Antwerp QC, Much of Belgian Core, Leaves Competitive Quidditch


Credit: Nathan Liou

Credit: Nathan Liou

Update: The article has been updated after receiving a response from Devon Anderson, the Top of Utah pre-tournament director. His comments are reflected in the piece. USQ Events Manager also responded but felt that the league does not need to comment, as Hanson summarized USQ’s position on the manner accurately.

The eight games played by Crimson Elite this season will be deemed forfeitures due to the team’s lack of a certified coach at time of play.

USQ reached the decision in an effort to avoid penalizing the team’s opponents who were unaware of the situation, according to Crimson Elite captain Dan Hanson. The altered games include a combined six wins and two losses at Crimson Cup and Top of Utah.

Devon Anderson, the Top of Utah pre-tournament director, confirmed USQ reached out to him prior to the tournament regarding the situation, assuring him the league was in contact with Crimson Elite. However, he said he “was unaware that on the day of the tournament they still had no official coach.”

“The parties we played against definitely do deserve those official games, but looking ahead, this is going to screw with pots at the West Regional Championship,” Hanson said. “We should be a low pot one or high pot two team, and even with three tournaments left to play before the regional, we have a long way to climb to get back to that level.”

Hanson presented this argument in an appeal to USQ Events Director Sarah Woolsey, but USQ upheld its decision on the grounds that USQ representatives made multiple efforts to contact the team.

“They reached out to our manager [Kristen Rubart] the week before Crimson Cup, and then our manager and our team email the week before Top of Utah,” Hanson said. “When I found out about it, I quickly checked the facts because it came as a huge surprise, and everything USQ said checked out.”

Crimson Elite has since relieved Rubart of her managerial duties. Sequoia Thomas, captain of the program’s B-team, the Crimson Fliers, will assume management of the entire program.

“We felt that we needed to stop having people outside of the team do the job. It’s too late in the season to train someone new to take over entirely. I’m the only one on either team who is qualified, so I stepped up with the stipulation that I would be training one of the Fliers to replace me at the end of the season,” said Thomas, who has managed the team in the past.

Danika Bond will be shadowing Thomas in preparation to assume the role of program manager and Snow Cup tournament director next year.

“A big takeaway for me is that you can’t have a manager who isn’t actively involved and invested in the program, or they just do, or don’t do, the dirty work without benefiting from the good things that quidditch gives back,” Hanson said.

He assured that while the situation may seem dire to some, the team is not beaten down by the decision and is looking to Tree City Tournament III this weekend in Boise, Idaho as a chance to make up for its voided wins.

“This was soul-crushing to hear at first but when you think about it, it’s not a big deal,” Hanson said. “It sucks to lose a great win we had in our pool play game against Boise [State University] at Crimson Cup, but our goals are winning individual tournaments and putting ourselves in the best possible position to be successful at our regional. For now, we’re on to Boise.”

USQ Standings and Quidditch-Reference do not currently reflect the forfeitures.







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