By Branson Hardcastle | Reporter
Quidditch, the sport that originated from the Harry Potter movies, is flying high on Baylor’s campus.
Quidditch was first introduced to the world in “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” in 1997. The game has now been adapted to real life as different universities play each other.
The object of the game is to score as many points as possible by getting the quaffle, a ball about the size of a volleyball, through one of the opponents three goal hoops. Each time the quaffle passes through, the team gains ten points. The only players who can score the goals are called chasers. Keepers try to keep the quaffle out of the hoop by blocking the chaser’s shots.
Another ball used in quidditch is called a bludger. Bludgers are essentially dodgeballs that players called beaters can use to throw at players from the opposing team. If beaters hit other players with a bludger, then the player who was hit must touch their own goal before they can begin to play again. Beaters try to disrupt the game and cause havoc on the field to help the chasers score.
The snitch is a major aspect to the game. The snitch is a player that enters the field at the 18th minute, dressed in all yellow with a tail attached to their shorts, the snitch must try to evade the players known as seekers. When the seeker pulls the snitches tail off, the game ends and the seekers teams gains 30 points. The team with the highest score when the snitches tail is pulled, wins the game.
Baylor began to play the phenomenon known as quidditch in 2011 when the Baylor Quidditch Association was founded. Since then, they have been providing the opportunity for students to play quidditch and learn more about the game.
San Antonio sophomore Savannah Senger, risk management chair, believes the game has adapted to real life well despite not being able to fly.
“[Quidditch] came straight out of Harry Potter, but obviously without the flying. Sometimes the National Quidditch Association will switch the rules as they are still figuring it out,” Senger said. “Overall it is adapting really well. They are trying to keep it as Harry Potter-ish as possible where people can look at the game and know that it is quidditch.”
Kingfisher, Okla. junior captain Shane Soudek said that most people do not understand how physically and mentally demanding quidditch is.
“Everyone is really at first at how physical it really is, especially when we get to tournaments. In tournaments, it is full contact. People tackle you and fight for the ball on the ground,” Soudek said. “It is a combination of three sports that require you to be athletic such as lacrosse, rugby and dodgeball.”
Baylor Quidditch plays in the Southwest region of US Quidditch, which is the governing body for the sport of quidditch. The Southwest region includes teams such as the University of Texas, Texas Tech and Texas State. Last year in the regional tournament, Baylor Quidditch finished in 7th place out of 20 teams. That placing was good enough to send them to the national tournament played in Kissimmee, Fla.
Baylor Quidditch is hosting the annual Brooms on the Brazos tournament Nov. 4 at the BSB fields at 9 a.m. Teams from Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana will compete in the tournament.
