#Butterbeer Broooers

[purplespacecats]

lmao I’m on Vassar’s insta today (I’m the one in the middle… Which ok even if you don’t know me in person prob isn’t too hard to guess haha)

[renjaminhoek]

Representing

[rairii]

THE TOURNAMENT WAS AWESOME I AM EXHAUSTED I NEARLY GOT CHOKED AT ONE PLAY WHEN THREE PEOPLE WERE TRYING TO TAKE THE BALL FROM ME BUT IT WAS OK

The teams were all lovely and full of hugs and wonderfulness, fair play and sportsmanship were all around in all the matches, even with the very physical teams, and I am proud to be a Senior and to have been with this team. I am a very proud veteran of my freshmen :') I will miss everyone dearly upon graduation, but I can enjoy the fact that they will keep Vassar's spirit going on strong and the Broooers will remain steadfastly adhered to excellency via sportsmanship.

I have so many bruises and I'm so tired but I am so happy and the quidkids we met were so wonderful. I am so glad we had this tournament, I am no longer sad I wasn't able to make it to the World Cup - we kept the magic going on!

I also got lots of positive feedback on my reffing, which was really nice to hear so I look forwards to finally getting certified (I hope) next time I take the field test.

Also I got blisters

[broooer]

Since Captain Elections have ended, I felt like sharing a blast from the past. I present to you guys the ticket that my dear co-captains and I submitted for our candidacy. The year that followed was one of the best of my life and so far still one of the highlights of my Quidditch life.

Without further ado, I present to you the best written candidates statement.

We solemnly swear that electing us as captains is the best idea since Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes.

MC reminds her constituents to know that she leapt forth from the womb with a beater’s bat in hand. And was then very disappointed to learn that muggle Quidditch doesn’t use bats.

SW, a close relative of one Oliver Wood, would like to add that she eats victory for breakfast every morning and doesn’t know the meaning of the word defeat.

CD spends her time taming Hungarian Horntails and wrestling lethifolds with her bare hands. She considers this good practice for chasing when most other team members are larger than her.

NH would like to add that while his ticket-mates’ accomplishments are impressive, he is in fact the only person known to have survived the Killing Curse through sheer willpower and brute force.

As next year’s Broooer co-captains, we vow to brooo fame, bottle glory, and even put a stopper in death. We promise to fill your lives with quove, quddles, and quopious quinners. We pledge to beat, keep, seek, and chase with the enthusiasm of a womp-womp-Whomping Willow in springtime. We will end up morphing into one person and finish each other’s sentences by the time you finish reading this. And we would be honored and thrilled to be your captains next year.

In addition to the Butterbeer Classic, the 24 hour readathon, and Very Potter Parties, we plan to organize a Yule ball, Youtube channel, and Blog, as well as uphold what shall become a time-honoured tradition of games, scavenger hunts, and Elder Wand. What’s more, all of this will come with deliciously indulgent Harry Potter references, baking, and nerdiness.

coughIMPERIOVOTEFORUScough.

Much quove,

Mad-eye Molly

Cami “Peruvian Vipertooth” D

Sectumsempra Sandy

Nathan “Hungarian Horntail” Hoston

PS: Gringotts Goblin sought. Please apply.

[the-magic-never-ends-blog]

Audio Gathered!

I just conducted an interview with a Butterbeer Broooer about the legendary "quocabulary."  Stick around to hear the finished project next week!

[instant-oatmeal]

Vassar vs. Yale preparing for brooms down on Yale's Cross Campus at our Yale/NY Badassilisks/Vassar meetup! 

Seriously. Look how pretty that is.

[purplespacecats]

Snow Quidditch with the Broooers (and Steve the Quoman)

[rairii]

Vassar Quidditch's Butterbeer Classic Posters through the Years

You can definitely see some improvement here. Yay.

[rairii]

3rd Annual Butterbeer Classic

Pencil sketch and digital painting in Photoshop, 2011

Since so many people seemed to like the poster I made for this year, I feel like I might as well put this one up as well for comparison's sake. I like the drawing of what was originally intended as a personification of the Broooers as a quovely beer-drinking, broom-toting gal, but I don't think it has much design strength. One learns from ones mistakes though.

[Edit] My files keep getting uploaded in weird colours or sizes or resolutions. I'll update this with a proper image when I figure out what is happening.

