Players take the field, squaring off against one another at opposite ends of the pitch.
They crouch low, remaining motionless as they eye their opponents in silence.
A cool breeze rolls through, but the players remain unaffected. Their jerseys — black and gold — billow in the wind.
Suddenly, a whistle blows, and organized chaos erupts, ending the quiet. The game has begun.
However, the group isn’t playing just any sport — they’re playing Quidditch.
Derived from author J.K. Rowling’s magical, seven-book series, “Harry Potter,” Quidditch lept off the page in 2005 at Middlebury College, where a group of students adapted the once-fictional sport for muggles to play, the Chicago Tribune reports.
The game took flight from the Vermont univer- sity, spreading to more than 300 colleges and high schools across the United States, as well as 12 other countries.
Soon, the International Quidditch Association (IQA), a nonprofit organization, formed in 2009 as the official governing body for the co-ed sport, according to the IQA website. The group is responsible for creating and maintaining the game’s rules and safety regulations, which are detailed in the 187-page IQA Handbook.
Almost seven years after the first match at Middlebury College, the Moscow Manticores were formed — the University of Idaho’s official Quidditch team — in 2012.
Thomas Parks, a UI fifth-year student studying electrical engineering, said he joined the team in 2014 when first-year students were required to join at least one on-campus club — Quidditch won out.
“Quidditch, at first, seemed like this ridicu- lous thing, like ‘Oh, this isn’t real; we’re not going to do anything. Let’s see what this is all about,’” Parks said. “(But) the second we showed up to an actual first practice, we realized this is a legitimate thing, and people are playing this across the country … It was insane to me how much of an actual sport it was.”
Now, Parks serves as the Manticores’ presi- dent. He is responsible for making sure all players are aware of the rules. Parks said he’s remained with the team primarily because of the people he’s met at UI and while playing other universities at various tournaments.
“The majority of my friends have been from the Quidditch team,” he said. “It’s this big group of people who are able to come together and play a dorky sport, but despite us coming from so many different backgrounds, we all kind of share the same interests.”
Parks said the Quidditch team had the largest number of members during his first and second year with 20 people compared to 12 playing on this year’s team. The team, who participates in four or five tournaments a year, is made up of mostly veteran players with four new members, he said.
Although the sport is based off the bestselling series, Parks said Quidditch has taken on a life of its own, flying from the page and into communities across the globe.
“They found something from the books they could actually do in person. We aren’t capable of holding a wand and doing magic,” he said. “There are insanely athletic people playing this sport, and it’s more of a sport than just ‘nerds’ gathering around.”
Parks, who has never read the “Harry Potter” books, believes people associate the sport too much with Rowling’s wizarding world, saying no prior knowledge is necessary — which is what he enjoys most about the club.
“We have people who have never read the books, they’ve never seen the movies, and they don’t know anything about Harry Potter, and yet, they come completely blind to it and they just stick around,” he said.
“All these people, they don’t really care about Harry Potter, but this, this is just this great sport that they get to play and all the people you get to meet — it gets stuck to you and you get stuck to it.”
Like Parks, Jacob Thorngate, a UI fourth- year studying mechanical engineering, joined the Manticores during his first-year to fulfill the on-campus club requirement, deciding to stick with the group ever since because of the people he met.
Thorngate, the team’s current captain, said his first tournament truly opened his eyes to just how unique Quidditch is. Not only were his teammates rooting for him, but the opposing team as well.
“It’s not like a lot of sports,” Thorngate said. “I’m used to one team versus the other.”
Renee Vaisuso, a UI first-year student studying medical sciences, said the Quidditch team is one of the reasons she came to Moscow.
Vaisuso, the team’s public outreach officer, said she wanted to be a part of a community where she knew she belonged.
“Even though I have a major, (but) I knew Quidditch was going to be something that was a part of my life, since it is a thing here (at UI),” she said.
Vaisuso, who isn’t physically able to play Quidditch and serves as the team’s referee, said there is a role for everybody, whether that be playing, supporting from the side- lines or helping set up practices.
“I never played sports in high school. I was never anybody to go outside, so when I actually got the opportunity to go and play something like (Quidditch), it was a blast,” Parks said. “I didn’t just make friends, I made a family.”
With the time he has left at UI, Parks said he hopes to grow the team and help it become self-sustaining in the years to come.
“I’d like to take this small family we have in Moscow and just expand it,” he said. “They can have no experience; we’ll show them everything.”
RULES:
Each team is made up of seven players — one keeper, three chasers, two beaters and one seeker — who all have a different objective and ball type, according the IQA. Every player has a “broomstick” between their legs at all times, as well.
The keeper tries to the block all players from scoring in one of the three circular hoops, which they guard throughout the match — all at different heights.
The three chasers move the quaffle — a volleyball — up and down the field, trying to score on the keeper by throwing the ball through one of the hoops, which equals 10 points. The chasers are allowed to run, pass or kick the quaffle.
The two beaters use three bludgers — dodgeballs — to disrupt the flow of the game by throwing them at the other players, “knocking them out.” If hit by a bludger, they must drop any balls and touch their side’s goalpost before returning to the game.
The seeker is responsible for snatching the snitch — a tennis ball inside of a yellow sock that is tucked into the waistband of the snitch runner, who is neutral to either team and released 18 minutes into the game. The snitch runner doesn’t use a broom and is allowed to use any means necessary to avoid being caught.
Penalties can be called for the following reasons: not keeping one’s broom- stick in position, failing to dismount the broom, not tagging a hoop after being hit by a bludger or touching the snitch as a non-seeker.
All matches last until the snitch has been caught, earning the victor an extra 30 points. However, if the score is tied, the game moves into overtime. The next team who scores wins.
The Manticores practice at Guy Wicks Field at 11 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays, and have in-classroom meetings 5:30 p.m. Mondays. All are welcome to join, and a love for Harry Potter is not required.
“This is not just for people who are nerding out over Harry Potter,” said Kiara Hauck, a UI fourth-year studying secondary education. “It’s for people who want to meet a good community of folks and stay a little bit active without having to do heavy lifting or running constantly … It’s not a made-up sport, it’s a big deal, and we really love it.”
Olivia Heersink can be reached at [email protected]