On campuses across the United States, a new club sport taken from the pages of the Harry Potter books is now attracting thousands of students. At Ohio State, the Quidditch club has more than 50 members and this week they're preparing to travel to New York City for an International Quidditch competition. WOSU's Tom Borgerding reports.
For many college age students, Harry Potter is a touchstone. They read the series of books beginning in grade school. O-S-U junior Andi Hendrickson of Chicago says she's read the Harry Potter books several times.
"I read the first one when it came out. I don't even remember what year it was. I was young." Says Hendrickson. "My mom would read it to me and my brother. And he didn't like them but I loved them and every year when the new book came out I was first in line at the bookstore to get it. And I would read them. I read all of them twice if not three times."
Within the books, author J.K. Rowling makes up a game: Quidditch. Its played with magic brooms, Quaffles and Bludgers. On the south oval, the Quidditch club brings the game off the pages. Problem is, Quidditch equipment is in short supply. Emily Toutkoushian helped solve the problem.
"We had to adapt a lot of equipment. Like we take soccer balls for our main, like, Quaffle, which is the ball you score with. We kind of deflate it a little so its easier to pass with. We use dodge balls. We got our brooms at the dollar store. But we found that they broke really easily, so, I wrapped them all in duct tape and re-inforced them with dowel rods so that they hopefully break a less easily. And then the goals are made out of P-V-C pipes." Toutkoushian says
OSU Quidditch Club founder Carly Kestler says the game developers also had to deal with another major problem, the lack of magic in a world limited by three dimensions. So, she says, all the players are either squibs or muggles.
"Squibs are non-magical individuals born to two magical parents. So they're kind of like the odd child. So, squibs are usually forced out of the magical world because they don't have any magical possessions. So mostly we're squibs and muggles." Says Kestler. "Q;) O-K, so that's a squib. What's a muggle then? A: Muggle is a non-magical person just like you and me. We're not born to any magical parents. We don't have any magical background."
Kestler says for three years she's tried to recruit some magical persons during O-S-U's involvement fair but to no avail.
The game is played on a 30 yard by 40 yard oval. Three goals at opposite ends of the field stand at different heights. When the Quaffle is thrown through one of the hoops the team is awarded ten points. Each team has three chasers, two beaters .whose job is to stop the chasers by throwing a bludger at the chaser. When a chaser is hit by the bludger he or she must drop the Quaffle and run around the goals. Daniel Miller, known as the minister of magic among the quidditch club, plays the chaser position.
"It's a full contact sport. You can tackle. You cannot come from behind and tackle someone that way. They have to be ..you have be in their line of sight to tackle them. But, yeah, you can pretty much do anything to get the ball from them." Says Miller.
There's also a seeker on each team. Freshman Jeff Hughes of Toledo fills that role.
"The seeker's job is to catch the snitch, which is basically this guy running around with the flag. And I have to hunt him down and get the flag back and then bring it back to the field." Says Hughes.
When a seeker strips the flag from the Golden Snitches britches that's worth 30 points and marks the end of the match, think flag football. The Golden Snitch is free to roam anywhere. But he has to return to the playing field every 15 minutes just to prove he's still three dimensional. Matches can take on hour or longer. Hughes was forced to watch last Thursday's practice on the South Oval since he's on injured reserve.
"Basically what happened is the snitch tried to knock me down and I tried to keep my feet and one thing went too far and it just broke."
Another player reports an injured pinky finger and several brooms are broken and abandoned on a walkway next to the makeshift practice field. Andi Hendrickson says the Quidditch Club sometimes gets strange reactions from other students on campus.
"I would say a lot of people probably laugh at us and think its stupid that we're out here running around on brooms." Says Hendrickson.
Hendrickson smiles. She says she too has paid a price for her passion for Quidditch.
"I have a scar on my ankle from a broken broom, I believe, and I have gotten knocked down quite a few times."
This week the O-S-U Quidditch club will fine-tune its game and ready their brooms. Carly Kestler says the team is headed to the International Quidditch competition in New York City on Saturday.
"In a park about eight blocks from the Empire State Building, playing Quidditch, there's about 60 teams from all over the world." Says Kestler.
The team will take vans to New York City, their brooms still lack magic.
Tom Borgerding WOSU News