Aside from its academics and athletics, Virginia Tech is best known for its Hokie-stone covered structures that look more like castles than academic buildings.
Add in Tech’s seclusion from any major city, and the end result is a comparison to a school just about everyone in the world is familiar with: Hogwarts.
With that in mind, it is only fitting that Quidditch, the wildly popular sport in J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world, has been brought to Tech.
In today’s world, Harry Potter has become a huge part of pop culture all over the globe. Each of the seven books has been made into Blockbuster movies — part two of the final novel comes out in July. And Universal Studios opened up a section of its park called “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” last April.
Now, the famous wizard’s sport has been taken off the pages and into real life, with Tech recently joining the group of schools to have a Quidditch team.
“I saw some Facebook groups, and there was one guy that was like, ‘Hey, I want to start one,’ and he didn’t even go to this school anymore,” said Christina Nestor, the team’s founder and co-captain. “I got tired of people saying they were going to (start a team) and not doing it.”
Nestor is a member of SPPS, a division of EMCVT, the Collegiate Times’ parent company.
“Muggle Quidditch” first came into existence in 2005, when Alexander Manshel, a student at Middlebury College, took what he saw in the books and translated it into a game people could actually play. Two years later, he started the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association, and the hobby has been growing in popularity ever since.
“It is just another way to show how big Harry Potter is in our generation,” said Andrew Economou, a freshman architecture major.
While flying on brooms is obviously not involved in playing Muggle Quidditch, much of the game is the same as in books. Chasers try to throw a volleyball through three hoops guarded by a keeper. Beaters throw dodge balls, or “bludgers,” at the other team, all while the seeker tries to catch the snitch.
Because the snitch is said to have “a mind of its own,” a separate player acts as the snitch by dressing in yellow and running around the campus until caught.
“I want to say it would be close to the original sport,” Nestor said, “but I feel like the Muggle Quidditch is a little too violent for what they would put in the Harry Potter books.”
Competitors are required to hold a broom between their legs the entire time, to simulate flying. Though they might not be as quick as Harry on the Nimbus 2000, it does create some fast-paced action.
Without a pitch of its own, the Quidditch Club, which is known as the “Virginia Tech Phoenixes,” to keep its mascot fairly close to the Hokie Bird, is forced to practice on the Drillfield and other public areas.
Considering Quidditch isn’t exactly as common as the softball or Frisbee games usually occupying the field, many are perplexed by what they are watching. That being said, many students figure it out quickly and enjoy the homage to their favorite books from childhood.
“People who know what we’re doing either make Quidditch-related comments, or laugh at us, or watch,” said Kitty Schaffernoth, one of the team’s captains. “You get a lot of mixed comments about Quidditch. We were practicing in the Johnson quad on Friday, and some boys in Miles Hall would yell, ‘Throw it to Harry!’ whenever we were passing the ball.”
The Phoenixes competed in their first tournament, the River City Invitational, which was sponsored by the Virginia Quidditch League, on April 3. The tournament featured four other teams from schools in the state, including the Christopher Newport Captains of Crucio and the University of Richmond Acromantulas.
Although the team went 0-4, proving it is not quite ready to compete with Gryffindor for the House Cup, the tournament was still a way to introduce the team to competitions with other schools.
“It was really more of a chance to put (what) we learned to use, and not have to worry about playing against ourselves and hurting one of our own,” Nestor said.
The Phoenixes next match will be against the James Madison University Marauders on Sunday, April 17, at 2 p.m. The game will take place on the Drillfield in front of Eggleston Hall, and spectators are welcome to come and watch the action.