Just because I play Quidditch doesn’t mean I’m a nerd

Little did I know just how intense it would be to play a sport with a broom between my legs

It was senior year of high school, and my friend Ryan and I had just gotten our acceptance letters to UC Berkeley. Ryan randomly found out Cal had a Quidditch team, and as we are both avid Harry Potter fans, we decided that we just had to join once we started college in the fall. We continued to talk about joining the team the rest of our senior year, getting more and more excited about the possibility of being on a real-life Quidditch team.

Fast forward to August, the start of my freshman year of college. Ryan and I never forgot about our plan of joining the Quidditch team. So, we showed up to the first practice of the year and were absolutely blown away by both the sport itself and the players. My thoughts and first impressions of the team went a little like this:

“Woah, is that the captain? He looks really athletic. Wait, they all look super athletic.”

“They are all so nice and fun!”

“This is actually kind of hard. Wait, you can tackle?!”

“So many things are going on at once!”

“The snitch is actually a person with special shorts that have a ball attached to the butt?!”

You can only imagine my amazement and surprise at how different my expectations were to the reality of playing Quidditch. Most people, like me, make many false assumptions about this once purely fictional sport. In light of these common misconceptions, here are ten things you should know about Quidditch.

Quidditch is not just a sport for nerds

While it is true that many of us are experts in Harry Potter trivia, we are so much more than just nerds.

We are also skilled athletes; many of us are former soccer or football players.

Defending our hoops (we are in blue, white, and gold)

Quidditch is  competitive and aggressive 

It is a full-on contact sport.

One-armed tackling, wrapping, and stiff-arming are allowed.

Games are intense, and players often get very aggressive.

Our captain, Djake Stanton going in for a tackle

Quidditch players do not play in robes, like in the movies

If we did wear robes, we would be constantly tripping over them as we run (sadly, our brooms do not fly).

Instead, we wear uniforms similar to those of soccer teams, with numbers on the back of the jerseys.

We do play with a broom between our legs

This definitely took some getting used to.

It was very uncomfortable and awkward at first, but after a few weeks, having a broom between my legs became a natural feeling.

China Armstrong, a Chaser, prepares to receive the quaffle

It’s not just a sport for college and university students

In addition to school teams, such as here at Cal, there are community teams that college graduates can join.

The Berkeley community team, pictured here in green, made a celebratory tunnel for us to run through after we won our game

The Snitch is a person with a special pair of shorts

This is where Quidditch gets really  weird. Someone from outside the two teams playing will don a special pair of shorts and act as the Snitch.

These shorts are bright yellow with a ball attached to the back with velcro. The Seekers must try to grab the ball off the shorts.

Here you can see our Seeker, Ryan Brown, going up against the other team’s Seeker, both trying to catch the Snitch

Practices are not for fooling around – we work hard just like any other sport

We have a total of six hours of practice a week. During practice, we condition, run drills targeted at different game situations, practice set plays, and scrimmage.

Don’t get me wrong; practice is fun. But we do go hard and get in a good workout.

We practice three times a week for two hours, rain or shine. Here I am during one particularly muddy practice

Quidditch is not funded by the school

We fundraise by selling shirts to pay for all of our own equipment, transportation, and tournaments.

Quidditch games have certified referees, rules, and regulations

There is an actual Quidditch rule book that details field size, player contact rules, etc.

You even have to take a certification course to become a referee!

The referees check the teams before every game to make sure we are safe to play

Quidditch players are very friendly (outside of games)

On the pitch, we may be aggressive and very competitive. Off the pitch, however, we are some of the friendliest people you will ever meet.

After games, we even hug the other team instead of giving the standard high-fives.

Goofy picture time with the Stanford Quidditch team after our game. Don’t worry, we won (go Bears!)

This may sound cliche, but joining Quidditch has really been one of the best decisions of my life. With all the action-packed monthly tournaments and incredible friendships I have made, it has been such an amazing experience. 

Our team has done very well this year- in fact, we are headed to Nationals in Columbia, South Carolina, this weekend!

At Western Cup, just after beating UCLA

I remember that after securing our spot at Nationals, Ryan turned to me and said, “We are living our dream!”.

But I would go so far as to say that we are living not only our dream, but the dreams of all the Harry Potter fans around the world.

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