AIDAN POLLARD
Sports Editor
Quidditch: The fictional sport played exclusively within the Harry Potter universe; at least up until 2005.
In a game of Quidditch in the Harry Potter universe, there are seven players on each team along with four balls to worry about.
The quaffle is the ball that the team uses to score with. It is placed between one of three hoops on each end of an oval pitch, and scoring through one of the hoops is worth 10 points.
Two of the other balls are called bludgers. They are hit by bats at players of the opposing team to hinder forward progress.
The final ball is the snitch. It is extremely small and flies around at high speeds until it is caught by a player of either team, ending the game and earning 150 points.
Each of the seven players on either team flies around on broomsticks trying to score or play defense while waiting for the snitch to be caught.
Except for the seeker; their only job is to catch the snitch.
The other positions are the chasers, who are the three offensive players trying to score with the quaffle, the beaters who are the two defensive players in charge of hitting the bludgers with bats and the keeper, who is essentially a goaltender.
The fictional sport became so popular that, in 2005, people began playing for themselves (without the flying of course).
Fredonia picked up on the trend soon thereafter.
“I wanted to join a team, but I didn’t want the demand of a college team,” said Fredonia Quidditch captain and club president Corey Poole. “It’s kind of nice to be able to play in a sport, still play with a team, still enjoy playing against other teams and still have time for schoolwork.”
In real-life quidditch, bludgers are thrown instead of hit, the snitch is a person running around with a tennis ball attached to their waist (like flag football) and the players have to keep one hand on a broomstick that is between their legs at all times.
The snitch is also worth only 30 points in a real-life game.
“You don’t have to be a fan of Harry Potter at all to play quidditch,” said Poole. “The rules are pretty simple. Anyone can learn them.”
Since its real-life inception in 2005,
quidditch has grown tremendously and expanded to many colleges across the U.S. and many European countries.
In 2007, the first Quidditch World Cup took place, with Middlebury,
Vermont (the founding team and host) taking home the championships.
“I’ve always enjoyed Harry Potter, and I wanted to be involved in something sports, but not a legit team,” said Antoinette Arid, social coordinator for the club.
Obviously, quidditch is here and it has no intentions of going anywhere soon.
Whether you think its a cool, inclusive sport for everyone (the sport is completely mixed gender) or just a joke, quidditch is loved by its fans and those who play it just as seriously as any other college team.