2008 Woodie Awards
Video related to this article is available below.Issue date: 1/11/07 Section: News
Quidditch takes off on campuses
Inspired by J.K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter' series, Middlebury students hit the fields
Rebecca Kaplan
A group of students gather in an open field, at either end of which stand three hula-hoops painted gold and attached to 2x4s.
They are holding brooms between their legs, and one team wears capes with black-and-white spots.
One person is dressed in yellow with a lumpy sock hanging out of his shorts - he's ready to run.
The sport? Quidditch.
That's right - at Middlebury College, students have formed a Quidditch team, modeling themselves after those described in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter fantasy series.
Middlebury sophomore Alex Benepe, the current Quidditch organizer, started the mock team while anticipating the release of the movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in fall 2005.
"Anyone who's tried it loves it," Benepe said. "People have forgotten how much fun it is to go outside and just throw a ball around."
But unlike Rowling's magical characters, Middlebury students are forced to compensate for their lack of supernatural powers when playing the sport.
Students run with brooms between their legs instead of flying on them, and Middlebury sophomore Rainey Johnson serves as a human replacement for the snitch, which, in the book, is a tiny gold ball with wings.
But more-violent aspects - from broken arms to attempts to knock others off of their brooms - of Quidditch depicted in Harry Potter are more easily replicated.
"There aren't any rules about fouling, so kids usually do whatever it takes to get the ball," Benepe said, and Middlebury freshman Greta VanDeventer described once getting a "floater" while playing the game when she was accidentally stabbed in the eye with someone's thumb.
But despite the game's wild success at Middlebury, Penn has been less receptive to the game.
Penn engineering sophomore Nancy Tseng and her friends at home came up with a game relatively similar to Benepe's, also before the release of the fourth movie.
Tseng said she tried to start a team at Penn last year, with little success.
They are holding brooms between their legs, and one team wears capes with black-and-white spots.
One person is dressed in yellow with a lumpy sock hanging out of his shorts - he's ready to run.
The sport? Quidditch.
That's right - at Middlebury College, students have formed a Quidditch team, modeling themselves after those described in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter fantasy series.
Middlebury sophomore Alex Benepe, the current Quidditch organizer, started the mock team while anticipating the release of the movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in fall 2005.
"Anyone who's tried it loves it," Benepe said. "People have forgotten how much fun it is to go outside and just throw a ball around."
But unlike Rowling's magical characters, Middlebury students are forced to compensate for their lack of supernatural powers when playing the sport.
Students run with brooms between their legs instead of flying on them, and Middlebury sophomore Rainey Johnson serves as a human replacement for the snitch, which, in the book, is a tiny gold ball with wings.
But more-violent aspects - from broken arms to attempts to knock others off of their brooms - of Quidditch depicted in Harry Potter are more easily replicated.
"There aren't any rules about fouling, so kids usually do whatever it takes to get the ball," Benepe said, and Middlebury freshman Greta VanDeventer described once getting a "floater" while playing the game when she was accidentally stabbed in the eye with someone's thumb.
But despite the game's wild success at Middlebury, Penn has been less receptive to the game.
Penn engineering sophomore Nancy Tseng and her friends at home came up with a game relatively similar to Benepe's, also before the release of the fourth movie.
Tseng said she tried to start a team at Penn last year, with little success.
Viewing Comments 1 - 7 of 9
Adam in Bethlehem
posted 1/11/07 @ 11:42 AM EST
Is Middlebury only recruiting homeschoolers for their incoming classes?
Penn
posted 1/12/07 @ 8:34 AM EST
Childish? Negative? Embarassing?
Quidditch is an AMAZING idea, and very cool that American students are finally doing something creative, instead of drinking more than they can handle (which is closer to the above three adjectives than anything else)
I haven't read too many of the harry potter series but student that do things that are different and creative is the real mark of a great college. (Continued…)
Reason
posted 1/14/07 @ 7:32 PM EST
It's hard to take a topic like this seriously- but c'mon, wouldn't you be a -little- embarassed if Penn kids were running around on brooms and in capes? Honestly. (Continued…)
boarder781
gnome
posted 7/12/07 @ 1:43 PM EST
sounds pretty sweet to me. anyone know when the "world cup" is?
Just a comment
posted 1/09/08 @ 4:17 PM EST
I'm sure a lot of the people here who completely dismiss quidditch somehow think ultimate frisbee is a perfectly legitimate sport, right? Hopefully Penn, Ivy League Penn, isn't too snooty to enjoy some rugby on brooms. (Continued…)
ghost
posted 2/04/08 @ 1:53 PM EST
it must look pretty gay to run around with fake broomsticks and capes, but i'm in.
Robes4wizards
Robes4wizards
posted 3/31/08 @ 1:15 AM EST
You can check out our new Custom College Team Quidditch Robes. Go to www.Robesforwizards.com and click the Quidditch Link
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