Quadball invites trans and queer women to play
A sports organization that celebrates inclusivity at a time when exclusion of some amateur athletes is on the rise is inviting transgender and queer women and girls to try quadball.
"We super want to make sure that all trans folk know they're welcome in sport, and trans women are the ones who are even more under attack," said Jasper Whitby, a coach and board member for the Edmonton Quadball Association.
The "try-it" event will take place on Feb. 16 at Commonwealth Recreation Centre. Youth are invited to try the sport from 10am to 1pm, and adults can play 2pm to 5pm. Registration for the Family Day event is $5.
Quadball is "that weird, niche sport you've never heard of," Whitby said. "It is a chaotic and fun mix of handball and dodgeball and flag football, with the strategic aspects of basketball and soccer, but also things that you've never seen before."
The game is based on Quidditch, the fictional sport played on broomsticks in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Quadball was invented at a fan convention in the United States in 2003, and spread quickly to countries around the world. Several years ago, the quadball community started to distance itself from the Harry Potter association. For one, it's hard for sports organizations to secure grants when the sport's name includes intellectual property. But for some leagues, including Edmonton's, the move was motivated by a desire for distance from Rowling's transphobic views and behaviour.
"There's few niche sports that have trans inclusion, and for us, the second J.K. Rowling is out here making these horrendous statements, we were like, 'Well, that's not going to fly for our sport that is so integrally trans-inclusive,'" Whitby said.
Inclusive team composition is written into quadball's rules. Most leagues use a gender‑maximum policy that limits how many players of the same gender can be on the field at once — typically three during the first phase of play, and four during the second. The rule recognizes that trans athletes should play in the category that aligns with their gender, not what they were assigned at birth, and explicitly includes non‑binary players. "Trans women are playing with cis women, cis men, trans men, (non-binary) folks — they're all on the team at the same time," Whitby said.
Events like this are needed, Whitby said, because of legislation like Alberta's Bill 9, which invokes the notwithstanding clause to protect legislation that limits participation in women's and girls' sports to those who were assigned female at birth, among other limitations that transgender advocates have described as harmful. The United Conservative Party government has said the legislation will protect the integrity of female athletic competitions.
Whitby said they've noticed an uptick in trans youth starting to play quadball since the legislation limiting transgender participation in sports was introduced. They said parents of trans children are relieved that the sport doesn't require parents to vouch that their child was assigned female at birth, a step now required for girls' sports teams at Edmonton Public Schools. "This is stress off of their chest in a very stressful time for parents of trans kids right now," Whitby said.
