A high-flying bit of sporting magic has touched down at ETSU. Quidditch, the wizarding sport of J. K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series, is gaining the interest of real-world students nationwide. Katelyn Carter and Andrew Hodges have taken notice of the phenomenon and brought it to our own campus.

“It looked like a lot of fun,” Carter said, explaining how her friends from different colleges introduced her to the sport of “muggle Quidditch.”

Carter and Hodges, president and vice president of the Quidditch Club, established the club this year by obtaining official recognition of their group through the Student Organization Resource Center.

“Though we’re listed as a club through the SORC, some of the formalities required to become an official sports club have not been finalized yet,” Hodges said.

Even so, this club is still listed on the CPA’s fitness schedule and is allowed to use its facilities.

As described by Hodges, each team is made up of three chasers, two beaters, one keeper and one seeker. Points are earned by scoring goals with a yellow ball (the quaffle) and scoring these goals is the chasers’ job.

Ten points are earned each time the quaffle is thrown through the opposing team’s hoop. However, the other team’s beaters complicate matters for the chasers. The chasers make up the offensive part of the team, and the beaters make up its defensive counterpart.

Beaters have two jobs to attend to during a game: they lob purple balls called bludgers at opposing chasers to halt their drives for the goal, but also must protect their own chasers from opposing beater attacks. If a beater successfully hits a chaser with a bludger, he or she must drop the quaffle and touch his or her respective goal before jumping back into the action.

Each team’s keeper essentially acts as a goalie for their particular hoop, blocking the shots of the enemy chasers. The most important job, however, lies with a team’s seeker, much like in the game in the novels.

The seeker must capture the golden snitch, scoring 50 points for his or her team and ending the match as the snitch must be caught before a Quidditch game can end.

In “muggle Quidditch,” the golden snitch is represented by an individual dressed in golden attire. The snitch is free to roam the streets of campus until one lucky seeker tags it.

Every player must carry a broom between their legs for the duration of the game, staying true to the tradition of playing Quidditch on flying brooms in the Potter books.

“Ideally,” said Hodges and Carter, “we would like to recruit enough members to create four ‘house teams.'”

This organization of four “house teams” would allow for intramural competition similar to the games among the houses of the fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

“Eventually, we would like to put together a varsity team to compete with other schools in our area,” said Carter and Hodges. “Virginia Tech has a Quidditch team, as well as UT-Knoxville, Appalachian State and even Science Hill High School.”

For anyone interested in playing Quidditch, the club meets at 7 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays. Monday’s meetings take place in the CPA Aerobics Room, and the club meets in front of the CPA on Thursdays.

“Anyone who wants to try it out is free to drop by,” said Carter, “Quidditch is for everyone, not just Harry Potter fans.

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