The three waves of on-pitch inclusion – presence, participation, determination.
/Courtney Buckley, of the Valkyries Quidditch Club and Quidditch Australia’s Gender Engagement Committee, discusses her thoughts around progressing the role of women in quidditch, and moving from mere presence and participation to determining roles.
Disclaimer: This article will refer to gender in predominantly binary terms. This is not to discount the experiences of non-binary people in the sport, but instead to provide a space to focus on and address issues specifically related to the experiences of female players and identify masculine behavioural norms in our current culture.
Disclaimer 2 : As my primary positions are chaser/keeper, this article focuses on the quaffle and quaffle-player game.
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It’s likely that everyone in quidditch is aware of the trope of females being assigned wing and rarely touching the ball, and of the meme series earlier last year calling upon males to, and glorifying those who do, pass to women. These tropes and themes are displays of cultural attitudes and shifts within the community over time – what I like to think of as the waves of on-pitch inclusivity. Being on wing and never touching the ball is the 1st wave, hallmarked by a tokenistic interpretation of the gender rule (as opposed to interpreting the spirit of the rule) that ensures there are chicks on pitch, but that’s about it – not necessarily involved or valued but merely present.
Quite quickly, women got frustrated at this, and rightly so – it’s pretty boring and disheartening (to say it nicely) to not touch the ball or be involved in play for almost the entire duration of a game. To address this, a 2nd wave arose, a push for women to touch the ball sweeping through the community, neatly captured by the common and passionately advised yelp from the sidelines to “pass to your women!”. And finally, women were able to somewhat participate, able to touch a ball, move a little, get goals. And for a little while the community accepted this development of (predominantly) women’s on-pitch inclusivity.
But participating isn’t the same as equal involvement; women are helping but rarely leading; they’re participating in play, but they rarely determine play. This stage of determination is the 3rd wave. While women get passed the ball regularly enough, it’s still rare to see female play makers or primary ball-carriers, or even females being passed the ball later in a play in a situation where they have the genuine opportunity to direct and influence the play’s progression, as opposed to a more tokenistic pass expecting the pass back to the male ball carrier, while the ball is being walked up field.
To explain what I mean, I’ll start with a contrast – usually, females acquire the ball as a receiver, often to perform a mechanistic catch-and-dunk role and sometimes as a last-resort hospital pass. In contrast, what I’m advocating for is situations where females have reasonable room to progress and direct play through their own strategic manoeuvres – actions such as running the ball, evading a defender, making a clever pass. That sort of play-advancing opportunity isn’t often available in the two most common situations women currently have the ball in.
So, what does the way forward look like? Well, I believe it looks like:
More initial female ball-carrying and play making.
More passing play, in general, as it opens opportunities for all players to obviously and meaningfully contribute to the play’s advancement.
A focus in trainings on female players’ skill development, supporting their leadership and confidence development, and teaching female-playstyle support skills.
This last point, about recognising different play styles and ensuring the whole team is able to support each other’s different play styles, each with their associated strengths and weaknesses, is a point I want to emphasise. Currently, quidditch is quite male-oriented in regards to what play styles are most often taught and used. For instance, driving through two players to dunk and score is quite a ‘masculine’ play that is largely predicated on physical strength and comfort engaging in contact. However, many of the current female players are not confident or adequately trained in driving, stepping, and contact. Instead, their strengths currently often lie in cutting, passing, and catching. In a pass-heavy play style, these strengths shine more greatly, and these players can contribute more significantly to their teams.
In addition to identifying a players’ strengths and shaping a play around those strong attributes, it is also advantageous to recognise the current limitations of a player and devise ways to support them to overcome those attributes. For example, if a player isn’t strong at stepping or comfortable with contact, picks/screens are super helpful as they take away the need for those actions. Not only will a pick enable a female ball-carrier to do more, an off-ball player is able to be more meaningfully involved and to contribute more substantially to the play and their team than other plays may provide room for.
There’s a specific reason I use the term ‘off-ball player’ opposed to ‘support player’. While off-ball players often do, and should, provide support to whoever the present ball-carrier is, I believe it’s helpful to think of off-ball players as collaborative opposed to supportive. By focusing on the collaborative aspect of an off-ball player’s role, emphasis is placed on the capability and responsibility of off-ball players to initiate and direct play. This is in contrast to focusing on an off-ball player’s supportive role, which often exhibits itself as more reactive, opposed to proactive, action. Off-ball players are capable and collaborative because it isn’t necessary (although it’s often advantageous) to have a ball in your hands in order to influence how the opposition and your teammates move. Off-ball players can pressure space, run interference, pull out defensive players, set picks/screens, and direct the ball-carrier to pass to the best option. Take a fast-break situation, for example – an off-ball player has influence over the game as they provide a passing option, pressure space, and force the defender to think about and respond to more challenges and possible play variations.
So, the actionable take away:
If you’re a coach, incorporate more female-focused skill development and assistance.
If you’re a captain, play your females.
If you’re a selector, select females – and beyond the bare minimum the rules require.
If you’re typically the primary ball-carrier on your team, encourage your female teammates to ball-carry and support them as lateral, or play on the wing to learn more about that role and ways that position can be more utilised.
If you’re a player, ask your coaches to run drills that help you to develop personal skills and also drills that teach teammates how to support you, hold your captains accountable to ensure female teammates are played and included adequately, take the initiative to play a different position – if you’re usually wing, play lateral, and visa versa, be proactive in directing the game as an off-ball player, and pay closer attention to passing options and passing play opportunities if you’re a ball-carrier.
This is important because quidditch and its community is here to be a safe place that’s inclusive of all, and genuine inclusivity means having equal opportunities and support. Quidditch provides this incredible space where traditional notions of gender and capability can be challenged and reshaped for better – so let’s take advantage of this unique space to foster confident and satisfied people.
And remember, if you don’t teach your females, develop your females, and play your females, then you’ll lose your females.