[Edit] The file for this poster seems corrupted so I basically had to use a screenshot. Welp.

[rairii]

4th Annual Butterbeer Classic

Pencil sketch and digital painting, 2012

One of my absolute favourite artists is Alphonse Mucha, a crucial member of the beautiful Art Nouveau movement. I have actually been planning on making sure this poster was Art Nouveau from the moment I finished last year's poster. Extremely happy with the overall look and the colour choice, not satisfied with how much I ended up simplifying it, but sometimes simplicity works best : )

[broooer]

Yule Ball with Vassar's own Butterbeer Broooers and the Beloved Ballroom Club (all very talented and attractive ladies and gents).

Mhm so many fine people... I think that just maybe, maybe, this post should go on damnthatsakeeper ; )

I especially like how I look in that blue dress ; )

I had ridiculous amounts of fun, in both elegant swing dancing (rather hard in heels - I adore flats) to gettin' down, to silly macarena and cotton eye joe dancing with the team.

I am in an eternal quomance with my team. What can I say?! It is hard not to be quidsexual when surrounded by such quovely quidkids.

[broooer]

Quidditch alumna flies back for game

The About section on the Quidditch World Cup's website contains a quote from Fox News which describes the event as "A cross between the Superbowl and a Medieval festival." Indeed, this year's World Cup features 100 teams and 2000 athletes from around the globe, as well as live music and entertainment. Despite its growth, intercollegiate quidditch has humble roots, beginning when Vassar faced Middlebury College in 2007 in the first World Cup. Now, five years later, the International Quidditch Association (IQA) is honoring this occasion with the first-ever quidditch alumnae/i game at this year's World Cup.

[...]

Vassar once again is taking a leading role in the sport as the school's team, the Butterbeer Broooers, will take on the Middlebury College team in the alumnae/i game. While the teams will not consist solely of graduates from the two schools, they will wear gray and blue uniforms commemorating the championship's first matchup.

[...]

Of course the Broooers weren't overlooked when the two rosters were selected. Former Broooer beater Michellle Cantos '11 was chosen to compete on the Vassar team, reprising a role she held five years earlier in the debut World Cup.

[...]

The sport has also become more competitive, as IQA rankings have recently been introduced. Cantos wrote, "As a founding member and former captain, I can say with confidence that Broooers aren't just a team, we're a family. For me, quidditch was never about the rankings, the win percentages and statistics. It was always about the spirit of the game."

[...]

As she prepares to take the pitch once again during the fifth World Cup, held on Randall's Island in New York City from Nov. 12 to 13, Cantos offered one last thought about Vassar quidditch. She wrote, "I hope the Broooers never take the game too seriously to the point that they lose the eccentric charm that made quidditch such an extraordinary adventure for myself and the other 2011ers."

Article on the Vassar Miscellany News that came out today.

Michelle Cantos, alongside with her later Co-Captains Domino Gehred-O'Connel and Laura Riley, and fellow alumni Pablo Arenas, were freshmen when Vassar Quidditch formed.

They were there throughout all of our growing pains, cheering teammates on, and being staunch supporters and founders of the spirit that has infused the Broooers to this day, one that emphasizes the quirky and the strange, the loving and the competitive in this crazily functional group of Vassar Quidditch. And when they graduated, they marked the close of a chapter of our history, a definite milestone showing how much we have grown from a team that practiced with trashcans instead of hoops who got completely wiped out in that historic first match against Middlebury, to reaching 4th place in the World Cup amidst cheers and high fives and one of the most glorious moments of my life.

They are the ones that sparked a spirit so strong, that when I meet players from other teams, I will often hear praise and awe at our team, with remarks such as "I remember when you played against [ x ] team!!! I absolutely loved you guys, I can't even remember who won!" I will talk about people like Domino or Michelle, and somebody will pop up and comment on "how fierce"/"amazing" they have been, how much they are loved.

To be fairly honest, I wouldn't be as confident a person where it not for the support I found in the embrace of the Broooers, which is owed distinctly to the tone these wonderful human beings infused in our quovely family.

So when you see Michelle Cantos out there, give her a hearty roar, a high five, a hug - she is playing heart and soul in a torbellino of bludgers, good cheer, and the most uncompromising badassery there is.

[broooer]

Snow Quidditch! A day of wondrous fun, lighthearted bludging and all the quove of the broooers in a gorgeously enchanted landscape.

