Quidditch Is Real! We Talk to Emerson College's Real-Life Team

Just because 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I' doesn't have any Quidditch scenes doesn't mean that the flying sport has gone missing in action. All you need to do to catch Hogwarts' favorite game being played -- and by real humans, no less -- is head to a nearby college campus.

What's that, you say? How can Muggles be playing a sport that requires magic broomsticks? Well, real-life Quidditch cuts out the aerial portion and is more like a combination of rugby and lacrosse. It requires actual athletic skill -- not just a love of 'Harry Potter.'

One such participating college is Emerson, whose Quidditch team placed in the quarterfinals of the World Cup in New York City this past weekend.

Joe Rechtman, who helped found Emerson Quidditch, said the idea to form a team came from watching nearby Middlebury College (where organized "Ground Quidditch" or "Muggle Quidditch" originated in 2005) play a game and then reading their official online rulebook.

"We [wanted] to take it out of the magical world and into the real world," said Rechtman, explaining that the team uses cheap brooms and hula hoops for goals.

Emerson College Quidditch
According to the International Quidditch Assocation, 46 teams participated in the World Cup, and colleges across the United States, Europe, Canada, Asia, New Zealand and Australia have Quidditch teams. More than 400 colleges and 300 high schools have formed teams since 2005.

Rechtman, a defensive captain, is a beater on the Emerson Quidditch team, a position that asks the player to protect the seeker while also stopping the other team's seeker from catching the Golden Snitch.

"It's a very multi-tasking, intensive position," he said.

Even though the sport requires serious athletic chops, Rechtman said the first thing people ask him when they learn that he plays Quidditch is if the team flies.

"The biggest misconception is that we're a 'Harry Potter' fan club," he said. "'Harry Potter' is the last thing we care about, at least for me personally. I really just enjoy the sport. If you asked me my favorite spell, I would look at you with a blank stare."

Allison Gillette, another Emerson Quidditch captain who played four varsity sports in high school before discovering Quidditch, has encountered the same skepticism.

"The biggest misconception is that people think this is a sport for nerds," she said. "But pretty much every team at the World Cup, and especially for us, this is our chosen sport -- it's a varsity sport."

Gillette, however, is definitely a fan of the 'Potter' franchise.

"I got the first book read to me in 4th grade, and I've been at every book release and midnight movie release," she said. "I had the costumes and the memorabilia. I'm definitely in the top 3, at least on my team, in knowledge of 'Harry Potter.' But I agree that I'd want to get Quidditch away from 'Harry Potter' because it's a sport and 'Potter' is probably the biggest reason people don't take us seriously."



A few other colleges with active Quidditch teams:

Boston University
Harvard University
Ithaca College
Penn State University
Syracuse University
University of Pittsburgh
Yale University
Duke University
Johns Hopkins University
University of Florida
University of Georgia
Michigan State University
Arizona State University
Texas A&M University
UCLA
University of California Berkeley