Muggles to Join Magical Game of Quidditch

Robed teenagers are zooming around on broomsticks, flying after winged gold balls and dodging magical iron spheres. This is Quidditch, the magical sport featured in the popular “Harry Potter” novels. Yet this sport is no longer just for witches and wizards any more. There is now a version adapted for us Muggles (non-wizards/witches).
Quidditch is a simple game, with seven players on each team. There are four Chasers, two Beaters, one Keeper and one Seeker.
In the “Harry Potter” books, the four Chasers are the primary goal-scorers of each team. They use the Quaffle, a large, red, non-magical ball. To score, the Chasers work together to throw the Quaffle through the goals, which are circular hoops high in the air. There are three goals on each side of the field. Each time one of the Chasers score, his or her team receives 10 points.
The Keeper guards his or her hoops, trying to keep the other team from scoring.
The Beaters use large bats to hit the two Bludgers, or iron balls that are enchanted to try to hit Quidditch players. The Beaters try to aim the Bludgers at members of the other team while trying to protect their own.
Finally, the Seeker spends the game searching for the Snitch, a tiny, golden, winged ball. Whichever Seeker catches the Snitch first earns his or her team 150 points and ends the game. At the end of the game, the team with the most points wins, so the team whose Seeker catches the Snitch usually wins.
The rules of Muggle Quidditch are basically the same as in magical Quidditch. However, the location and equipment of the game have to be adjusted due to the lack of magic.
“It’s a very creative adaption of the sport invented in ‘Harry Potter,’” sophomore Stefan Tian said. “It sounds fun, and anything created this way is usually very interesting.”
The game is usually played on a field about the size of a soccer field.
Unfortunately, Muggles have not yet invented a flying mechanism, so there are no magical broomsticks. Instead, people may run around with a broomstick between their legs. The broomsticks are not necessary, but they do add an additional sense of magic to the game.
Another huge change is the lack of a magical Snitch. Instead, one person must dress in gold and run around the field. The Seekers then spend the game chasing the human Snitch. Whoever tags the Snitch first earns the 150 points and ends the game. Another version of Quidditch involves putting a ball in a golden sock and tucking it into the back of the Snitch’s waist. The Seekers must get the ball without knocking down the Snitch.
For goals, three hula hoops are attached to PVC pipes. People can use basketballs or volleyballs for a Quaffle and must shoot the balls through a hoop.More advanced players can use Frisbees.
Finally, in place of Bludgers, dodgeballs can be used. Beaters then use tennis rackets to hit the dodgeballs at other players, which provides more accuracy.
The game begins with a jump ball in the center of the field, as the Quaffle is thrown up and whichever player catches it wins possession for his or her team. Players toss the Quaffle to each other, and should a player from the other team catch the ball, they then have won possession. After a team scores, the Quaffle automatically goes to the other team, who starts at the center of the field. From then on, the game continues until the Snitch is caught.
“It’s great recreation,” junior Ariel Tabachnik said. “The only problem is the Snitch aspect. The whole ‘magic’ of the game in ‘Harry Potter’ wasn’t just catching up to the Snitch. It was finding it.”
Quidditch has become a popular game at many colleges. Middlebury hosts the Intercollegiate Quidditch World Cup each year. Roughly a dozen colleges who belong to the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association, such as Vassar, Emerson, McGill, Princeton, University of Washington, Boston University and UMass, compete each fall. Stanford also has its own Quidditch games on campus. For more information about the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association, visit collegequidditch.com.