Watch This LifeSaving Trick that Quidditch Players Use to Defend Themselves Against Bludgers

What Quidditch Players Fend Off The Bludgers

There May Not Be Flying, But Quidditch Still Creates Magic Quidditch leapt from the screen to real-life muggle fields in 2005. Now, it's grown big enough to have a major league, and the intensity and athleticism involved is anything but fictional.

The Washington Admirals quidditch team practices at Thomas Jefferson Community and Fitness Center in Arlington, Va. The real-life sport was inspired by the magical one described in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, in which players fly about on broomsticks. Jared Soares for hide caption

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When Colby Palmer started his freshman year at Virginia Commonwealth University, some students approached him in his dorm and asked whether he wanted to play quidditch.

Palmer had read all of the Harry Potter books and knew about the sport but said he felt reluctant to try it out.

My impressions of quidditch was just that it's for nerds by nerds — that they wouldn't be like people who I would find things in common with, Palmer says.

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Despite his hesitations, Palmer did give it a try and found he loved it and the community. Now, he's heading into his senior year at VCU and is spending the summer playing for the Washington Admirals, one of 16 Major League Quidditch teams. The season starts this weekend.

Colby Palmer (right) started playing quidditch in college. My impressions of quidditch was just that it's for nerds by nerds — that they wouldn't be like people who I would find things in common with, Palmer says. Now he's heading into his senior year at Virginia Commonwealth University and is spending the summer playing for the Washington Admirals. Jared Soares for hide caption

Maybe you've never heard of quidditch. And you might have missed the images of actor Daniel Radcliffe as the boy wizard Harry Potter plunging toward the ground on a flying broomstick in the screen adaptation of J.K. Rowling's series. If that is the case, you have a lot to learn. But then again, so does everyone who comes to the sport.

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There's such a dichotomy within the community because there are people who got into it because of Harry Potter and became athletic through friendship and playing, and then there are people like me who are looking for something to really stay in shape, Palmer says.

Unlike the majority of large spectator sports, quidditch is more complex — partly because it is rooted in magic. Teams may have only seven players on the field, or pitch, at a time: three chasers, two beaters, one keeper and one seeker. All of the players wear headbands, and each color designates their position. Chasers wear white, beaters wear black, keepers wear green, and seekers wear yellow.

There are three hoops mounted on each side of the pitch, and each player has a broom or stick. And, unlike basketball, baseball and football, in quidditch, up to five balls can be moving around the pitch at all times.

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First, there is the quaffle. In the real-life version of the game, it's a volleyball handled by the chasers and is the only ball that results in a score when it goes through the hoops. Each goal is 10 points.

A chaser handles a quaffle during practice. In the real-life version of the game, it's a volleyball and is the only ball that results in a score when it goes through the hoops. Each goal is 10 points. Jared Soares for hide caption

Then there are the bludgers. Those familiar with Harry Potter might remember that these balls have a mind of their own and are sent speeding toward other players to knock them off brooms. In real life, these balls don't fly, but they can still knock players off their brooms. There are three bludgers on the field at a time. The bludgers are dodgeballs and are used by the beaters like they would a regular dodgeball. If players are hit by a bludger, they dismount from their brooms and run back to their hoops and tag up. On both defense and offense, the bludgers are used to clear paths for a team's chasers as players run toward the opposing team's hoops and help the keepers — or goalies — protect their own hoops. Bludgers also used to keep the opposing team's seeker away from the snitch, the last of the balls.

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Quidditch's requisite sticks lie on a field, or pitch, next to a bludger, or a dodgeball in the real-life game. One of the scoring hoops — there are three — are set up on the pitch. Jared Soares for hide caption

Like in the fictional sport quidditch is based on, the snitch is vastly smaller than the other balls — about the size of a tennis ball — and it's worth 30 points if caught. But the snitch is also a position in the game, though this person is not a member of either team on the field, to keep things fair. The ball is secured in a cloth strip, which is Velcroed to the back of the person's shorts, similar to flag football. The person who is the snitch can do just about anything, including running, dodging and grappling, to make sure the seekers — whose sole focus is to catch the snitch — don't get the ball. Once a seeker catches the snitch, the match is over.

The snitch is not just a ball, it's also a position in the game. Ricky Nelson — the snitch in this match — prevents someone from grabbing the ball, which is attached to his uniform. Jared Soares for hide caption

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The snitch is not just a ball, it's also a position in the game. Ricky Nelson — the snitch in this match — prevents someone from grabbing the ball, which is attached to his uniform.

With all of that going on at once on the field, it can seem a little chaotic to first-time viewers, but that complex strategy is what a lot of players enjoy about the game.

If you don't have the snitch, you have the quaffle and three bludgers active at all time on the field. It creates such a more dynamic sport, and it can kind of play out in crazy ways, says Ethan Sturm, a co-commissioner of Major League Quidditch. There's so many things you can do strategically because there's so much more variety ... you have to worry about a bludger taking you out of the play and allowing the quaffle to be easily scored.

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Additionally, quidditch has proven itself to be one of the most progressive sports in terms of gender equality. The game isn't divided based on sex, and anyone, regardless of their gender identity, is welcome to play.

The rule was established in US Quidditch, which serves as the governing body for the sport and has a league and season that takes place during the school year.

It's not strictly the gender binary by either male or female, so it creates a really unique way for people to identify outside of that binary to have a way that they can play sports and be accepted for who they are and really be able to have an atmosphere and a community that fully accepts them and be themselves, says Sarah Woolsey, executive director of US Quidditch.

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The Washington Admirals quidditch team prepares for the Major League Quidditch season, which begins this weekend. Jared Soares for hide caption

The main rule regarding gender on the field only allows a maximum of four members of a team who identify the same way to be playing at a time. This is something that many players, such as Augie Monroe of the Texas Cavalry team, like about the sport. Monroe played football in high school but says the locker room culture turned him off. That is not a problem with quidditch, he says.

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I wasn't all that big on the [football] culture, and I love co-ed teams because there's a balance of opinions and perspectives just in communicating with people on your team, Monroe says. I think it's a more fun group to be a part of.

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And Monroe has been a part of the quidditch community for a while. He started his career in 2011 at the University of Texas, where he played with the Longhorns as they won three straight national titles from 2013 to 2015. After graduating, he knew he wasn't done playing and founded the Texas Cavalry team, which plays in the US Quidditch league and won the championship cup in April.

Quidditch isn't divided by sex, and anyone, regardless of their gender identity, is welcome to play. The main rule regarding gender allows a maximum of four people from each team who identify the same way to play at a time. Jared Soares for hide caption

Although he has been on four championship teams, Monroe was far from the