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Harry Potter's Quidditch Game Comes to Life

I love Harry Potter. I know that the Ministry of Magic has been infiltrated by Lord Voldemort. I know who Dobby is and I know all about the Triwizard Tournament. I admit all of this and yet, I must say that I am still shocked to learn that hundreds, thousands of real-life Muggle Quidditch teams have been assembled across the world.
College and high school students are taking the wildly popular world of Harry Potter out of the conventions and outof the libraries and they are taking over college campuses. If you don’t know what Quidditch is, then I’m going to have to point you in the direction of Amazon, where you can purchase the full Harry Potter series. Read it, maybe even watch the movie, and then come back because I can’t possibly tell you everything there is to know in one post!

Quidditch is a fictional sport from the Harry Potter books and movies. Witches and wizards play the game on flying broomsticks which clearly isn’t possible for us muggles (non-magical folk), however, brooms are still used as props.
Muggle Quidditch is played with 7 players on each team: three Chasers, two Beaters, one Seeker and one Keeper. In addition to both teams, there is a “Snitch” who runs around campus and tries not to be caught by either team’s Seeker. Once the Snitch is caught, the match ends. While the Seekers search for the Snitch, the rest of their team engages in the score-building portion of the game. I could try to explain the role of six goals, a quaffle (big round ball) and bludgers (little round balls) but instead I’ll just re-direct you to the International Quidditch Association.
Colleges and high schools across the world are adopting Quidditch teams. Among the U.S. colleges are:

  • Penn State University
  • Harvard University
  • Wichita State University
  • Ohio State University
  • University of Oregon
  • University of Washington
  • University of Oklahoma

Among the U.S. high schools with Quidditch teams are:

  • Notre Dame High School, Sherman Oaks, CA
  • Vashon Island High School, Vashon, WA
  • Troy High School, Fullerton, CA
  • Wichita High School, Wichita, KS
  • Eagle River High School, Eagle River, AK
  • and so many more…

Muggle Quidditch- is it a bunch of Harry Potter nerds stuck in fantasy-land or a dream come true?
image via movieline.com