Muggle Quidditch!

So a couple of weekends ago the Quidditch World Cup was held in NYC.  Now, you might ask, what exactly is Quidditch?  Quidditch is the wizard's sport found in the Harry Potter books.  If you're reading this blog then presumably you know me so you probably know that I love Harry Potter!  (Perhaps to an obsessive amount but let's not get into that argument right now).  So when I heard that the Quidditch cup was happening I decided I needed to see this so I dragged my friend there on the Saturday thinking we'd probably stay, oh, maybe 15 minutes or so before getting bored.  We ended up staying for several hours, it was that entertaining.  I then ended up going back on Sunday with a different friend to watch the championship game.

Now if you still don't know what Quidditch is then I direct you to the following wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quidditch.  If you are already familiar with the sport you might then be asking, how does one play Quidditch when muggles (non-magical beings) can't fly?  Well, several years ago Middlebury College in Vermont created the rules for "Muggle Quidditch".  The rules are actually pretty well adapted from the books I think.  Basically the idea took off and now there are over 60 teams formed across the United States (and some in other countries as well) who are all part of the International Quidditch Association which is run right here in NYC.  I now direct you to their website for more information: http://www.internationalquidditch.org/

You can find the full rules on the website but basically it's a lot like if you combined flag football, dodgeball, and basketball (only you can carry the ball).  The Bludgers are dodge balls that the Beaters throw at people, the Quaffle is a volleyball that is used to score points (10 points per goal), and the snitch is a person dressed in yellow.  There is a tennis ball inside of a sock that is stuffed into the back of the snitch's pants and the Seeker has to try and grab the tennis ball in order for the snitch to be caught and the game to end (the Snitch is worth 30 points).  What makes the game fun to watch are the commentators and the Snitch.  The commentators basically just make up random things and if they are good at improvising it makes for a funny game.  The Snitch has very few rules so they can do pretty much whatever they want including but not limited to tackling the Seeker, stealing parts of player's uniforms, throwing Bludgers at people, and hiding in the stands.  It's a little hard to imagine but very fun to watch!

I definitely recommend checking out the website though for more information!  Anyway, on to pictures from the two days!

One of the matches on Saturday

The Snitch (in yellow) tackling a Seeker to the ground

Partway through a bunch of little kids started playing! So cute!

There were random unicyclists during halftime - they were not that good

There was also a live owl!

Owls are very important in the wizarding world

The trophies that went to the winners

The scoreboard before the championship match started

Quidditch is fun!

You can see the goal hoops and the brooms laid out before the start of the match

The Snitch came and hid right at my feet during the beginning of the championship match

A lot of Snitches flooded the field trying to confuse the Seeker during the championship match!

The moral of this post:
Quidditch is awesome and Harry Potter rocks!