The Long Beach Funky Quaffles’ magical season will take flight to South Carolina, where they’ll try to sweep the competition at the seventh annual Quidditch World Cup.
Caylen McDonald, co-captain and a senior human development major, said the team qualified for the Quidditch World Cup at the West Regional Championship in Tempe, Ariz. in November. The tournament included teams from California, Idaho, Arizona and Nevada.
“There are 18 teams in the western region and the top 11 qualified for the World Cup,” McDonald said. “We finished eighth.”
McDonald said qualifying for the Quidditch World Cup is a major accomplishment for the Funky Quaffles, who have been a team for less than a year. She said, however, that it is unlikely the team will win the tournament.
“We are a brand new team and the World Cup is stiff competition,” said Justin Madriaga, co-captain and founder of the Funky Quaffles. “We are hoping to get in the top 20.”
To play Quidditch, the wizard sport created in the “Harry Potter” book series, team members use slightly deflated dodgeballs as bludgers, volleyballs as quaffles and a tennis ball as the golden snitch.
The players run around the field with a broomstick between their legs as they attempt to score goals on the other team. The end goal is to capture the snitch, which hangs in a sock attached to a player’s shorts with Velcro.
The 21-member team, though, needs to raise $5,000 to travel to South Carolina and compete in the World Cup, Madriaga said. In effort to do this, he said the team created a campaign to raise funds through an international crowdfunding site, Indiegogo.com.
“We currently have an Indiegogo campaign, as well as reaching out to small businesses in Long Beach to raise the money,” Madriaga said. “The money will be used for hotel rooms, plane tickets and other travel expenses. It’s hard getting 21 people to the other side of the country.”
Although McDonald has the inmate number of a character in the “Harry Potter” series, Sirius Black, tattooed on her foot, she said you don’t need to be a Harry Potter fan to be a fan of Quidditch.
“A lot of people on the team have never read the books,” McDonald said. “It’s for people who love sports and want to be active.”
McDonald said Quidditch is a growing sport, but that it is still hard for the fan base to grow because people don’t take it seriously.
“They see it as a Harry Potter thing,” McDonald said. “For people to see it as a real contact sport is difficult.”
The Funky Quaffles practice at the Los Altos field on Stearns Street at 6 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and at 3 p.m. on Sundays.
Madriaga said he is excited for the experience that the Quidditch World Cup will provide.
“I hope we make it past round 32,” Madriaga said. “I want the team to be able to get more experience for next year. Even if we don’t win a game, we’ll be watching and learning from the other teams play.”
The Funky Quaffles will be playing at the Gold Medal Invitational at University of California, Los Angeles this weekend. Madriaga said 14 to16 teams are expected to be in attendance.