Muggles battle for magical title
Fans of ‘Harry Potter’ ‘nerd sport’ give Quidditch a feisty mortal makeover
A lithe man in golden pants shimmied away from two sweaty competitors pursuing him with outstretched arms.
A ball tucked in a tube sock dangled from the back of his pants, challenging both of them to tug it out of his waistband on a hot League City playing field. The first to snatch it would end the Quidditch game, just as Harry Potter won matches for Gryffindor by capturing the golden snitch mid-flight.
The Saturday match pitted the League City Legends against the New York Titans in the third annual Major League Quidditch national championship, a two-day event that drew about 250 players dedicated to the sport that enthralled the wizarding world in J.K. Rowling’s beloved series. Teams for years have honed the game for Muggles, replacing flying broomsticks with PVC pipes and devising rules to account for the law of gravity.
“It’s a highly physical game,” said Sequoia Thomas, the league’s tournament coordinator. “It requires real athleticism.”
The sport began about 11 years ago at Middlebury College, a liberal arts school in Vermont. It spread throughout the Northeast and then the rest of the country, morphing from a campus pastime into the niche obsession of a far-flung contingent.
The basics of the game mirror the magical version. Each team has three chasers to shoot the quaffle, two beaters to nail opponents with dodgeballlike bludgers and one keeper to defend the three vertical hoops that serve as goals on both ends of the field.
The seekers enter the field about 20 minutes into the game in pursuit of the snitch runner, the agile player carrying the tube sock. Whoever captures the snitch usually scores enough points to win.
Played on land, the sport combines elements of rugby, wrestling and flag football into an intense endeavor that requires considerable skill and concentration. Many Major League Quidditch teams practice twice a week, and players train by themselves on other days with weights and drills.
“It’s very physical, and mental as well,” said Melinda Staup, the league’s event diretor. “It requires a great field awareness of everything going on on the pitch.”
Quidditch once attracted mostly Harry Potter diehards, but players say that’s changed as more people begin to play. Tyler Walker, a beater for the Indianapolis Intensity team who spent his childhood at all of the book and movie releases, said the game appeals those who simply enjoy team sports with a lot of activity.
“There’s this perception that it’s the nerd sport, and that’s OK, because I am a total nerd,” he said. “But we have a lot of players who have never picked up a Harry Potter book.”
The championship arrived in League City for the second year as the sport grows in popularity throughout the region. Texas is the only state with two Quidditch teams, a reflection of both its size and the number of collegeage people willing to give it a try and keep it up after graduation.
“This year, we’re looking for a Texas team to win, but Quidditch is good at upending any kind of prediction,” Thomas said.
Twelve teams from across the country arrived to compete, vying for a spot in the game that will determine the ultimate winner on Sunday. The Boston Night Riders have won both previous championships.
Harry Greenhouse traveled with the Boston team to play chaser in what became his sport of choice in college, after a friend convinced him as a freshman to give it a shot. He walked on the field thinking it’d easy until a tall guy decked him, leaving him determined to become an expert player.
“He knocked me flat on my butt,” he said. “I looked up and said, ‘OK, I’m playing this.’ ”
During the Legends versus Titans match, the New York seeker first grabbed the snitch, drawing cheers from a handful of spectators, and apparently ended the game. But the referees reversed the call, giving the League City seeker the chance to capture the ball and knock the Titans out of the running.
Sam Reagan, who plays for League City, prepared for the championship for weeks by running and lifting weights. He plays beater, a tough position that requires pelting competitors with balls while his teammates score goals and snatch the snitch.
“The beaters are like the lineman of football,” he said. “They’re on the front lines, but get none of the glory,”