Brooms Up!

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My friend Julia is at once the coolest, nerdiest person I know. She's smart and funny and interesting, and totally unapologetic about her love for things like Disney cartoons, Harry Potter, and show tunes. We met at Columbia, but sadly she moved to Wisconsin to work on her Ph.D. I was delighted to get an email from her a few weeks ago telling me that she'd be back in the city for the weekend and was planning to attend the annual Quidditch World Cup, hosted by the International Quidditch Association.

Ed bravely agreed to accompany me to the event, which was to take place on Roosevelt Island. We took the train to Harlem but gave up on the bus that was supposed to take us to the island after waiting in a long line for at least 25 minutes for a bus that never showed up. Thanks to the magic of GPS-enabled cell phones, we discovered that the island was quite close, and that we could walk across the bridge and be there in less time than we'd spent waiting for the bus, so we set off. It was a lovely, sunny afternoon, perfect for a stroll along a busy highway.

A young wizard photographs the car.

The World Cup was not at all what either of us was expecting, although it's probably safe to say neither of us knew what we had in mind. The event was somewhat poorly run in some ways. It took us ages to find the entrance to the fenced enclosure where the competitions were taking place because there were no signs. Food was available, but only in the form of a single waffle truck and the line was at least 75 people deep. (I wished I'd thought to bake something and try to sell it there; I'd have made a killing.) Still, I had a fantastic time. When we finally made it inside the enclosure, we were greeted by a replica - it's possible that it was the real thing, but I doubt it - of the car Harry and Ron used to fly to school in one of the movies. The size of the event was surprising. I'm not sure how many schools were there competing (most teams were affiliated with colleges) but there were at least 8 fields with teams on them at all times while other teams warmed up or watched from the sidelines. I saw a team from Canada, and Julia said that they were not the only international team in attendance.

Brooms in front of the goals, ready for the start of the game.

Fans of the series may be wondering how quidditch can be adapted for real life. (For a complete set of rules, look up "Muggle Quidditch" on Wikipedia.) The short version is that each player, regardless of which of the three positions they play, runs around with a broomstick between his/her legs. Chasers toss around a partially deflated volleyball (a quaffle) and try to throw it between one of three hoops, usually hula hoops on poles, on their end of the pitch for ten points. Beaters act as defense. They throw one of the four inflated rubber balls (bludgers) at the chasers, and once a chaser is hit, s/he has to drop the volleyball, leaving it available for another player to snatch up. Tackling is legal and happens frequently, so Ed and I were surprised to see no pads, helmets, or mouth guards, particularly in a co-ed sport! Some of the players were enormous. Beaters can break up a tackle by hitting the opposing team member with a bludger if they happen to notice what is happening, which is not always the case.

The snitch

The most interesting aspect of the game is the snitch. In the books, it is a magical golden ball with wings that zooms around the field, and a player from each team, the chaser, attempts to catch it first. The snitch in muggle quidditch is a person dressed all in yellow with a tennis ball stuffed into a sock hanging from the back waistband of his pants. He plays for neither team and is not hindered by a broomstick. His job is to be entertaining as well as quick, so he dashes on and off the field and has been known to do cartwheels, climb trees, and race into the stands to give high-fives to the audience. The chasers tail behind him, trying to run with their broomsticks getting in the way, and flailing sometimes rather pathetically at the tennis ball. The one to capture it earns a huge number of points (100? 150?) for his/her team and ends the game.

The players took the games very seriously and I was surprised to find myself whooping and cheering and gasping within minutes of the start of my first game. It was very exciting to watch.

Bendene

The action at the tournament wasn't limited to the field, either. There was a stage on which various "wizard bands" performed, and we watched a guy dressed as Snape interview the founder of the quidditch league, Alex Benede who is in his late 20's and walked around the event in a suit, scarf, and top hat, brandishing a walking stick. Other costumes were even more striking, many involving wands, replicas of attire from the movies, and flowing capes.

As the sun went down and the wind picked up, it got to be downright freezing, and so we left while the action was still in full swing. Although I am not always a trooper when it comes to cold weather, I was genuinely sorry to go. I could have watched many more games before I tired of it, and will be sure to look out for this sort of quirky, ridiculous, generally enjoyable event in the future.