What it’s like to play in the National Quidditch Cup

Long journey, terrible sunburns, new friends, early mornings, a Harry Potter-themed band and some intense Quidditch matches

This weekend, the Cal Quidditch team traveled to Columbia, South Carolina, to play in the U.S. Quidditch Cup 9. It was an incredible, albeit physically taxing, experience.

We trained hard all year in preparation, but nothing could have prepared us for the incredible games we got to play and watch, the sunburns, and the number of high-energy Quidditch spectators. It was a whirlwind of a weekend.

The journey

‘Twas a long and arduous journey; we left San Fransisco at 8 p.m. on Thursday and didn’t arrive in Columbia until 10 a.m. on Friday.

We tried to nap during our three flights and two layovers, but were still exhausted by the time we arrived at our hotel.

Cal Quidditch taking over our gate’s seats

Hopefully, our fellow plane passengers didn’t hate us too much…

The arrival

Once we got settled into our super-sketchy-truck-stop hotel, we went exploring. There wasn’t much around except freeways, a McDonalds, and a few suburban neighborhoods.

After a fish fry lunch at someone’s garage sale (gotta love the South), we played some kickball and soccer at a random baseball diamond. Quidditch players never rest.

Some good ol’ kickball- I probably hadn’t played since elementary school

The Quidditch part

Saturday morning, before the tournament began, there was an opening ceremony for all the players. I was so surprised at how many teams were present from all around the country!

Sixty teams made it to nationals, amounting to a total of about 1300 Quidditch players.

All the players gathered before the opening ceremony

We played four games on Saturday and one on Sunday. The teams we played were so physically superior (they were HUGE) and were so skilled that my jaw was on the floor the entire weekend.

Go Bears!

One of our star beaters presses forward on offense

At the end of it all, we ranked 36th out of all the teams!

The “we’re finally done, now we can relax” part

A goofy picture after our last game on Sunday

The rest of the day mostly consisted of pretending we were at Coachella (hot temperatures, big crowds, tents, sunburn, dehydration, and a performance by Harry and the Potters) and watching the rest of the championship games.

Many other teams stayed to watch the final games as well, and we were able to make new Quidditch friends while cheering on our favored teams.

Coachella or U.S. Quidditch Cup 9?

Performance by Harry and the Potters- complete with clever lyrics and head-banging choruses

Watching the semi-finals

The departure

I woke up at 4:45 a.m to the lovely symphony of five alarms going off. The morning was a far cry from smooth, as you might expect with only two hours of sleep. We struggled to get everyone awake. Someone lost his wallet. Another couldn’t find her charger. There were no Ubers available. It was rough, but we somehow managed to make it to the airport on time.

Ironically, our flight was delayed an hour because the plane’s door wouldn’t seal all the way.

The aftermath

Now finally back at UC Berkeley, we are nursing our various sore muscles and injuries, peeling sunburns, taking 11-hour naps, and hearing about all the fun we missed at Cal Day or Coachella.  But Cal Day and Coachella have nothing on U.S. Quidditch Cup 9; being able to go was more than worth anything we missed and more than worth all of our hurts.

More
UC Berkeley