Go, go Gryffindor or actually go, go Ravens.
For many Harry Potter fans, the world doesn’t end at the last page of a book. For instance, did you know the famous wizarding-world sport is also a real-world sport? That’s right—Quidditch is real, and Carleton has their very own team.
The team was founded in January 2010, said Cait Woolner, team coach. Middlebury College in Vermont was the first school to establish a Quidditch team.
“Quidditch is played in many different countries,” said Woolner. “There are teams in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Africa—all over.”
Quidditch is like rugby, basketball, and dodgeball all in one, said Acadia Bunn, president of the Quidditch team and current player.
Much like the magical counterpart, Quidditch is played on a broom, except it doesn’t fly.
You must keep the broom between your legs at all times. Then come the multiple positions.
If you’re a Harry Potter nerd, you know how Quidditch is played, but here is how it is played on land.
“You have three chasers, a keeper, two beaters, and a seeker,” Woolner said. “The chasers and the keeper handle the Quaffle, and try to score points by throwing it into one of three hoops.”
Each hoop counts as the same amount of points.
The beaters knock out other players by throwing dodgeballs at them, and the seeker tries to catch the Snitch [and end the game].”
The main differences between the magical sport and the real one are these: there is no real flying, and the Snitch isn’t a thing—it’s a person.
The only way to end a game is to catch the Snitch, said Woolner.
The Snitch is a neutral person who has a sock attached to their shorts. The sock generally has a ball in it, and the first team to pull the sock off the Snitch ends the game.
In the book’s and movie’s form of Quidditch, the Snitch not only ends the game, but also scores 150 points. For the Quidditch in our world, it’s only 30 points.
Having the Snitch worth 30 points lets the act of catching the Snitch matter, but it also “makes the rest of the game matter a little more,” Bunn said.
The team isn’t only made up of Harry Potter fans though—they are real competitors.
“Quidditch is a highly competitive sport,” said Bunn. “It is one of the only co-ed sports at the collegiate level.”
Not only is the team co-ed, they try really hard to be inclusive.
“We have to have at least two players of any minority gender on the field at any given time. And that is who they identify as, not their sex at birth,” Woolner said. “Inclusivity is important to us.”
This sport isn’t just for nerds, or just for highly competitive people, explained Bunn, saying, “I joined because I was looking for a community.”
This will be her third year playing for the Ravens.
They practice twice a week on fields around campus. Anyone can try out—you don’t need to have read the books or played a sport before.
“There are so many positions to play,” Woolner said. “For example, Chasers are hard cardio, a lot of running, whereas Beaters are more strategic players, and need to be good at throwing.”
“There’s a really good mix of people,” said Woolner. “Quidditch inspires a drive in you.”
One challenge to playing Quidditch can be the physical aspect of it.
Joseph Potter sustained a concussion after the start of a game and never bothered to return to the field.
“I was running for the Quaffle when I got hit and slammed my head into another guy’s chest and fell on the ground,” Potter said.
Despite the danger, many players find the risk worth playing through.
The Ravens Quidditch team will be hosting tryouts on the weekend of September 5th. They encourage all, Harry Potter fans or not, to attend.
