Quidditch comes to VCU

The brooms can’t fly and the snitch is a human player,
but VCU is following in the footsteps of more than 130
other schools across the U.S., Canada and Argentina
by forming a campus muggle quidditch team.

After weeks of grueling practice, the team will show
off its skills at a game May 4.

Quidditch was invented
in J.K. Rowling’s
“Harry Potter” series,
and the muggle version
combines elements of
rugby, dodgeball and
pure imagination to create
a sometimes dangerous
sport.

“It’s a very rough
sport,” said Heather
Wright, the VCU team’s
captain, coordinator and
chaser. “We’ve had a lot
of injuries.”

Wright, an English major, has been hit in the face with a
bludger and nearly has broken her foot while practicing.

Amber Cummings, one of the team’s keepers, said
she almost had her teeth knocked out by a teammate’s
broom during practice.

“The brooms have a tendency to hit people in the
face,” Cummings said.

Despite the strenuous nature of the game, the
“nerd” stigma surrounding the sport still exists. Several
members of the team have experienced a mocking
response from other students.

“We’ll be carrying around our brooms, and one
person said, ‘That’s retarded,’ to our faces,” said English
major Brooke Bernard, the team’s co-captain and a
beater. “People get weird about it. We’re having enough
fun that it doesn’t bother us.”

Britni Puccio, a mass communications major and a
keeper, thinks because it’s from the “Harry Potter” series, the
sport is taken less seriously.

“I think a lot of ‘Harry
Potter’ fans get the label of
‘nerd’ or ‘geek.’ People don’t
really consider quidditch to
be a sport when really, it
requires a lot more athletic
ability than bowling-but
yet that’s national athletics,”
Puccio said.

Being a fan of the series is
not expected of those who
want to join the team.

“We have people who
have not read the books or seen the movies,” Bernard
said. “It’s a sport in itself.”

Hassan Ahmed, the team’s seeker and a chemistry
major with a concentration in pre-med, said anyone
can learn to play quidditch.

“The sport is simple to learn,” Ahmed said. “It’s
easy to get used to; anyone can do it. You do look a
little silly playing, but that’s the fun of it.”

The team’s game May 4 will be held in Monroe
Park at 12 p.m.

Terminology

Muggle: a non-magical person in the
world of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter”
series

Bludger: a ball thrown at other players
by the opposing team to prevent
them from scoring or otherwise playing
successfully

Beaters: two players who “beat” the
bludgers at the opposing team’s players
and away from their team’s players

Brooms: in Rowling’s “Harry Potter”
series, characters fly around on brooms
as a mode of transportation and to play
quidditch. In muggle quidditch, players
must hold the brooms between their
legs as they play

Quaffle: a ball thrown through the
opposing team’s goal posts to score

Chasers: two players who “chase” the
quaffle, trying to score

Goal posts: in muggle quidditch, these
consist of three hula-hoops attached to
wooden posts

Keeper: player who guards the goal
posts

Snitch or Snitch runner: in Rowling’s
books and movies, the snitch is a walnutsized
ball that flies around and is very
hard to see. In muggle quidditch, the
snitch runner is a person with a tennis
ball encased in a sock hanging out of
their shorts. The goal for the seeker is to
snatch the tennis ball. In both versions
of the game, catching the snitch ends the
match.

Seeker: player who tries to catch the
snitch

How to play

Muggle quidditch is played by a team
of seven players who run around the
field with (sometimes-decorated) brooms
clasped between their legs. The goal is
to score with the quaffle, while trying to
catch the elusive snitch runner, and to do
all this without being hit by bludger.