff has already done,” said Dallas of her new position. “It’s time to take the coverage of our sport to the next level and I’m confident this is the staff that can and will do just that.”

Part of Dallas’ vision for the future of the site includes an expansion into the realm of social media. To do so, we have hired Mike Iadevaia to serve as the site’s first-ever social media editor. Iadevaia will professionalize the site’s Twitter presence while also expanding its reach on Facebook, YouTube and other social media outlets. He will also work alongside The Eighth Man Correspondent Alex Wilson to expand the site’s game video profile. Iadevaia has been responsible for the maintenance of the Hofstra Quidditch and Northeast region twitter accounts and recently assumed the role of media director for the Big Apple Quidditch Conference. He has displayed a talent in the social media field that we feel will transfer well to his new position.

We have also begun to expand our staff of writers and correspondents for the new season. Beto Natera will be leaving US Quidditch, where he worked closely with Dallas, to serve as an Eighth Man correspondent. In his time with the IQA and USQ, he displayed a deep knowledge of the sport and the teams he covered, as well as a talent for presenting his opinion across a variety of media types.

The author of the popular blog We Breathe Quidditch will also be joining the staff, while retaining his anonymity. We Breathe Quidditch has become the premiere source for quidditch analytics, and we look forward to his statistics-fueled articles.

Mollie Lensing will be rejoining the staff after leaving briefly to write for the IQA for the second half of this past season. Lensing is one of the sport’s best feature writers, and will bring a valuable viewpoint on the many major issues the sport faces in the year to come.

Finally, we have long been looking to expand our podcast portfolio past Ethan Sturm and Noah Schwartz’s “The Seeker Floor,” and we are excited to introduce our second regular podcast: “Mike and Mitch in the Morning,” hosted by Michael “Yada” Parada and Mitch Cavender. “Mike and Mitch in the Morning” will debut in September.

We want to thank everyone for your continued readership. We started this site two years ago with the aim of heightening the level of analysis in our sport, and we hope to continue to provide this for years to come.