Something I have not told you, lovely quidtumblrs/qumblrs, is that apart from random illustrations on this tumblr, I actually have a series of comic strips I make about my life.

I think the time is right for me to plug my silly little drawings, all collected here under the name of Jigamaree. Drop by, say hi!

Quove and snitches,

-Cami

Jigamaree: a maneuver or cunning trick a trivial, ridiculous or worthless fancy a thingamabob

[purplespacecats]

Team Quonding Hair Dying

I'm dying the tips of my hair pink for the Quidditch World Cup. I've never dyed my hair before, so I'm looking forward to seeing my parents' reactions when I come home for Thanksgiving.

[broooer]

There is too much happiness in our team not to share with you : ) Hallosnoween guys!! Group Dr Seuss costumes, dancing, and the next day, playing in the snow!

[broooer]

Violence Has No Place In Quidditch

This post is going to be a lot more serious and longer than my usual posts are. This post is about violence in Quidditch, particularly as seen at the Philly Brotherly Love Cup at Chestnut Hill College.

A little personal background: I have been playing Quidditch since I was a freshman, was a Captain my sophomore, and have played Basketball from middle to high school. I broke my knee playing Quidditch this February. I have grown up wrestling with my brother and many friends and tackle and am tackled in return. In summary: I am fine with playing physical games. I absolutely love that Quidditch is a co-ed contact sport! It is ridiculously fun, the bruises are worth it, and the people are quonderful (Quidditch wonderful for those who are not used to my quocabulary).

And Vassar Quidditch is my perfect fit. We are the second oldest team in existence, and since we have formed, we have strived and maintained a high reputation of friendliness, fair play, and no violence. We have taught Quidditch to many, and seek to pass on the torch of Quidditch’s spirit to as many teams and people as we can.

Because if there is something at stake here, it is the spirit of Quidditch.

The whole point of Quidditch is that it is inclusive: teams consists from hardcore athletes training for marathons to those who never played a sport before. Quidditch is about the intense sport that you play with a broom between your legs and you have to realize that yes, you are indeed Queen of the Quaffle because you just dodged that bludger and scored past two chasers, but you are also running with a broom between your legs; you just flipped the finger to a lot of expectations and kept it all tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecatingly aware and yet all the more gloriously independent due to that awareness that you can be silly and not care.

Quidditch is a sport where two Seniors show up to practice in a banana and a hot dog costume just ‘cause.

Vassar has a reputation for being “lovey dovey nerds who play well”, and we work hard to emphasize the quove in what we do. We talk to our freshmen about playing cleanly, well, and keeping the spirit of the game. From the beginning, we tell them stories of our difficult moments and how we overcame (or did not) the issues that come with playing well. We have completely decimated other teams (score wise) and they came back with hugs and congratulations, promised to cheer for us in other matches, and repeated how much they loved playing with us, how it was a pleasure to find such excellent sportsmanship. And one of the Holy Tenets of The Broooers, which I am almost 90% sure is in our Binder of Secrets (accessible only to Captains), is that you play “aggressively, not violently”.

I think that distinction is being lost with a lot of teams.

We went to the BLC with a team primarily composed of freshmen, in what was going to be their “trial by tournament”. Most of our veterans simply couldn’t make it as our Fall break had just started, or went to the Yale/NYBadassilisks meet up the week before. Instead, they had a “rite by fire”. : (

They took it like the champs they are.

The first game was ridiculously rough for the freshmen, because we played Stonybrook fresh of the bat, and while I have my respect for the team, it was not a good match. It was aggressive, a lot of rules were broken, and their Chasers kept ignoring the times they were bludged/beat and the refs did not discount scores from bludged chasers. More importantly, the aggressive playing was not called out by the refs.

Part of that was misunderstanding. A teammate calmly informed one of their beaters that the rulebook says you get in the way of another team’s beater from grabbing a bludger. To quote exactly from Rulebook 5, p 19:

“The Third Bludger - Any team in possession of two bludgers may not guard the third bludger and must allow the other team to recover it. A beater is said to be guarding the third bludger when she is near the bludger and making a clear effort to prevent the opposition from recovering the bludger, at the referee’s discretion. Possessing or guarding the third bludger is a back to hoops offense; repeat offenders may be cautioned.” 

