 "Photo: JANE MEYER/MANITOU MESSENGER")
Recently, schools all across the Muggle world have begun to play the sport that Harry Potter fans have long loved: Quidditch.
Our college is no exception: St. Olaf is now an official member of the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association thanks to the leadership of Quidditch Commissioner Laurel Midthun ’13 and Supreme Mugwump Rob Granquist ’13.
The duo decided to put together a campus Quidditch team because “it’s just silly, unadulterated fun,” Granquist said. “You have to be a little crazy to start a Quidditch club.”
As the club is only in its beginning stage and most members are unfamiliar with the rules, Granquist and Midthun plan on leaving it a non-competitive sport for the time being.
In fact, neither of the founders has played Quidditch before, but both are avid Harry Potter fans. Granquist is a whiz – pun intended – at Harry Potter trivia, and Midthun recently read “Quidditch Throughout the Ages” in order to prepare for the advent of Quidditch on the Hill.
Both are confident that students will enjoy this magical addition to the campus. After all, we live at the Muggle equivalent of Hogwarts. “Have you seen Holland [Hall]?” Midthun said. If any campus is worthy of a mythical sport, it is ours.
A college game of Quidditch is played much like how Harry and company play it. A Seeker attempts to find and capture the Golden Snitch, two Beaters hurl Bludgers at the opposing team, three Chasers attempt to score by throwing the Quaffle into the rings on the opposite end of the pitch and a Keeper defends the team’s rings. The game ends when the Snitch is captured, which is only worth 30 points in the Muggle world, rather than the wizarding community’s 150.
Broom-wielding Muggles use two Bludgers and a Quaffle that bear a striking resemblance to kickballs and a volleyball.
The Snitch, on the other hand, is a tennis ball attached to a gold-adorned runner. This position, which is already highly coveted on our campus, requires a very specific skill set. “The perfect Snitch is a combination of a cross-country runner, a wrestler and a gymnast,” Midthun said.
The Golden Snitch is allowed to run anywhere on campus, provided that it returns to the main pitch every so often. It is exempt from fouls and allowed to do almost anything to escape its doom, even if it means hiding, flipping or pulling capes over players’ heads.
The other players are held under stricter rules, but fouls are nonetheless few and far between. The IQA rulebook even encourages shoving, tripping and “shouldering or body checking.”
A student at Middlebury College founded the IQA in 2007. Since then, 226 collegiate teams from across the country have become members, including many of St. Olaf’s peers, most notably Carleton. The league has now hosted three Quidditch World Cups and plans for these to continue annually.
The IQA also has humanitarian aspirations. As its popularity grows, the league would like to give back to the literary tradition from which it was born by raising money for education and children’s literacy.
Though the sport is still in its infancy on our campus, the founders are eager for Quidditch to become an intramural sport in the future, with each residence hall forming a team to compete for the St. Olaf House Cup. Midthun and Granquist also hope to form a club Quidditch team to travel and compete against other schools in the IQA.
And when that day comes, what of our rivals across the river?
“Oh, we’re gonna beat them. It’s not even a question,” Midthun said.
Granquist added, “Gryffindor never lost to Slytherin, so we’ll never lose to Carleton.”
For more information about Quidditch on campus, contact midthun@stolaf.edu or granquis@stolaf.edu.
coats@stolaf.edu
Be the first to comment on this article!