UBC Quidditch is back at Quidditch Canada Nationals. Coming in as the best University team in the West, they take on community and university teams across the country!
How did they get to this point?
UBC Quidditch has experienced a three year hiatus from Quidditch Canada Nationals, not appearing since the spring of 2019. With the pandemic cancelling National tournaments and other competition, this year marks the return to official competition and UBC Quidditch was back and ready to take on the new season. UBC Quidditch came into the Quidditch Canada Nationals as the best university team in the west, coming 3rd at Quidditch Canada Divisionals – losing only to community teams. With the competition out east being an unknown to the sport club, they trained hard with hopes to have great performances against all teams. See the Instagram carousel below for a detailed history on their team.
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Quidditch Canada Nationals | December 3rd, 4th | Edmonton, AB
Day One:
"It was so much fun to get to play against new teams and meet the players from Eastern Canada. This was the first time for everyone on our team going to a Quidditch Canada Nationals and I'm so proud of how we played, especially considering we were the smallest and least experienced team there." - Hannah Illing, Chaser
Upon arrival, UBC Quidditch found out that they are the youngest, least experienced, physically small, and small in numbers team at the tournament - go them! The team finished the day without a win, but played some very close games against both university and community teams.
Their first game was also set to be streamed on Quidditch National's Youtube. UBC vs. Carleton starts at 26:57.
Read more about how they did on Day One here!
UBC vs. Carleton - 10:265
- Hannah Illing - 10 points
UBC vs. Valhalla - 265:0
UBC vs. Waterloo - 65:130
- Michael Liu - 10 points
- Ali Mousavi - 20 points
- Wesley Cassidy (Snitch Catch) - 35 points
UBC vs. Clippers - 55:110
- Wesley (Snitch Catch) - 35 points
- Isaac - 10 points
- Mike - 10 points
Highlights:
- Wesley catch a lot of snitches and really fast!
- We had BS against Valhalla for about half the game which is crazy because they are the best team in Canada
- Hannah played for the entire second game with no subs because we had too few players.
- The last two games were very close, even if the score doesn't reflect it as much.
- Only 2 penalties total (which is low)
Day Two:
Day Two of competition saw tired legs as the 'birds had limited subs and had a full day of play prior. That didn't stop them from putting it all out on the field. Read more about how they did here!
UBC vs. Waterloo - 75:110
- Wesley Cassidy (Snitch Catch) - 35 points
- Naomi Hildebrand - 20 points
- Wesley Cassidy - 20 points
UBC vs. Carleton - 30:220
- Ali Mousavi - 20 points
- Wesley Cassidy - 10 points
Check out their reel below - spotlighting competition highlights and candid team moments.
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Nationals - a first for all!
From rookies to multi-year Quidditch veterans, this was first Nationals for all players who attended, see what they had to say about it!
"While we may not have won in terms of games, the experience and lessons learned from competing against this many teams meant was invaluable. Look forward to continue playing with some new ideas of what’s out there" - Naomi Hildebrand, Keeper
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"I think the best part was how there was such a camaraderie between all the teams. I’ve never played a sport where other teams will chat with you and want to be friends with you after y’all just played a game." - Cassidy Cooke, Beater
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"It was fun to play against the best teams in the nation, and we were able to hold our own for the most part" -Mike Liu, Chaser
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“Shout-out to the organizers and teams at nationals that treated our rookie team with patience and respect. We will take everything we learned and come back stronger next year." - Isaac