IQA

Programs

Mentor Program

What is a mentor?

A mentor is someone who shares their expertise with less-experienced individuals. Your mission is to serve as an example as well as an advisor to a newly formed quidditch club. Your responsibility is not to run the club but to let the club know what its options are- gently guiding it toward excellence and allowing its members to learn and grow.

Quidditch mentors

It’s your duty to the new team to build on the preliminary enthusiasm, spirit of cooperation and fun initiated of the new club. Your team’s duties are to:

  • Build a personal rapport with the team. Share your experience with the members and lend your support.
  • Ensure the team is strong and fully functional. Instead of simply handing out answers to members’ questions, help the questioner find the answer in the appropriate resource. Supplement this information with lessons from your own experiences.
  • Familiarize the team with the IQA website and the IQA rulebook.
  • Encourage team members to use the website and handbook as a resource to find member teams, rules, hoop assembly guides, and updates on IQA policies and benefits.
  • Allow the developing team to use your team’s equipment if necessary and have cooperative practices/matches together.

Requirements (2 of the 3 listed below):

  • Established team must host the developing team at least five times over the course of three months (one quarter or semester)
  • Established team must host the developing team and other regional teams in an unofficial/exhibition tournament to familiarize the developing team with tournament play. This will also assist the developing team in building a rapport with other nearby schools.
  • Established and developing team must work together on a local community service project totaling at least 20 hours for each team. The hours include planning, transportation and actual volunteer time.

Mentor teams will receive a badge on their team page and a thank-you letter from IQA commissioner Alex Benepe. The team will be eligible for the IQA mentor team membership award at the end of the season.

Is your team interested in becoming a mentor team, or in being mentored? Mentor teams must be IQA member teams, but the mentee team may be unofficial (but may only participate in the program as a mentee for one season). If you are interested, please have your designated team coach fill out .

Contact membership coordinator and mentor project lead Carly with any questions at .

 

Penpal Program

The IQA Membership Services department is announcing the new and improved Penpal Program for the 2013-2014 quidditch season!

This program has been re-designed for official teams across the world to get to know each other. Every team has different strategies, team dynamics, cultures and issues that may be better developed and dealt with through communication from other teams. Not only does the Penpal Program help teams learn and grow, it also helps promote growth in the quidditch community as a whole. Every other week, the membership department will release a prompt for the penpal teams to write, skype or quidchat their penpal team about. Sometimes this prompt will be strategy related, other times it will be cultural, but it will ultimately allow teams to learn from each other in a variety of ways. This program is not designed for new teams to get off the ground but rather for more established teams to have conversations about quidditch and culture.

Requirements:

  • The designated team coach (as registered with the IQA) must sign up their team.
  • The teams should create introductory videos to be sent to their penpal teams within the first month of pairing.
  • The teams should create a private penpal facebook group to remain in touch (make sure you invite your membership coordinator as well!)
  • The teams will complete the bi-weekly prompt through the facebook group, skype or quidchat. These prompts are used to spark discussion over various quidditch aspects as well as cultural differences.
  • Representatives from both teams will attend a bi-monthly skype date (arranged to their convenience) to discuss: how the month has gone, games played, what you are hoping to accomplish next month, weaknesses and strengths each team wants to work on. Hold each other accountable.
  • Put together a small physical team scrapbook to send to your penpal at the end of the season.

The team coach is responsible for ensuring that all members of their team participate throughout the season. Without the cooperation of each person, a team will not get the same benefits as others will out of the program.

Applicants will be paired with appropriate partner teams located at a significant geographical distance. An effort will be made to create international partnerships, but depending on the number and type of applications received, it is possible that national pairings will be made (West Coast United States with an East Coast US team, for example). Teams may state a desired country or region for their penpal partner, but it will not be possible to realize all wishes.

Teams are highly encouraged to send pictures, videos, stories and anything else to membership services in order to be on the IQA penpal blog. Not only should this be a learning experience through quidditch and culture, it should be fun! We’ve added more guidelines to the program this year after the feedback from last year’s program, but ultimately, you should keep in mind that this relationship is what you make it.

Sign up for the 2013-2014 penpal season today by filling out .

Contact membership coordinator and penpal program project leader Amanda at  with any questions.