Harry Potter Wizardry Spawns New Ivy League Sport: Quidditch

Monday afternoon, the Middlebury Quidditch team swooped into Princeton University as part of its annual spring break Quidditch tour in an attempt to promote its ground-bound version of the sport at other American universities. So far this year, Middlebury has visited Bard and Penn and has games scheduled against Columbia and Vassar.

Like good Harry's gravity-defying favorite pastime, the non-magical version of Quidditch features seven players on a team, one quaffle, three bludgers and a golden snitch. This is where all similarities between the versions of Quidditch played at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and at Tiger Stadium end.

 

According to the Daily Princetonian, The role of the snitch is filled, not by an enchanted, plum-sized, golden-feathered ball, but by a hyperactive college student dressed in yellow with a penchant for running and wrestling. To capture the snitch, one of the seekers must grab a black sock hanging from the snitch’s shorts.

Middlebury students have also been unable to figure out a way to make broomsticks fly, and as a result, the game is relegated to a patch of grass about the size of a basketball court. To stay true to its wizardry roots, participants in the game must play with a broomstick between their legs at all times.

Adding to the excitement of the first intercollegiate Quidditch match in Princeton’s august 262-year history, television crews from CBS News, ESPN and MTVU were on hand to film the game. Though Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour was unable to make an appearance, Middlebury Quidditch Commissioner Alex Benepe oversaw the day’s festivities.

“We’d like [for] there to be regional and national competitions in the future,” Benepe said. “One day, we hope that there could be an international competition since we’ve heard that people are playing Quidditch overseas.”

When the first game began, the Middlebury side certainly appeared ready to take on the world and used its definitive edge in Quidditch experience to thoroughly outclass Princeton. Following a slew of early goals, the Middlebury seeker grabbed the snitch to cap a 100-0 massacre.

Posted by Casey Kazan adapted from a Daily Princetonian report.

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