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Not Just for Wizards Anymore: KU Quidditch

The Kansas Quidditch team was recently ranked number one and will head to the World Cup in New York where they will compete against 100 teams with hopes of becoming the best team in the world.

Quidditch? Yes…you read that correctly. The Kansas University Quidditch team is now headed to the World Cup with a top ranking. They were #1 in the rankings in mid-October, but they fell one spot to #2 in the most recent rankings behind the sport’s originators from Middlebury College in Vermont. They will head to the World Cup on Nov. 11 to try to recapture that top spot.

Jonathan Cooper, KU Junior from Lee’s Summit, MO, recently produced a segment about the Quidditch team for his reporting class and The Local Show now presents an excerpt from the piece he produced after the rankings came out in October with KU atop the list.

Here is the accompanying story he wrote:

KU Quidditch Team Seeks World Cup Win

The University of Kansas has a new number one ranked athletic team, and it is not basketball. It’s not football or soccer or volleyball either. In fact, many people probably don’t even consider it a sport.

But for about 30 KU students, the news that their team is the best in the world, is the icing on the cake to a sport they started playing only two years ago. The sport is Quidditch, the Harry Potter inspired game where wizards fly to score goals in multiple rings.

“It’s different from the Harry Potter world in the fact that you can’t fly,” said Doug Whiston, team captain and founder. “We have to make certain concessions to actual physics.”

KU junior Doug Whiston organized the club his freshman year, which officially was recognized by the University in 2010. Whiston noticed the sport gain popularity at other schools around the country and gathered his friends to play in tournaments.

“It started just as casual talk and then Wichita State e-mailed us about a tournament they were hosting,” Whiston said. “We quickly scrambled and got a team together, and then we went down, competed and got third place.”

The team quickly grew and started playing in tournaments against other schools. Just last week the International Quidditch Association ranked KU as the number one team in all of human Quidditch.

“Now that we are ranked one we have a target on our back,” said Hai Nguyen, a player that is one of the founding members. “We have to bring our A-game every time or we could lose a step.”

The team’s success has come fast for Whiston who is unsure if they deserve it.

“A lot of schools on the East Coast say we only play Midwest schools,” Whiston said. “They tell us to face some real competition.”

Whiston and the rest of the team will get their chance starting Nov. 11 at the World Cup in New York.

“The World Cup is a tournament with about 100 teams,” Whiston said. “There will be schools there from around the county and a couple international ones.”

Whiston said the team is excited for the opportunity, but for him, winning is not everything.

“I just want to see us face some tough competition,” Whiston said. “It will be fun to see how good schools on the East Coast are.”

The tournament will run from Nov. 11 to 14, with the winner earning bragging rights as the best team in the world.

If you have content you think might be of interest to The Local Show, please email us at thelocalshow@kcpt.org.

Tags: The Local Show, TLS210

Nothing Gold Can Stay: Frank White

Legendary Kansas City Royals second baseman and hometown hero, Frank White, talks to Randy Mason about his life in baseball and his new role with the T-Bones.

He won eight Golden Gloves and played in five All-Star Games. Frank White played 18 seasons in the major leagues and all of them with the Kansas City Royals. Following his playing career he became a coach and a popular Royals broadcaster. That is until recently when his longtime club unceremoniously dismissed him from his contract.

Now, White is no longer spending his days at the K but across town at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, home to the Kansas City T-Bones, the metros’ minor league ballclub, where he recently took on the job of first-base coach.

Their new season gets underway next week. White joined Randy to talk about his life and career in baseball.

Tags: The Local Show, TLS227

On The Frontier of Life Science: The Stowers Institute for Medical Research

Pam James takes viewers inside of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, which has attracted some of the world's finest medical researchers to Kansas City to develop innovative approaches to the causes, treatment and prevention of a variety of diseases.

The term “life sciences” gets thrown around a lot these days. It is even a big part of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s Big 5. But what does it mean exactly? It is a concept that can be hard to understand, and sometimes quite complicated.

Life science is a multi-billion dollar industry in Kansas City, and it includes over 240 companies involved in the health of humans, animals and plants. One of these local life sciences organizations is the venerable Stowers Institute for Medical Research, which opened in 2000 with much fanfare on the site of the former Menorah Medical Center and was endowed with a jaw-dropping gift of $2 billion from the founder of American Century investments, Jim Stowers and his wife, Virginia.

Over the last decade, the Stowers Institute, located just off the Country Club Plaza, has attracted some of the world’s finest medical researchers to Kansas City to analyze our society’s most debilitating diseases and the keys to their causes. But after 13 years and such a large endowment, what kind of specific research and developments are actually taking place inside the Institute? Producer Pam James visits this center for life science research and discovery to show viewers what the Stowers Institute is all about.

Tags: Big 5, Big 5 Ideas, Life Science, The Local Show, TLS326

One Year of the KCPA: Julia Irene Kauffman & Shirley Helzberg

Julia Irene Kauffman and Shirley Helzberg reflect on the inaugural year of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

It’s been a year now since the curtain opened on the much anticipated $415 million Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The downtown venue designed by Moshie Safdie has quickly garnered both national and international attention.

Many of the center’s shows have earned rave reviews and there have been countless sold out performances. But one year on, is it meeting expectations?

Joining us for a status report is arts leader and philanthropist Julia Irene Kauffman, who chair’s the center’s board, and Symphony Board President Shirley Helzberg.

