Joseph Busatto/ Contributing Writer
Since J.K. Rowling released the Harry Potter fantasy series, fandom has spread throughout the world. Many would attend the movies dressed as characters and many continue to reread the books. Of course, the Harry Potter world found its way onto FIU’s campus and it seems like it will be a staple for years to come.
The “Harry Potter Alliance” Club created a fun club sport at FIU in 2010 called the “The Quidditch Club”. Quidditch is a competitive sport that is prominent in the Harry Potter series that is basically a combination of soccer, football and broom flying. It has become a competitive sport in collegiate sports around the nation and even the world. Currently, the FIU Quidditch Club has about twenty to twenty-five members.
Quidditch rules are easy to learn. It consists of seven versus seven. The offense is run by three players called “chasers” who attempt to score a goal in one of the three goals resulting in ten points. The defense consists of two players called “beaters”. They try to prevent goals by using dodge balls. If an opposing player is hit by a dodge ball, he or she has to go back to the other side of the field to continue playing. There is also a “keeper” who basically plays goalie like in soccer. And finally the last player on the field is the “seeker” whose only job is to pursue the snitch. If the snitch is caught, the game ends and thirty points are awarded to the team that caught the snitch. The snitch is a player dressed in all yellow with a tennis ball attached to him.
The game of Quidditch is surprisingly physical. The snitch can push and throw down the seekers during game play and there are many collisions. The administration just implemented a mouth guard required for players. The FIU teams practice once to twice a week for hours at a time. Practices usually start with some laps to warm up and continue with something called “Ultimate Quidditch” which is like ultimate Frisbee but with Quidditch materials. The practices end usually with drills or scrimmages.
There are Collegiate Regions of Quidditch and FIU competes in their respective regional tournaments. Each team has to play at least five games within the season. The Regionals take place in February and whichever teams perform best at Regionals qualify to participate in the Quidditch World Cup. The Quidditch World Cup is currently United States teams that compete but in the past, there have been teams from France, Canada and Mexico. There is also the Global Games, which takes place in Canada and is an international tournament. FIU Captain Ivanna D’Alencon is in charge of running the team practices and co-captain Natalie Abrahante is in charge of the paperwork side of running the team. The goal for Abrahante and D’Alencon is for the team to make the World Cup.
The FIU’s Quidditch Club accountant says, “I just want to let everyone know that they have to at least try it out once. Don’t judge a book by its cover. It’s a lot of fun.”
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