#regional report

[mymidnightsleepshow]

Regionals report! How well my Quantum Monarch deck worked for me!

[usquidditch]

Talking with Teams

Hey there! My name's Logan Anbinder. As with most IQA staffers, I've had about as many titles as there are published works of Gilderoy Lockhart-- I'm currently one of the two Convention Representatives, and I'm also Marketing/Communications Coordinator for QuidCon2013. But one of my biggest roles is as Mid-Atlantic Regional Director. 

Regional Directors work in the Teams Department under the Director of Teams, and it's our job to really get new teams off the ground, as well as to act as a resource for established teams. We also have staffs of State Representatives to directly work with teams in each state. If you have a concern, bring it to your RD or State Rep! Your lovely Regional Directors are myself, Kristina in the Northeast, Lacie in the South, Luke in the Midwest, Becca in the Southwest, Harrison in the West, Morgyn in Oceania and Andrea in Canada and beyond. 

In addition to relaying news and being the go-to folks for concerns, most RDs are acting as Tournament Directors for the Regional Championship tournaments that will be taking place this year. The RCs are going to be some of the most important events of the season, so we're all working very hard to make sure that each tournament will have equal doses of competition, fun, and efficiency. 

Another one of Regional Directors' jobs is to submit a monthly report on the status of our region. Working with our State Reps, we synthesize all the relevant information and share it so that the rest of the IQA staffers are up-to-date with the latest trends, tournaments, and troubles (if any!) in the region. To give you an idea of what a regional report looks like, the Mid-Atlantic report for the month of August is reproduced below. 

Thanks for reading! And remember: if you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find us (which isn't hard!,) maybe you can ask... your RD!

Mid-Atlantic Regional Report—8/15/12

            This is hopefully the last report of the relatively quiet summer quidditch period. This summer has been far more active in terms of quidditch events than any previously, which is a good trend. Events in the MAR have included MAR fantasy (which generally seemed to get very positive reviews, excepting the weather; I have a GoogleDoc feedback form that I can share with anyone who’s interested,) Northeast fantasy (attended by many MAR players and also highly rated,) and the Milton PA exhibition matches. In light of the fantasy events, the theme of the summer seems to have been “interteam bonding,” which is a great thing to happen during these months before competition gets intense again. Next summer, maybe RDs can coordinate fantasy events so they’re specifically spread out throughout the summer, though spacing happened to work out very well this summer by serendipity.

             Megan DeLancey, our Expansion Rep, has been extremely helpful in identifying schools that need to have teams, and my next step will be working with her to find contacts at these schools. We should take advantage of the beginning-of-the-year momentum to get teams started.

            Our new WV State Rep, Ross Whitford (who I believe has the distinction of being the first-ever WV Rep to actually reside in his state) has been a very active presence on Facebook, and reports that a WVU team has already existed for 2 years, though they haven’t signed up on our website. State Reps should make sure that every team that exists in their state registers via the website, just so we know they exist. They can stress that there’s no commitment or obligation, but teams that exist in a vacuum may not be playing by IQA rules, or know about all our benefits, which makes it tough when they want to transition over. 

            Alex Krall of VA reports that the Virginia Quidditch League schedule has been established—each team gets 6 individual games, and each of the 7 currently registered teams gets a reserved spot at each of the 4 VQL tournaments scheduled so far for this year. This is the kind of thing that conferences can be really helpful in doing—RDs should reach out to conferences and see if they’re scheduling these games, as that takes some of the burden off the IQA to schedule each team’s 5 games. However, conferences should also leave their teams room to play outside their states to promote regional unity.

            Alex also reports that 10 snitches were certified at the Mid-Atlantic snitch academy; at least four MAR players were also ref-certified at Northeast fantasy. Certification is being offered at the Whomping Wilmington Extravaganza at the end of this month, and Alex (also being on the RDT) is planning other ref certification events for this fall, with the goal of having every game at the RC staffed by a certified head ref.