Logo courtesy of Rachael Lavin.

Published on: Wednesday, August 05, 2009

By Jessica Bauer

Harry Potter fans at the University of Maryland, College Park have taken their devotion to the J.K. Rowling fantasy series to another level, starting up a Quidditch team at the local campus.

Quidditch, a game in the wizarding world played on flying broomsticks, has become a popular sport to play at many colleges across the nation. Now, UMD students will get their chance to play the sport so many have dreamed of playing.

The sport is for “every level of Harry Potter fans,” Rachael Lavin, the UMD student who decided to start the school’s very own Quidditch team, said.

If you read the books as they came along, starting with “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and ending with “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” or even if you just picked up the books recently and loved them, the Quidditch team could be right for you, Lavin explained.

The game will be played with the Harry Potter series in mind, with players running with brooms between their legs to symbolize flying on the broomsticks. The positions, according to Lavin, will be the same as in the books, too. The team will consist of beaters, chasers, a keeper and a seeker.

Since the game is meant to be played in a world of magic, where broomsticks fly and the balls involved in the game fly on their own, it takes a bit of translation to make the game fit for a non-magical college campus.

So, in 2005, according to the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association, Middlebury College students in Vermont made J.K. Rowling’s rules their own with a few modifications. And these are the same rules that Lavin and her teammates will follow, she said.

First of all, the entire game is played on brooms. And, to make things more challenging, one hand must be on the broomstick at all times. Players also must wear capes, according to Lavin.

The entire game, players must avoid being hit with balls called bludgers. If they are hit, they must return to their goal zone before they can play again.

The Golden Snitch, the tiny magical ball that flew up into the clouds for Harry Potter and other seekers to find, will be a cross country runner with a tennis ball hanging down their back whose job is to run away from the seekers, making themselves difficult to catch.

For the first 20 minutes, the snitch can run anywhere to avoid being caught. But, they must return to the field where they will eventually be caught by the seekers. They typically taunt the players on the field, adding entertainment to the already whacky game.

The game ends, and 50 points are scored, when the snitch is finally caught. But players can score in other ways, too. Another type of ball, a quaffle, can be thrown into three hoops on a team’s respective end of the field to rack up 10 points for each goal. At the end of the game, no matter who caught the snitch, the team with the most points wins.

And, students on the UMD campus are truly excited for this team to start.

“The current college and high school generation has already been called the ‘Harry Potter Generation.’ Being that I grew up on J. K. Rowling’s books and grew up with her characters, her books have made a huge impact on my life,” Valerie Fischman, a University of Maryland student and a future member of the Quidditch team said. “Having the ability to bring Quidditch to UMD and participate in its inaugural year to me is awesome and something I never though would be a reality.

Other students agree with Fischman. “Combine a nerdy love with some degree of exercise, and I finally have a club on campus that I’d be somewhat interested in,” Rin Hunter, a UMD student said. “I suppose I’d like to be a beater or a keeper,” she added about which position she’d like to play.

UMD student Seth Burroughs said he is excited to play Quidditch because he doesn’t like most other sports.

“Quidditch is a perfect combination of athleticism and fantasy. It’s a great outlet for someone who isn’t into traditional sports but still wants to be part of a team,” Burroughs said. “Plus I’m a big, new Harry Potter fan, having only read the books my sophomore year after they all came out. I really am looking forward to tryouts,” he said.

“Ideally, I’d like to play seeker. I’ve always been a runner, and am currently training for a marathon. I’d like to be able to use my training to help the team as best I can,” Burroughs added.

Lavin hopes that a lot of students will want to join the Quidditch team, giving them enough players for at least one league team, and then more players for club teams so they can play against each other. She also is hoping to become a registered club at the university, and said her group needs only a faculty member to sponsor them.

“We all grew up with these books,” Lavin said about why she is excited to play this fantasy sport. “Muggle Quidditch is the way to do it.”