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July 14, 2009
Harry Potter: Quidditch, Photos, Trailers, Reviews
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Real life Quidditch match played by students and Harry Potter fans
Harry Potter's Quidditch is an extremely rough but very popular semi-contact sport played by wizards and witches around the world. Matches are played between two teams of seven players riding flying broomsticks, using four balls and six elevated ring-shaped goals. In the Harry Potter universe, Quidditch holds a fervent following similar to football (soccer) as a globally popular sport.
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QUIDDITCH According to Wikipedia:
Each team is made up of seven players, consisting of three Chasers, two Beaters, one Keeper and one Seeker.
The Chasers progress up and down the pitch passing the Quaffle by hand amongst themselves, in an attempt to score goals by throwing it through one of their opponent's three goal hoops. In this respect, the game is similar to rugby, or, as Harry suggests in the first book, "basketball on broomsticks with six hoops".
The Keeper is charged with protecting the three goal hoops, in much the same way as a goalkeeper in football.
Click any photo to view the photo album of a real life Quidditch match played by students and Harry Potter fans
The Beaters are armed with wooden clubs that are similar to, but shorter than, baseball bats. They are tasked with protecting their teammates from the Bludgers by knocking these balls off course or towards opponents.
Finally, the Seeker, usually the lightest member of the team and equipped with the fastest broom, is charged with searching the pitch for, chasing down and eventually capturing, the elusive Golden Snitch. Seekers are the only players permitted to touch the Snitch.
Each team includes a captain, who may play any of the four positions. The captain helps the team practice and chooses the team players after the tryouts.
Broomsticks
Magical flying broomsticks are one of the forms of transportation for wizards and witches, as well as for Quidditch. The Nimbus broomsticks are known to be one of the best broomsticks in the Wizarding world. A Firebolt is an advanced professional-level flying broomstick and the most expensive and fast racing broom in existence. It is said that they are the best in the world. They can even fly out of the atmosphere if the weather conditions are fair. Harry gets one in his third year, from his godfather, Sirius. Comets and Cleansweeps are cheaper than the Nimbuses and are more common. A Shooting Star is another brand of broom, but it is considered to be slow and out of style.
Muggle Quidditch is a co-ed sport based on Quidditch. It is popular with fans of the novels, fantasy sports aficionados, and children. In Muggle Quidditch, as in Wizard Quidditch there are four positions on a team. Due to the fact that Wizarding Quidditch is based on fictional devices and concepts such as magic, Muggle Quidditch has been adapted for play on the ground, with game play confined to a playing field comparable in size to a soccer field.
The equipment in Muggle Quidditch varies depending on venue. Often three hula hoops held up by PVC pipes are used as the goals on either side of the playing field. Volleyballs, basketballs and dodge balls are often used as Quaffles, with softer objects like Nerf balls or Wiffle Balls acting as Bludgers. Often, for more competitive leagues, Chasers will use a Frisbee as a Quaffle. This allows for a much more intense experience. Beaters may use tennis rackets to 'serve' the Bludgers. Beaters also may use dodge balls to simulate the Bludgers, while still allowing precise aim. Tennis rackets do not quite allow the precision spoken of in the Harry Potter novels. In more extreme versions of the game, Bludgers are eliminated and the beaters are allowed to tackle the chasers and other players (seeker and keeper are generally off limits when tackling.) While the Snitch is a magical object within the canon of the Harry Potter novels, in Muggle Quidditch the Snitch is most often a human being. This human being usually dressed in all yellow. The Snitch, after release, is usually allowed to roam an area beyond the playing field. When played on a college campus the range is often the entire campus.
Positions in Muggle Quidditch:
- Chasers are responsible for passing the Quaffle and scoring points by throwing the Quaffle through one of the opponent's goals. Three or four chasers from a team may be in play at one time. When a Bludger hits a Chaser in possession of the Quaffle, he or she must throw the Quaffle into the air.
- Keepers are the goal protectors (similar to goalkeepers in football (soccer)) and must try to block attempts to score by the opposing team's Chasers. One keeper from a team may be in play at a time. In most versions of the game, the keeper is invulnerable to Bludgers when within a reasonable distance of his/her teams' hoops. In other versions, when the keeper is hit by a bludger from the opposing team while that team is in scoring range, the keeper must freeze for 2-3 seconds to simulate the recovery time in magical Quidditch.
- Beaters attempt to hit the opposing team's players with Bludgers and attempt to block the Bludgers from hitting their team's players. Two Beaters on a team may be in play at a time.
- Seekers attempt to catch the Golden Snitch, set into play during the game. (In some variations the snitch is released at halftime, in others at an undisclosed time.) Seekers may play as Chasers before the Snitch’s release.
Established Muggle Quidditch Games:
- Intercollegiate Quidditch Association - Founded on the campus of Middlebury College, in Vermont, the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association is the outgrowth of wildly popular on-campus tourneys. The Association currently encompasses 105 schools including Vassar College, Marlboro College, and Bucknell University. The 2006 Middlebury Quidditch World Cup gained the attention of the Wall Street Journal, which subsequently profiled the phenomenon on its front page, while the 2007 edition was featured as a cover story in the November 27, 2007 edition of USA Today's Life section. A portion of a Middlebury College - Amherst College match was shown live on the CBS morning show on March 28, 2008. 14 schools attended the 2008 Quidditch World Cup from as far as University of Washington and Louisiana State University. This is the first year that another country supplied a team (McGill from Canada). A site was launched to show a live feed of the tournament.
- Camp Wanocksett - At Camp Wanocksett in Dublin, New Hampshire, USA, Muggle Quidditch was played during the third week of July in 2007 between the three teams: The Gryffindor Lions (Troop 10 Townsend), The Fitchburg Finches (Troop 17 Fitchburg), and The Chudley Cannons.
- Last Chance Quiddich - Beginning in the Fall of 2004, Millikin University holds a Quiddich tourney every semester, supported by the Last Chance Theater group. The students play games as the four traditional teams. In the spring of 2006 the games were canceled and replaced by a simulated Triwizard Tournament.
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