The Lantern

Issue date: 5/8/08 Section: Arts

Sean Spitzer/The Lantern Quidditch, a game normally enjoyed in the sky by characters from the Harry Potter novels, is brought back to earth by Emma Foxall (left) and Stephanie Rech (right) last week on campus.

On a Thursday evening, the athletic fields outside Lincoln Tower are filled with students. Some lazily toss around a Frisbee, while others send soccer balls flying into nylon nets.

And then there's the group running around with brooms and pelting each other with rubber balls.

No, this isn't a story for the police blotter. It's the opening practice of the Ohio State's Quidditch Club.

What is Quidditch?

Quidditch comes from the "Harry Potter" book and film series. A creation of author J.K. Rowling, the game combines the quick pace of soccer, the agility of dodgeball and the physicality of hockey.

As if that does not sound wild enough, all this is going on while the players hover in the sky on broomsticks.

The object of Quidditch is to throw a ball (the Quaffle) through one of three rings on the opponents' end of the field. At the same time, players must be on the lookout for zooming spheres called Bludgers, which can send witches and wizards flying off their broomsticks.

A game of Quidditch officially ends when one of the teams catches the Golden Snitch, a tiny orb constantly flying around the area of play.

A team is born

The OSU Quidditch Club got its start when freshman and avid "Harry Potter" fan Emily Toutkoushian read a magazine article about collegiate teams that had been formed around the country, including Middlebury College and Princeton University.

"I did some research and found a lot of helpful Web sites on how to play," Toutkoushian said. "I really wanted to get a team started then."

Her first recruits were freshmen Stephanie Rech and Kaitlyn Geiger and sophomore Emma Foxall, fellow lovers of the series.

The club's Facebook group now boasts 85 members and continues to grow as the women spread the word through fliers and informational meetings.

"We've been advertising like crazy around our dorm," Rech said. "We want this to get big."

Bringing the game to life

The biggest challenge facing nonfiction Quidditch players is, of course, a lack of magical powers. But the OSU team is making the most of what it has.

Rather than flying high on enchanted broomsticks, the players run up and down the field with broomsticks between their legs. They throw the kickball Quaffle through hula hoops attached to a soccer goal. And though the rubber Bludgers are unlikely to send players to the emergency room, they can still pack a healthy sting.

"The game gets pretty intense," Rech said. "It sounds like it would be kind of dorky, but it's really a great workout."

Perhaps the most innovative aspect of real-life Quidditch is the adaptation of the Golden Snitch. A winged ball is hard to come by in the Muggle (non-wizarding) world, so players instead attempt to chase down another player - usually a cross country runner - who dashes around the field dressed in yellow.

Despite all the differences between the fictional and nonfictional versions of Quidditch, team members play like they are soaring the skies of Hogwarts.

"When you read about matches you form this mental image and you really want to play," Geiger said. "And when you're out here on the field, it feels like you're actually a part of the books."

Looking to the future

The OSU Quidditch Club is still young. The players' positions haven't been nailed down - the absence of a Golden Snitch forced them to quit early - and at Thursday's practice, a few were riding mops instead of brooms.

Still, the founders have lofty goals.

"Eventually, we want to go to the World Cup in Vermont," Rech said. "Those teams are really good, but it would be awesome to get there."

Until then, the team will have to settle for taking down Big Blue.

"Michigan started a team too," Toutkousian said. "So for now, we really just want to play them."

Kim Setliff can be reached at setliff.3@osu.edu.

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