Players across the country will give a whole new meaning to the term “fantasy sport” as they organize their own fantasy quidditch tournaments this summer.

The fantasy tournaments, which are unrelated to a similarly named joint endeavor by the IQA and MyHogwarts.co.uk, will consist of teams drafted from a common pool of players by general managers, who will also act as coaches throughout the event. The Southwest regional fantasy tournament, which is being organized by Kody Marshall and Augustine Monroe of the University of Texas (Austin, TX,) will allot each GM 1,000 galleons with which to bid on players for their team.

“We have some really big names in the quidditch world that will be traveling from all over to play together in an ultimate mercenary-style game,” says Marshall. “The competition will be fierce.”

The Southwest event’s format was used as the basis for similar events taking place in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest.

“I saw the event page for the Southwest’s fantasy tournament and realized the sort of potential that type of tourney could have in creating a feeling of closeness in our region,” says Steve DiCarlo, organizer of the Northeast regional event. “Having neutral GMs draft players onto teams… helps form bonds between players on teams from all over the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.”

His sentiment is shared by Luke Changet, one of the organizers of the Midwest regional event.

“[I]t doesn’t get any better than Midwest’s love for the game and for each other,” says Changet, who also captains the team at Ohio State University (Columbus, OH.) “That combination [of friendliness off the pitch and fierce competition on the pitch] coming from players from teams all around the Midwest is what’s going to make this great.”

A similar event, the FireMercs Invitational, is being planned for July in the West region, and will see players divided into teams by the organizers based on factors like position, skill, and experience.

Besides encouraging bonding between players throughout their respective regions, says DiCarlo, the tournaments will provide players with a much-needed opportunity to play organized quidditch during the summer months, when other events are less frequent.

“I think next quidditch season is going to be the best and most intense yet,” he says, “so summer quidditch tournaments are a great way to get ready and meet the awesome people that’ll soon become your biggest competitors.”

A list of Facebook events and contact information for each of the four fantasy tournaments can be found below. Interested players are encouraged to review the information provided for their respective event and to be aware of any relevant registration deadlines or entry fees.

Northeast Fantasy Tournament– 8/12/12; contact Steve DiCarlo
Mid-Atlantic Fantasy Tournamentt– 7/21/12; contact Logan Anbinder
Midwest Fantasy Tournament–8/4/12; contact Luke Changet
Southwest Fantasy tournament– 7/27/12; contact Kody Marshall
FireMercs Invitational (Los Angeles, CA)– 7/7-7/8/12; contact Natalie Stottler