The Ball State Quidditch Team has been hard at work practicing for their upcoming 2019 season. The team is made up of a variety of students with various studies of focus, athletic experience, and love for J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Yet, they’ve all come together with a shared interest in playing competitive real-life quidditch.
The History of Real-Life Quidditch
Quidditch as a real-life sport was first played in 2005, inspired by its fictional origin in the Harry Potter series. The sport has found growing popularity at colleges and in communities around the world. US Quidditch (USQ), the national governing body for the sport of quidditch, reported in its 2017-18 Annual Report that there are 104 collegiate and 40 community registered teams in the U.S.
How It's Played
Quidditch is best described as a fast-paced, co-ed, contact sport played by teams of seven. Every player is required to have a broomstick between their legs throughout the entirety of a match. A lot of the sport has been recreated from its fictional origin, but some parts have needed to be adapted.
The Ball State Quidditch Team scrimmages during quidditch practice, Sept. 26, at the Field Sports Building. Kyle Crawford, Byte
Teams score on two sets of three hoops at either end of the field by throwing the quaffle, a ball, through any of the three hoops. Another ball, called the bludger, is used to temporarily knock out defending players to open up opportunities to score with the quaffle. Finally, teams can both score and end the match by catching a neutral player, called the snitch, who will do anything to avoid capture.
From the Team
Tyler Taylor, a junior psychology and criminal justice major, and president of the quidditch team at BSU said he hadn’t heard about real-life quidditch until he started college.
Tyler Taylor, a junior psychology and criminal justice major, gets ready to score a goal with the quaffle during quidditch practice Sept. 19 at the Field Sports Building. Taylor is the president of the Ball State Quidditch Team. Kyle Crawford, Byte
“The first time I heard about real-life quidditch was at the freshman activity fair. I saw the quidditch team booth and I was a Harry Potter fan growing up, so I thought I would check it out. I’ve been here ever since,” Taylor said.
Taylor was with the quidditch team when they qualified for nationals in the past years and sees that as the main goal for this season, but also as a challenge.
“Our previous years we went to nationals and that was a big eye-opener. During the fall, we pretty much just play teams around the Great Lakes region. But when we went to nationals, there were teams from all around the nation that were really competitive and aggressive teams,” Taylor said.
Nicholas Kaufman, a senior physics major, has been playing quidditch for five years. He has had experience in each of the four quidditch positions, seeker, chaser, beater, and the keeper.
“I would probably consider quidditch one of the most athletic games I’ve ever played, and I’ve been playing sports ever since I could walk,” Kaufman said.
(Left to Right) Kailey Fugate, an emerging media and development graduate student, passes the quaffle to Tyler Taylor, a junior psychology and criminal justice major, during quidditch practice Sept. 26 at the Field Sports Building. Kyle Crawford, Byte
Kaufman is confident in the team’s history of having a “really strong beating game.” However, he said the “team’s chasing game has been on and off” mainly due to the challenges with coaching the sport.
Liam Zach, a sophomore psychology major, is the beater and seeker coach for the quidditch team at BSU. Zach has used his experience with football, wrestling, and track to help with coaching the quidditch team.
(Left to Right) Elizabeth Pruim, a sophomore religious studies major, Nicholas Kaufman, a senior physics major, and Liam Zach, a sophomore psychology major, circle up during quidditch practice Sept. 26 at the Field Sports Building. Kyle Crawford, Byte
“First, I’ve always made my quidditch coaching easy to relate to other sports. So, if they’ve ever played a sport before, soccer really helps. There’s a lot of similar stuff between soccer and quidditch. Honestly, anything can relate to quidditch if you put it in the right terms,” Zach said.
As a coach, Zach has worked with several types of players. Some knew about the fictional version of quidditch and others had never heard of the sport before joining.
“It (the quidditch scene) has everything few and far between. I’ve met people who have never read the books or seen the movies. I’ve also met people who were absolutely obsessed with them…It’s kind of crazy to see the versatility of everybody,” Zach said.
The Ball State Quidditch Team will compete in its first fall season event this Saturday in Athens, Ohio for the Athens Quidditch Quarrel. The following weekend on Oct. 12, Ball State University will host the 5th Ball Brothers Brawl.
