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Quidditch teams to play ‘Harry Potter’-inspired sport at regional tourney in Surrey

Western Canadian championship to involve seven teams at November event
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Quidditch players in action, in a photo posted to Quidditch Canada’s website. (Photo: Ben Holland/quidditchcanada.com)

A park in Surrey is set to host Quidditch Canada’s Western Regional Championship.

The seven-team tournament will be played at Hjorth Road Park on the weekend of Nov. 9-10, for a berth at nationals in Edmonton next spring.

The full-contact sport is based on the fictional game played in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books and movies.

Quidditch Canada is the umbrella organization for 600 players on 22 teams across the country.

The Western Regionals were last played in Surrey in 2016, at Sullivan Heights Park, and news of the upcoming event at Hjorth Road Park was announced in August of 2018, following a successful bid by the City of Surrey.

“This is a unique opportunity for us to host a growing sport with a dedicated community of players,” then-mayor Linda Hepner said at the time. “It is also a chance to showcase the game to those not familiar with it and hopefully inspire a few to take up this fun and inclusive sport.”

Team registration for the tournament has now closed.

“We have a team from Victoria, two from (Alberta), teams from SFU and UBC and also two community teams from Vancouver,” said Jessica Pickering, tournament director.

“We’d really like to get a team started in Surrey,” she added, “and maybe that’s just a case of people not realizing quidditch is a sport they can play.”

Quidditch Canada was created in 2014 to “lead, promote and advance the sport of quidditch in Canada,” according to a post at quidditchcanada.com.

The website includes a “How to Play” section, info about the national team program and details about how to become a “snitch” runner, a third-party athlete/game official who is released onto the pitch after 17 minutes of game time.

At the event in Surrey, spectator admission is by donation.

“We get a lot of parents with kids and spectators who have a lot of questions and want to see this sport played,” Pickering said. “They have a vision of players flying 60 feet through the air and obviously the players don’t do that, they’re running with broom sticks, so this does generate a lot of interest.”



tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com

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Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news stories for the Surrey Now-Leader, where I've worked for more than half of my 30-plus years in the newspaper business.
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