An Introduction to Muggle Quidditch pt.2

Hello again.

up and coming sport in anticipation of the that's coming to Quogue on July 21st.  Today I'm going to be sharing with you the scope of this game and some of the history of it.

Started back in 2005 at Middleburry College, Muggle Quidditch is the brain child of a group of students that got bored of playing bocci.  Middleburry became the site for the first world cup which saw only two teams compete, the other being Vassar College.  The number of teams at each subsequent world cup roughly doubled culminating at World Cup VI on Staten Island this past November with 100 teams competing over the span of two days.  The organizing body for these events is the International Quidditch Association (IQA) and also is the organization that supplies the rules and rankings for all the teams.

How many teams are there?  Well the number keeps growing, but as of this posting there are at least 2 teams on every continent except Antartica and over 660 in the US alone with NY having the most of any single state with 78.

This co-ed game is growing rapidly and even has talks of becoming a true varisty sport.  There's debate among the community as to how serious this should become versus maintaining the fun and carefree aspect that drew so many to Quidditch in the first place.  I personally think that both can be there, but if schools start offering scholarships for quidditch that's when  things have gone too far.  I like the idea of someone picking a school over another because of the quidditch team, but someone living their life just to play this game like people do for football, basketball, etc. will take away one aspect of the sport that I love.  The respect and community that is within the IQA.  Sadly this past year a player passed away suddenly and even though most players had never met her they raised a broom in her honor.  I fear that if this sport goes NCAA - or equivalent level of seriousness - then nobody will truly care anymore.  People won't be giving hugs after games out of happiness but out of obligation - if at all.  I would love to see it become "more legitamate" but I think it's already doing so by becoming more a part of the average college student's life.