'Muggle' Quidditch

            Sports are an important part of our culture and J.K Rowling must have realized this when she was writing Harry Potter.  Jo gave the wizarding world a unique sport called Quidditch.  Quidditch became an important element in most of the books because usually something important happened just before, during, or as the result of a Quidditch match.    That is because Harry started playing Quidditch his first year and it became an important part in his life.  For Harry, it was a constant happiness in a life that wasn’t always easy. 

            Jo created every aspect of this unique sport.   Quidditch teams are composed of seven players.  There are three chasers, two beaters, a keeper and a seeker.   What makes this game magical is that every player is flying on a broom.  The three chasers work together to try and get the quaffle, a ball that is used for scoring points, through the other teams three hoops.   The two beaters use their bats to hit the two bludgers at opposing players and try to knock them off their brooms. 

The keeper’s job is to try and stop the quaffle from going into one of the three rings.  They are like goalies in soccer.  The most important player, who usually ends up winning the game, is the seeker.  Harry is a seeker and his goal is to catch the golden snitch, a tiny flying ball that is extremely difficult to see, to end the game.  Each quaffle in a ring is ten points and catching the snitch is 150 points.   Games can last anywhere between seconds to hours.  It all depends on how fast the seeker catches the snitch. 

Obviously, muggles cannot play 'real' Quidditch, but they have found a way around that.   In 2005, Middlebury College in Vermont started an intramural Quiddtich league.  In 2007, the first intercollegiate Quiddtich match was played between Middlebury College and Vassar College.  Following that game the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association was created.  Since then ‘muggle’ or ‘ground’ Quidditch has soared (no pun intended).  Over 400 colleges and 300 high-schools have formed teams and over half are already active.

 

Due to the popularity around the world, in 2010, the IQA became the International Quidditch Association.  History was made February 16^th,when the first transatlantic Quidditch match was played between Vassar College and the University of Vassa from Finland.  The University of Florida is also getting ready to host the Southeast Regionals Swamp Cup.  The Swamp Cup will take place March 18-20 in Gainsville, Florida, so if you are looking to watch some ‘real’ Quidditch that is the place to be. 

The rules are based off of Quidditch in the Harry Potter series.  From what I understand, every player must be holding a broom at all times.  The golden snitch is a cross country runner and if you are hit by a bludger you have to freeze for a certain amount of time.  You can read more in the actual IQA rulebook.  I wish that my college had a quidditch team.  You can bet that I would be on it before you could say Quidditch.  It is awesome that this is becoming a large phenomenon across the US and also the world.  If Quidditch became an actual sport, I could die happy.