Georgia State students play a game of quidditch with the Atlanta Kedrava in the Piedmont North courtyard.
Rain pours on an early October afternoon as students march to the Piedmont North courtyard with broomsticks, resembling a scene quite similar to the rainy quidditch matches in the “Harry Potter” films. With goals made of hula hoops and a colorful set of broomsticks, students set up the courtyard for a little game of the increasingly popular sport known as muggle quidditch.
Played on the ground as opposed to in the air with a human “snitch” instead of a tiny golden ball with wings, muggle quidditch is played quite differently than quidditch played by wizards.
According to the International Quidditch Association, muggle quidditch incorporates characteristics of rugby, dodgeball and tag. A volleyball is used in place for the quaffle. Chasers use this ball to score up to 10 points at a time by throwing them through one of the three hoops on the opposing team’s side. Beaters use dodgeballs for bludgers to knock out other players. The seeker is responsible for one thing: catching the snitch.
In “Harry Potter,” the snitch is an extremely fast and tiny golden ball that flies around the field. To catch the snitch means to end the game and gain 150 points for your team. In muggle quidditch, the snitch is a tiny ball attached to a fast neutral player who runs and hides from the seekers in order to prevent the ball from being caught.
“Quidditch is awesome. I love all the different skills that are required. You have to have good hand-eye coordination,” Emma Blessing, freshman at Georgia State and player for the Atlanta Kedavra Quidditch team, said.
The Atlanta Kedavra is a community quidditch team actively seeking to expand quidditch in the Atlanta area. They have played against teams from Florida State University and Silican Valley, CA.
“As of right now, the Atlanta Kedavra is the only active team in Georgia. They’re trying to encourage more people to play and start teams by inviting people to come to practice and teaching them how to play, or going out to play at events like the one at GSU,” Emma Blessing said.
The Atlanta Kedavra served as an inspiration for Georgia State senior Steven Pham when he started quidditch at Georgia State.
“It became a dream of mine three years ago when I started watching videos about muggle quidditch online. I want this to be a legacy I can leave behind when I graduate,” Pham said.
Pham began hosting games in the University Commons and Piedmont North to introduce students to the sport. He wants quidditch to be a part of Georgia State and hopes to see a team form in the near future.
Sheldon Jamey Banks, manager for the Atlanta Kedavra, has even bigger dreams of forming a league where universities in Georgia such as the University of Georgia, Georgia Institute of Technology, Kennesaw State and Georgia State can play against each other.
The International Quidditch Association hosts around 25 annual events. There are nine regional championships, the World Cup, the International Open, the Global Games and QuidCon. Regional championships take place to determine the teams that will play in the World Cup and are open to all teams in the region. The World Cup features over 80 teams from around the world. There have been six World Cups so far and the next one will take place in April 2014.
The first team was formed in Vermont at Middlebury College in 2005. Since then, it has grown to over 300 high school and college campuses throughout North America, Europe and Australia. It has recently begun to grow in the Middle East as well with a new community called the ME Muggles. One of the teams, the Patronus Legion, won the first public tournament to take place in the region against two other Middle Eastern teams earlier this month. ME Muggles hopes to see the Middle East represented at the World Cup soon, according to Anas Battah, news writer for the International Quidditch Association.
In “Harry Potter,” quidditch is played as a co-ed contact sport. This aspect to the sport was not changed when muggle quidditch was invented. Rules have been put into place that disallow tackling from behind, above the neck or in the groin area.
“I personally like that it is co-ed because it is so different from how most sports are played,” Blessing said.
The “two minimum” rule requires that at any given time during the game, at least two of the players on the field must identify with a different gender than two other players. Title 9¾ is a branch of the International Quidditch Association in charge of ensuring gender equality. One of the goals of Title 9¾ is to change the world’s perception of gender and athletics, according to the International Quidditch Association’s official website. The association is also clear on its support for the transgender community, recognizing gender as one’s identity, not expression, on its official website.
Unlike most mainstream sports, muggle quidditch does not deny players because their gender identity does not match their biological makeup, and they do not pressure transgender players to go through sex changes.
According to the International Quidditch Association’s Staff Blog, “The IQA is a unique sport in that it not only encourages the participation of all genders, but it also actively works to ensure that the IQA provides a safe space for members of the LGBT* community.”