Said player was surprised, thanked my teammate for the correction, and continued play without guarding the third bludger. Successful correction. The rest was not so successful.

The SUNY Geneseo game was fine. We have a cordial relationship, I am used to playing with them and am comfortable with the level of physical contact they play with, and our freshmen mostly had fun. There was some worry with some tackles, particularly when they cornered the freshmen. One of the worse tackles was probably when a SUNY Geneseo girl tackled Peter, our beater and a Captain, and ripped his shirt.

The NYBadassilisks game was honestly wonderful. I’d like to take a moment to thank them for playing with a level head and speaking to the refs, offering their players for bludger refs, and overall making the tournament wonderful for us.

But watching other games, I couldn’t help but notice aggression running at really high levels, with teammates getting angry over how their friends were treated and “returning the favour”. Like beautifulabsurdity said, both SUNY Geneseo and Stonybrook degenerated in their game into a horrifyingly ugly spectacle.

...

I understand getting angry when your teammates are hurt, the other team is playing dirty, or the refs are not doing their job. But teams need to stop and keep their game clean. They need to be able to stop their own players. They need to talk about these issues before a game so that they know how to react.

  We have a system were the Captains are the only ones on our team allowed to talk to the ref.  It makes their job easier, and keeps relationships cordial. If a ref makes a call you disagree with, it does not matter – calmly do what they ask of you, and report to your Captains. They will talk to the refs about concerns, changes, rule misunderstandings and the like. It is part of their duties, and they have discharged them well. Captains always read the full rulebook, and make sure to discuss changes with the team so everybody is up to date.

We also have a system for anger. At its most basic, it is: if you are angry, get out of the game. We will sub you if we think you need to get out, and you need to be prepared for this, or you can’t play. If you are angry, talk to your Captain, but do not, and I repeat, do not take the low road; there is no point in playing if you will not play well. Never hurt; never aim for the player; breathe twice, or thrice, or maybe ten times; tell your teammate to calm down if you think they need it. It has worked. The Broooers have faced violent teams in the past, other teams have been in the same quandary, and they kept their game clean, fair, and are a prime example of a properly self-regulated team. Examples that come to mind are UMass Amherst, NYBadassilisks, and Penn State.

I think a lot of teams need to sit down and work these issues within themselves. A lot of the teams who were violent were also good enough that they did not need the violence they exhibited to win – it was heartbreaking to watch foul play mar an otherwise exemplary team. The primary responsibility, really, lies in the players and teams to be able to either regulate themselves or teammates, and to foster a culture that makes this easier. Ultimately, the players are the ones doing the dangerous/aggressive actions – not the refs. To quote fuckyesquidditch, “Like any decent athlete and human being, you continue playing a clean and professional game or you’re just as to blame.”

That said, refs are a crucial part to the game, both as an added incentive to keeping in the rules, and to be able to step in when things explode beyond the team’s regulatory levels. Refs are supposed to cut off the opportunities for things to boil over.

Being a referee is hard, thankless work. You are responsible for helping set the tone of the games, at times the tournament you are in. If you do not have a clear understanding of the rules, or the confidence to step in, you won’t do well. I have reffed. My friend Molly was a referee at our last Butterbeer Classic, and she was wonderful. She told me later it was a stressful experience because at times the teams get angry at her for calling things, but that she valued more the safety of the players to being liked by all the teams – and that takes a lot of strength of character. But they can make a huge difference.

After our Captains talked to the refs, things began to get better – they began to enforce the bludger/beat rule very strictly, talked to teams before games about acceptable levels of physicality, and dealt with our concerns with attention and respect. One referee in particular at the BLC – I think his name was Chris, he reffed during our second match with Stonybrook – made a huge difference. I am intensely grateful to Chris, as the second match was completely different from our first match. It felt like Quidditch again! So referee training has to happen before a match, and you need to be careful in who you choose and what they enforce. I am very glad that the IQA, and Benepe, are taking this seriously and apparently made promises that this will not be repeated in the World Cup.

I am also severely heartened by the response in tumblr, the discussions we are having, and the overall civility (with few exceptions) I have seen regarding these issues. The fact that the Quidditch community is willing to sit down and talk this in depth and no “flame wars” are erupting, is a testament to the fact that despite these events, we can keep the Quidditch spirit alive!

As we say at Vassar, please try to “tackle with a hug”!

Much quove,

Your friendly Broooer Cami