A new club sport has now appeared on the Shippensburg radar, as the newly founded Quidditch team has made its first appearance in matches last week.
Based off the sport played in J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter,” the Quidditch team is following the same path that two freshmen at Middleberry College did in 2005. The two freshmen transformed the game of Bocce into Quidditch.
After a few trial and errors, these two freshmen started a sport that would gain attention from other universities. With this new attention a set of rules would be adopted, and more and more colleges across the nation would form their own Quidditch clubs.
For those who do not know what Quidditch entails, it is an extensive game. It combines the sports of football, dodge-ball and soccer and is a full contact sport in which physical aggression is encouraged.
The playing surface of the game is half a size of a soccer field and is in the shape of an oval. Three hoops are designated at each side of the pitch, in order for the teams to score points.
The purpose of the game, like any other is to score more points than the other team, yet in Quidditch, scoring points needs to be strategic. Chasers, similar to a winger in hockey, run down the field and try to score but must evade the beaters. If a beater hits them with a rubber dodge-ball called a bludger, they then must return to their side. Goalies are designated to stop the chasers from scoring.
The game is over when the seeker (one per team) catches the snitch, a player that is dressed in all gold and can run wherever he chooses. The main catch of the game, the player has to run with a broom in between his legs, making all of these acrobatics much harder.
The Quidditch team at SU is led by captain Chris Kostick and plays its games outside of Old Main. The team has been successful against nationally ranked Kutztown in its first two matches. The team went 1-2 two weeks ago and finished 1-1 against Kutztown this weekend.
Practices are Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday’s at noon. For any interested players contact Lindsay Rosen at lr8574@ship.edu.
The Slate welcomes thoughtful discussion on all of our stories, but please keep comments civil and on-topic. Read our full guidelines here.