The magic behind Muggle Quidditch

By JESSICA SMITH

Updated: March 19, 2013, 1:59 PM

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GVL/Bo Anderson

GVSU’s Colin DeMarco brings moves down the pitch on Saturday morning.

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It’s a mixture of soccer, football, dodgeball, and water polo with its own twist – it’s called Quidditch. The name of the game may have originated from the wizarding world of Harry Potter, but it’s transformed into a sporting event beyond the books.

“That’s the most general misconception about it. People don’t think it’s serious because it’s from Harry Potter, but it’s really serious,” Aleia Wright, president and beater of the Grand Valley State University Grindylows said. “I joined Quidditch because I love Harry Potter, but that’s not why I’m here. Now they’re like two separate things.”

No they can’t fly around on broomsticks, but the GVSU Grindylows are in their second competitive season and want others to realize that their sport isn’t a joke.

“A lot of people think it’s Harry Potter nerds pretending they can fly and play Quidditch, but it’s full contact,” Wright said.

Muggle Quidditch has been taken to the ground level with some of the general rules and names brought to the playing field. There are seven players on each side: three chasers, two beaters, a keeper and a seeker. They still use a quaffle and the bludger, and their goal is to score through the opponent’s three hoops – tackling encouraged.

“We also lose a lot of people to injury, too. At every tournament there’s an EMS waiting because someone will get hurt,” Tyler Nagy, secretary and chaser of the Quidditch club said.

John Alexander, vice president and chaser of the Quidditch club, said they encourage anyone to join the team, but not everyone is cut out for the physical demands of the sport.

“A lot of people come to Quidditch saying, ‘I’ve never played any sports before in my entire life,’ and those are the people that end up dropping out because they’re not expecting it to be a hard thing,” Alexander said.

Of course, there’s a snitch, but this time it’s in human form.

The snitch is a third party player typically dressed in all yellow. They have a ball velcroed to the back of their shorts, and it’s the seeker’s job to hunt them down and capture the snitch before the opponent. The trick is, the snitch has very few rules and almost any hiding place is acceptable.

“I get to screw with everybody. [I’ve hid] in a pond.” DeMarco laughed. “Basically, they’re the cheerleader of the sport. They’re the ones that really get the crowd cheering and laughing because of the stuff they do.”
The Grindylows invite whoever’s interested in or curious about their sport to come and watch because they’d love to break the stereotype.

“I don’t think people will ever disassociate Quidditch 100 percent from Harry Potter, but the most effective way to get people to take it seriously is to actually watch it,” Wright said. “I’ve never had somebody who comes to a Quidditch match say, ‘Oh this is just a bunch of nerds running around on brooms,’ not one time because it’s so intense.”

For more information, e-mail gvsuquidditch@gvsu.edu. You can also catch the action on GVTV Channel 10.

jsmith@lanthorn.com

Published March 17, 2013 Laker Life, PageOne