Josh Hintz sprinted down the grassy field outside of the Women’s Building. He kept an eye on his surroundings and, despite it being a practice, the head captain of the Syracuse club quidditch team ensured his team functioned as though it were a game.

While the sport was only created in 2005, it has grown across the nation. Within seven years, quidditch has expanded to more than 110 teams, according to a 2012 NPR article. Though it isn’t recognized as a Division I sport, quidditch allows students to participate in an activity modeled after the Harry Potter film series.

At Syracuse, the club sport was created in 2008 and has since grown in popularity. There are currently between 30 to 40 players in the program, but only 21 travel to tournaments.

“(Quidditch) is really intense,” Hintz, a senior, said. “It’s a fast-paced game and is more physically draining than some sports.”

Quidditch is a six-on-six match played with a deflated volleyball, called a quaffle. Each main player on the field, either a chaser or keeper, holds a broom between his or her legs while running around the field. Ten points is awarded to whichever team throws the quaffle through the opposing hoops. The game ends after the snitch, a 30-point award, is caught by a specialized player called the seeker. Then all points are tallied and the victor, decided.

During the game, players can impede the opposition using bludgers, which are dodgeballs. If a player is hit by the bludger, they must dismount off their broom and touch one of their hoops before rejoining play.

Though quidditch has grown in popularity, there are struggles when it comes to recruiting new members. Benjamin Stonish, vice president of the quidditch program, has tried addressing the ongoing concern by spreading the word about the sport.

Courtesy of Josh Hintz

Hintz said the club tries to dispel its “nerdy” appearance when recruiting new possible athletes. They point toward the growth nationally and athleticism required to play the sport.

Outside of recruiting new members, the team also must address the gender rule, which requires a maximum of four of the same sex on the field at once. Women make up about one-third of the team and, Hintz said, adapt to the differences in size and strength.

“What happened in certain games was teams started putting out a female seeker with little practice, mostly to serve as place holder,” Hintz said, “(Then) they put another larger, more athletic male in at either the chaser or beater position to give them a different on-field advantage.”

As the sport continues to grow on college campuses across the United States, Stonish’s goal is to dispel the notion that quidditch is just for Harry Potter lovers. It is a physical sport, Stonish said, that requires both athleticism and stamina.

“I prepare for it both physically by training, as well as watching film and drawing up plays,” Stonish said. “I try to pull the sport away from the absurd fandom that surrounds it, while still maintaining those absurd elements that makes the sport unique.”

As more teams are added, and as the annual Quidditch World Cup becomes more competitive, it flashes a larger signal to those in Syracuse.

“The sport is growing,” Hintz said. “It’s exciting.”

Published on September 25, 2017 at 10:59 pm

Contact Adam: adhillma@syr.edu | @_adamhillman