In our series opener, we speak to Boston's Beater Max Havlin & Lulu Xu. We cover all kinds of topics from challenges and struggles when they started out playing with Boston University, coaching Harvard University, starting up the Boston Pandas, all the way to tasting victory at USQ Cup 9 with QC Boston and on the Major League and World stages with Boston Forge (formerly Boston Nightriders) and the US National Quidditch Team. We also really delve in deep into the topic of beating as Max and Lulu reveal what concepts, traits and mindsets they favour when thinking about the most unique position in quidditch.

Thanks as always to those who sent in questions for the mailbag, happy to be back for a third series!

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In our series 2 finale, we speak to none other than THE Kody Marshall- chaser of Texas, Lone Star, Austin Outlaws and USNQT fame. Kody tells us about how he got into the sport, his early years playing at the University of Texas including winning their first national title, his recruiting experiences and methods including how he brought Augie Monroe and Kaci Erwin into the sport, creating the first ever fantasy tournament, playing for and coaching the USA at Global Games 2014, setting up Lone Star and playing UT in that epic USQ World Cup 8 match and also looking to the future with the return of Major League Quidditch as Kody joins up with the League City Legends for the upcoming season.

Big thanks to Kody and all our guests this series and to everyone for listening and engaging with our episodes. There's still plenty more to come from us so keep your eyes peeled to the Total Quidditch Facebook for updates on series 3 coming very soon! 

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After an unexpected break, we're back to finish series 2! This week, we're talking with Austin Wallace, player for Vancouver Storm Crows, Western Canada, the Canadian national team (2016). In another in-depth episode, Austin tells about his quidditch experience playing in Canada, firstly with the UBC Thunderbirds and now with Vancouver Storm Crows, his approach to seeking with particular reference to playing with Canada at the 2016 World Cup, volunteering with the Quidditch Post and IQA, refereeing and travelling, his winning-formula to drafting a successful fantasy team and his views on the IQA Pan-American Games.

Thanks as always to everyone who sent in their mailbag questions, we hope to see more of them for our final guest of the series!

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In this episode, we talk with long time Team UK and Velociraptors QC keeper Andrew Hull. Andrew tells us about how he got into quidditch through his love of Harry Potter, his early days at Bangor and with Team UK, joining Oxford from Bangor and the big transformation he made as a player during that season, the first year of playing with Raptors, his time playing down in Australia, the 2018 World Cup, a bizarre celebrity experience at a Harry Potter festival in Denmark and his desire to continue playing quidditch at the highest level.

Thanks to our listeners for their mailbag questions as always, love to see the engagement with the show!

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In this episode, we talk with Austrian star chaser Andrea Wöger. Andrea tells us about the early days of quidditch with the Vienna Vanguards and the start of quidditch in Austria, the ethos and identity of the Vanguards, her time playing on the Austrian national team including when they famously beat their neighbours Germany at the 2017 European Games. We also discuss QPL Europe, receiving recognition in the All-Time fantasy fantasy drafts as well as Andrea's own personal journey of growth to becoming one of Europe's elite which stemmed from a single game at a fantasy tournament.

Thanks as always to our listeners for their continued support and supply of mailbag questions!

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In this episode, we speak to the GOAT of quidditch highlight reels- Billy Quach. Billy tells us about his early playing days at the University of Arkansas, how his love of filming and the opportunity to create videos for quidditch led to him changing his major from Engineering to Film and thus changing his career and life in the process. He tells us about his experience of filming quidditch highlight reels, the documentary he made for UVA quidditch and now what he has gone on to do professionally as a videographer in the NFL, notably working with the Kansas City Chiefs during their rise to the top of the sport during which has led to him filming at two Super Bowls.

Thanks as always to our listeners for submitting their mailbag questions for this episode!

*Warning- there is a noticeable difference in volume between our host and our guest so be wary of that when listening, especially with headphones on.*

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Leander Troll- Chaser for Germany and Rheinos Bonn, joins us for this episode as our first German guest on the show. He tells us about how he started playing quidditch with the UBC Thunderbirds in Canada before then returning to Germany to help set up Rheinos Bonn and play for Germany, both with which he has been involved with a steady rise towards the elite tier of European quidditch. We talk about key components of this development such as the impact of the 2016 World Cup, the German infrastructure for growth and playing quidditch, team camaraderie and tactical innovation.

Thanks to our listeners for their mailbag questions as always, hopefully we'll gain some new listeners over in Germany now!

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For Episode 14, we sit down with Lindsey Simpson, captain and co-captain of the Lost Boys QC and LA Aftershock. Lindsey tells us about her early days playing and partying at Emerson College in Boston, heading over to the West coast to play in LA for the Lost Boys, switching from beater to chaser  as well as the various projects she's been involved with such as Western Championship Quidditch, Glorious Bitches Galore and Bitches Analysis Corner.

As always, thanks to everyone for their input on the mailbag questions, love to see that engagement from our listeners!

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In episode 13, we talk to one of the more colourful characters within the European community- Bex McLaughlin. In this wide-ranging interview, we look back at how Bex began playing quidditch at the University of Southern Mississippi in southern USA, returning to the UK to play with Keele and multiple other teams, setting up their own team, moving to live in Catalonia and Austria, representing multiple national teams, playing Rugby, commentating and volunteering. We also talk about Bex's grievances with the sport, notably incidences of sexism, raising awareness of some important issues for quidditch to address as a sporting community. 

Thanks to everyone for submitting so many questions for the (fe)mail bag for this episode, it's great to see lots of engagement from our listeners!

Remember to stay up to date with future episodes of the podcast by following the Total Quidditch. Facebook page.

Note- There are some issues with the audio but we hope for the most part that you're able to enjoy the episode.

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In more of a personal episode for our host, we speak with Fraser's long time teammate Aaron Veale. Starting off as a plucky 5ft 7 kid rocking up to his first quidditch session at Southampton in a Portsmouth shirt, Aaron talks through his career progression including his early success winning BQC 2015 with the Anchors all the way through to his captaincy year in which he redefined himself as a short yet very capable shooting keeper that pushed the UK game in new directions. We also talk through his initial breakthrough with Team UK at European Games 2015, his self-doubt in terms of finding his role within a team, how his background in Basketball has transferred to quidditch as well as his experience playing with Werewolves of London.

Thanks as always to our listeners and to those submitting questions for the mailbag. Check out our Facebook page to see who's coming next on the podcast!

Note- there's a bit of echo on some of the speech but hopefully it doesn't detract from your enjoyment of the episode.

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