The sport inspired by quidditch will air live on national TV for the first time next week.
A quadball match between the United States National Team (USNT) and the United States National Team Developmental Academy (USNTDA) will be featured on ESPN2 as part of the sixth year of ESPN8: The Ocho on Friday, Aug. 5. The game will take place at noon EST at Manchester Meadows Park in Rock Hill, S.C. on the Visit Howard County Pitch.
The exhibition will be the first official match played under the new name. Last week, the governing bodies of the sport announced that they would rebrand the game as quadball to distance themselves from J.K. Rowling and open sponsorship and broadcast opportunities. The new name refers to the number of balls and the number of positions in the sport.
The sport was originally adapted from the Harry Potter book series in 2005 at Middlebury College in Vermont by Xander Manshel and Alex Benepe. It has since exploded in popularity across the country and around the world and is now played by nearly 600 teams in 40 countries.
The game aired live locally in northwest Ohio on Buckeye Cable Sports Network in 2015 and a national network, Eleven Sports, featured matches on tape delay in 2017 and 2018 but the sport has never been televised live to a national audience before in the United States. It has also never appeared on the ESPN networks.
The exhibition will be part of a three-team tournament between the USNT, the USNTDA and Team Canada. The USNT is a standing roster of the best quadball players in the country. The USNTDA is a standing roster of players who the coaches of the national team program have scouted to have potential as national team players in the future. Team Canada is a standing roster of the best players north of the border. Tickets are available here. You can donate to our fundraiser here.
“Being on ESPN is a dream for so many of our athletes and I’m thrilled they’ll be able to showcase all of their hard work,” said USNT Head Coach Michael Parada. “I’m also very excited for all the members and staff of the USNT and USNTDA to be a part of this moment in quadball history.”
The event is sponsored by Hit Your Mark Productions, Jake Sudnick - Cleveland Realtor, Levio Learning, Round Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau, Shooty Hoops, Sports Salt Lake, and Visit Howard County. If interested in sponsoring, please contact megan.anderson@usquidditch.org.
Photo Credit: Miguel Esparza