Tags: Arts, Dance, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Music, The Local Show, TLS306

Outside the Box: Jim Hinson and the Independence School District

Nick Haines talks to Independence School District Superintendent Jim Hinson about some of the headline grabbing issues that have put Dr. Hinson in the spotlight.

Should you be required to live where you work? The Independence School District thinks so.

A new residency rule is shaking up their top staff. About 60 principals, assistant principals and other Independence School District administrators who live outside the district are now going to have to start house hunting.

A policy just passed by the school board forces administrators to live in the district by February 2015. The idea was insisted upon by superintendent Dr Jim Hinson. But why?

It is just one of the headline grabbing stories that has put Hinson in the news of late. He’s also seen himself on the Today Show and Good Morning America in the last several weeks as the district opts to enroll more than a dozen of its most obese students in a 28 thousand dollar a semester weight loss camp in South Carolina.

Dr. Hinson sat down with Nick Haines on The Local Show.

Tags: Education, Health, Obesity, The Local Show, TLS321

Paving the Way to the Superhighway: Time Warner Cable’s Low Income Plan

Time Warner Cable unveiled a new low cost internet plan for low income families. Parents of children in certain school districts will be eligible in this alternative to Google Fiber. The Local Show was at the press conference where Mayors Sly James and Joe Reardon helped make the announcement.

Much has been made in the news lately about Google Fiber finally hooking up Kansas City homes to its hotly-anticipated high speed network, but there are still lingering concerns about who will be left behind.

A survey this summer found that a quarter of Kansas Citians don’t have broadband Internet access at home. While Google is offering free internet service for a $300 hook-up fee in those neighborhoods that are lucky enough to be part of its roll-out area, that still leaves huge swaths of the metro area without affordable service.

Now Time Warner Cable is getting in on the act by announcing, at a big press conference with both Kansas City Mayor’s, a less than 10 dollar-a-month internet service intended for low income families living in nine area school districts.

Time Warner’s $9.95-a-month plan will allow anyone with a child enrolled in any of these school districts and who’s currently not a Time Warner customer to take advantage of the discount program.

You have until the end of January to apply. We’ll acknowledge that if you don’t have a computer, you won’t be able to check there. Here’s the telephone number in case you want to take advantage of this service: 1-855-746-8704.

Tags: Technology, The Local Show, TLS315

performARTS: Charlotte Street Foundation

This week, in conjunction with KC Studio Magazine, our performARTS Series takes a look at the Charlotte Street Foundation. Named after a house near UMKC where poets, painters and music makers would gather to eat, drink and talk shop, Charlotte Street celebrates turning 15 this year. Randy Mason has more about this unique operation, which through cash awards and other forms of assistance helps the region’s artists do more of what they do best.

Tags: performARTS, The Local Show, TLS228

performARTS: Jewish Community Center’s White Theatre

As part of our performARTS series in conjunction with KC Studio Magazine, Randy Mason provides viewers with a look at the Jewish Community Center’s White Theatre.

Jewish Community Centers sprang up in many American cities around the turn of the 20th century, in part because Jews were excluded from other organizations.

But unlike the YMCA, for example, these centers didn’t focus solely on physical fitness. They also stressed the growth of the whole person, including artistic endeavors. In this installment of our performARTS series, we’ll take you out to Overland Park to see some of the impressive work going on inside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City, a place its own Cultural Arts director calls the “best kept secret around.”

The center’s season will conclude with Hairspray, July 13-28 in the White Theatre, which will then move out to Johnson County’s Theater In the Park, the first time that arrangement has ever been tried.

If you want to learn more about the history of the JCC’s old Resident Theatre, check out Richard Piland’s book, The Illustrated History of the Resident Theatre Kansas City, Missouri 1932-1983, which chronicles this piece of Kansas City and Jewish history. The book features pictures and descriptions of almost all of the major productions the theater offered.

Tags: Arts, performARTS, The Local Show, TLS330

performARTS: Kansas City Actors Theatre

As part of our performARTS series in conjunction with KC Studio Magazine, Randy Mason provides viewers with a look at the Kansas City Actors Theatre, an artist-led, artist-driven ensemble of theatre professionals who produce classic and modern-classic plays in a true rotating repertory using only local Kansas City theatre artists.

This next story begins about ten years ago when the artistic director of a theater we won’t name decided not to cast local actors in major roles. Not surprisingly, that didn’t go over too well with some very talented people here in town. And it soon led to the birth of the Kansas City Actors Theatre.

Since then, that other organization has changed its policy, but the Actors Theatre goes on, gearing up this summer for its eighth season.

As part of our performARTS series in conjunction with KC Studio Magazine, we take you inside the Kansas City Actors Theatre.

The Kansas City Actors Theater kicks off its 8th season with Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, which will run August 8th through 26th at Union Station’s H&R Block City Stage.

Tags: Arts, performARTS, The Local Show, Theater, TLS302

performARTS: Kansas City Chorale

In conjunction with KC Studio Magazine, our performARTS series zooms in on the Kansas City Chorale.

With a concert coming up at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts on May 12th and a new CD on the way this summer, the Kansas City Chorale continues to be a vital part of our city’s cultural life with 30 years of music-making that has been honored with Grammy Awards and international acclaim. This week, in conjunction with KC Studio Magazine, our performARTS series zooms in on the Chorale.

The Kansas City Chorale, with guests from the Phoenix Chorale, will perform masterworks by Russian composers in Helzberg Hall on Saturday, May 12.

Tags: Music, performARTS, TLS222

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