Harry Potter Comes Alive?

Hopefully this post won't frighten away anyone with mental images of crazy kids running around tackling each other on brooms. However, if I portray the sport accurately, that may be just the mental image that results. Quiditch, first imagined in the infamous Harry Potter series, is no longer purely a figment of the imagination. In fact, it's rapidly spreading to enjoy somewhat of a national sensation as a strange and pleasantly quirky game. Transylvania does indeed have a team, and I am very excited to say that I am a part of it.

The game operates as closely as practical to the imagined version of it in the Harry Potter novels. One rather obvious difference is that we, of course, don't fly. Instead, the broom must be held with one hand between the legs as the player runs up and down the pitch. "Bludgers" are represented by dodge balls thrown at players to force them to reset at their own goalposts before coming back into play. The snitch is represented by a person, usually a cross country or track runner, who attaches a small ball to his back and flees from the two seekers, one for each team, trying to retrieve it. However, in this version of the game, catching the snitch is only worth 30 points instead of the overwhelming 150 portrayed in the fantasy.

So, enough about the rules, what's it like to play? It seems like I'm falling into the role of an offensive chaser, or the position that manages the "quaffle" and tries to throw it through the opposing teams' goal posts. In some ways, it's like basketball. In other ways, it's just completely ridiculous, in an eccentric and much loved way. Surprisingly enough however, the stop and go running is actually somewhat physically taxing for a sport which isn't typically associated with competent athletes. Not to mention the physicality of the sport which allows for full contact excepting tackles from behind or use of both hands; can you say rough and tumble nerd play? Aside from the occasional frustrating bludger knocking me out of play, I absolutely love it.

Quiditch isn't just about hanging out and having a good time on campus either. We at Transylvania actually have a traveling team which plays a few other colleges in the region over the fall semester. I hope to be a part of this team, partly because it's fun, partly because it's good exercise, and partly because it's awesome to be involved in a sport where no one is truly proficient through practice from childhood. So, I hope the idea isn't too exclusively eccentric, and I hope to see you at the pitch!