US Quidditch Cup
 US Quidditch Cup 9 logo | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Month played | April |
| Established | 2007 |
| Administrator(s) | International Quidditch Association |
| Format | Pool Play, Bracket Play |
| Website | Official website |
| Current champion | |
| Q.C. Boston | |
The US Quidditch Cup is the United States championship of quidditch. Held yearly in the US since 2007, it was formerly organized by the International Quidditch Association and known as the Quidditch World Cup. Although maintained by the IQA, it was almost a purely US-based tournament, seeing little turnout from teams outside of the country. This tournament's organizing body was changed to US Quidditch when the IQA took on its new role as international sports federation, choosing instead to host Global Games as a world championships with individual teams relying on their national governing body for a culminating tournament.
The last World Cup was held in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at the North Myrtle Beach Sports Complex on 5 and 6 April 2014, featuring 79 teams primarily from the United States, but with a few from Canada and Australia.
History
The first intercollegiate Quidditch World Cup was held in 2007 at Middlebury College in Vermont, between Middlebury and Vassar College from Poughkeepsie, New York. Since then, it has been held in various places in the continental United States, most recently being in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The World Cup hosts beyond just top-level quidditch musical events, food sales and broom sales. On average, there are 70 or so teams present that proceed to pool play, where teams are grouped and the top teams from the group advance to bracket play. At the 2014 IQA World Cup, there were nine fields with field one being livestreamed and commentary at each field.
The name "World Cup" has since been discontinued as of 2014 in favour of Global Games where there is legitimate international play, as well as other major national and international championships such as the USQ World Cup and the European Quidditch Cup. Because teams in the tournaments were almost always strictly from the United States, USQ took over the tournament and renamed it the "US Quidditch Cup." The first tournament under the new branding was US Quidditch Cup 9, held in Columbia, South Carolina in April 2016.
Format
Participation
In order to participate in qualification, a team must be registered with USQ. Teams can be either college teams, or community teams. College teams are teams based at a college or university and have only its students on the team; these make up the vast majority of registered quidditch teams. A community team is a private club team made up of interested players around the area. Each community team may has its own rules when it comes to trying out or joining the team, and college students may opt to join a community team over their college team. In 2016, Q.C. Boston was the first club team to win the cup. Once a team is started and registered, they may compete in official tournaments.
Qualification
Qualification is achieved through placement in Regional Championships. There are 8 different regions: Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, Northwest, South, Southwest, and West. The Regional Championships, played in tournament form, take place from November to February, with the US Quidditch Cup taking place in April. Placing at certain level in each of the respective region's championships (specifics vary per region), which are played in tournament form, will guarantee a berth at the US Quidditch Cup.
Pool Play
Before the day of the event, all attending teams are sorted into 12 pools of 5 based on their seeding. Seeding is based on a complex algorithm measuring each team's wins, point differentials, snitch grab percentages and strength of schedule at their respective Regional Championships. After each team plays the other four in their pool, all the teams are ranked by the same algorithm. The top 28 teams get a spot in a seeded round-robin bracket and 29-36 join the play-in round, a pre-bracket playoff round of four games to determine the last 4 teams to join the bracket.
Bracket Play
Starting with a round of 32, teams are matched up and the winner of each match proceeds to the next round until a champion is determined.
Hosts
- 2007: Middlebury, VT
- 2008: Middlebury, VT
- 2009: Middlebury, VT
- 2010: New York City, NY
- 2011: New York City, NY
- 2013: Kissimmee, FL
- 2014: North Myrtle Beach, SC
- 2015: Rock Hill, SC
- 2016: Columbia, SC
Champions
- 2007: Middlebury College
- 2008: Middlebury College
- 2009: Middlebury College
- 2010: Middlebury College
- 2011: Middlebury College
- 2012: None, due to the fact that the 2011-2012 season's World Cup was held late 2011, and the 2012-2013 World Cup was not held until April of 2013 (the end of the season)
- 2013: University of Texas Austin
- 2014: University of Texas Austin
- 2015: University of Texas Austin
- 2016: Q.C. Boston