From The Battonline: They may not fly through the air at break-neck speeds or fight trolls in bathrooms, but ranked No. 1 in the world, the Texas A&M quidditch team is not to be disregarded as a group of wand-waving fanatics.
With over 800 teams in the U.S. alone, quidditch has evolved from a group of enthusiasts’ pet project in 2005 at Middlebury College into a national sport about the spirit of competition and camaraderie.
“We don’t think we fly. We’re not role playing. We’re competing in an athletic event,” said Rebecca DuPont, president of A&M’s quidditch team and junior bioenvironmental science major.
Performance Studies professor Amy Guerin is one of the team’s faculty sponsors, and has a great deal of respect for the team.
“Their commitment to pursuing this sport is admirable because they are not cavalier about it,” Guerin said. “They treat it very respectfully. They have figured out a way to really raise the level of the game and raise themselves to more than just an intramural level of playing, but like a real competitive sport.”
Harry Potter vs. A&M
Senior mechanical engineering major and head intercollegiate coach Drew Wasikowski believes the manifestation of a game once only seen in movies into a legitimate sport can be attributed to warring ideas on how the game should be enjoyed. In the beginning, people were playing for the “whimsical” aspect of the game and then more people became involved for its competitive side.
Wasikowski acknowledged the “Harry Potter” movies’ role in first sparking his interest in quidditch.
“I, of course, loved Harry Potter,” Wasikowski said. “I like it being more competitive, because it treats us more like actual athletes.”
Wasikowski admitted that it is easy for people to be skeptical about the sports legitimacy because the idea of people riding on brooms can seem silly.
According to DuPont, brooms are not always required for low-level competition. All that is required is an object of a certain length that won’t injure someone. http://www.thebatt.com/a-m-quidditch-teams-seek-national-championship-1.2994611
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