The Carleton Quidditch team will likely not be able to go to the International Quidditch Association (IQA) World Cup in Florida this year, because the IQA has scheduled the event to start on April 13, during the Canadian university exam period.
This is an example of extremely poor planning for a young sport that shouldn’t be hindered by something so trivial.
Three Canadian universities have qualified for the event so far: Carleton, McGill University, and the University of Ottawa.
Carleton team captain Andrea Hill told the Charlatan this week that because of the scheduling conflict, the Ravens will likely have to send a team composed of players from both Carleton and McGill.
She said Quidditch is much bigger in the U.S., where teams will not have to worry about exams during the tournament.
The IQA should have thought to account for exam periods of competing schools before scheduling the event in April.
Organizations like the Canadian Interuniversity Sport and National Collegiate Athletic Association do not schedule collegiate sporting events during exams, and the IQA should follow the same rule. A growing sport like Quidditch needs all the teams it can find.
Now, Canada won’t be properly represented at an international competition it could have excelled in, as it looks like the two top-ranked Canadian teams will have to break up their teams in order to even go. θ
