Over the winter break, members and alumni of the Sam Houston State University Quidditch Club went to Salt Lake City, Utah to participate in this year’s Snow Cup Fantasy Tournament, with some members having played for the winning team.
The event, hosted by the Utah Crimson Fliers Quidditch team, lasted four days and included partying, bonding with team members and playing the sport. The event was kicked off by a New Year’s Eve Bash and concluded Jan. 3 with the annual Snow Ball.
Players on the winning team included SHSU Qudditch members and alumni at the fantasy-style tournament, which is different than most Quidditch tournaments.
“Unlike normal quidditch tournaments where you play with your main team – in my case quidditch at SHSU – fantasy tournaments have teams that are composed of random players,” senior criminal justice major Erin McDonald said. “The players are drafted by general managers who try to create their dream team. The teams created usually have different aspects, like there was a really physical team, a team that focused on strategy, even a team that was crafted around one of their main players.”
Fantasy tournaments often allow people from different teams to connect and build a stronger community in the sport. While McDonald was not on the winning team, her experiences at the tournament made the trip worth it.
“I was able to make a lot of new friends, where I wouldn’t have the opportunity if I only stayed in my region,” McDonald said. “On top of that it was great spending the time with my friends from Texas. I loved the time spent and I can’t wait to do it again.”
Fantasy teams present a challenge due to participants playing with unknown people. However, this challenge was overcome by junior psychology major Alicia Norman, who was on the winning team.
“I had never met any of my teammates before the first day and over the course of the two days we got closer and our chemistry increased a lot and through that we were able to win,” Norman said. “Going through the tournament, we weren’t expected to do well because we had a lot of unknown picks, but we proved everyone wrong and won.”
Quidditch is a co-ed full contact sport where players are prohibited from using pads and helmets. PVC pipes are used in place of the magical flying brooms as made popular by the Harry Potter books and movie series.
Players are required to have the broom between their legs at all times. Volleyballs are “quaffles” used for scoring by Chasers and the Beaters use dodge balls for “bludgers” as defense.
The all-important snitch is a human dressed in yellow or gold with a tennis ball in a sock attached to the back of their shorts. The seekers chase the snitch and whomever removes the ball first wins 30 points for their team and ends the game.
While the game can seem very straight forward, there are several different strategies used by different teams to become better.
“It was really interesting seeing the different play styles and what aspects of the game were given priority over others,” McDonald said. “For example, I’m used to a heavy defense on the game ending snitch, while a few of my teammates were used to having the chasers and beaters do a full out offense on goal scoring.
Other fantasy quidditch tournaments included the Southwest Fantasy Tournament held in the summer in Austin.
Quidditch at SHSU holds practices Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Lower Pritchett Field from 6 to 8 p.m. and welcome those interested in trying out the sport.