If you showed up to an Iowa State University Quidditch practice expecting to find a group of geeky Potterheads, you would be completely wrong and, quite literally, in for a beating. 

“We’re going to keep contact to a minimum,” said Jacob Vogts, treasurer. “Since we’re on turf and Chris [McWilliams] has a concussion, you can stiff arm people and wrap around them but try not to completely take them down.”

That was a pretty clear indicator that what was about to happen was not going to be for the faint of heart. The phrase “try not to” seemed to say, “You may very well walk away with some kind of injury.” While that didn’t happen, it turns out quidditch is an intense contact sport. A complex combination of rugby, dodgeball, tag and the game Harry Potter played on a broomstick, it’s a lot to take in at first.

When I arrived at Lied Recreation Athletic Center at 11 p.m., I found Vogts there waiting to be joined by the rest of the team. At first, we were joined by half a dozen people who helped to unload and set up all of the equipment. The goal was to get everything from Vogts’ car in one trip to avoid spending any more time in the 35-degree weather than possible.

As more people showed up and the number rose to almost a full dozen, I was shaking hands and being thrown so many names it was everything I could do to keep up with them.

Everyone talked and joked with each other as they set up equipment and warmed up. Several strikingly different personalities conversed in a way that would befit best friends. I was instantly accepted into the group. So many teams and clubs have a clique mentality that makes it hard to be an outsider. This was far from the dynamic I experienced at my first practice. Each of the teammates made an effort to talk to me and get me fully immersed in the practice. I felt as though I had been a member of the team for much longer than 15 minutes.

In the beginning, everything seemed simple and straightforward. Everyone stood in a circle on their brooms (holding a length of PVC between their legs) and tossed around the quaffle (a partially deflated volleyball). I felt absolutely ridiculous and only caught the ball a few times, but it was fairly low paced and I was able to follow every move.

Then Vogts threw running into the mix and everything got about 10 times more difficult. A fundamental skill in quidditch is the ability to run, hang onto your broom and catch or throw a ball at the same time. It sounds challenging and I can guarantee you it’s much harder than it sounds. After one spectacular catch and an awful lot of chasing after the quaffle as it rolled across the turf, I was warmed up and ready to play my first game of quidditch.

I stood at one end of the pitch tapping my PVC broom on the ground and staring at the six white hoops as Vogt gave me a “quick run-down” of how the game is played. I have been a Harry Potter fan for most of my life and know quidditch fairly well. However, Harry’s quidditch and collegiate quidditch are strikingly different. First of all, college students don’t have access to actual flying broomsticks which completely changes the level of athleticism required. If I didn’t have a background as an endurance athlete, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have been able to keep up. As for gameplay, there are chasers, beaters and keepers on each team. Chasers and keepers handle the quaffle and try to score points by putting it through one of the opposing team’s three hoops. The beaters use bludgers, dodge balls, to try to “knock out” players.

“What’s the penalty for clocking someone with a broom?” I asked as a joke.

“Probably just a very serious, ‘Don’t do that again,’” Vogts said.

The response was far more serious than I would have ever expected. I meant the question as a joke, but I didn’t get a joke for an answer. My smile sucked back into my face but was replaced with excitement.

It was at this point that we were informed we were not all-out tackling for the day and the group was divided into teams. I was made a beater, so I donned a black headband (chasers wore white) and lined up on my team’s side of the pitch.

Collegiate quidditch may be the closest thing to anarchy without malice anyone could witness.

Being one of about a dozen people running at each other to fight over who is going to take possession of the quaffle or bludgers felt something like two herds of elephants running straight at each other. I was certain I was going to collide with someone and join Chris McWilliams in the concussion club. Instead, I somehow got a bludger and promptly realized I had no idea what to do with it.

As it turns out, there is a significant amount of strategy to beating. You have to decide when to hold onto your bludgers, when to throw it and who to throw it at. I spent a lot of time running around with a ball feeling like I was in the way. Chasers’ jobs are a little more straightforward. It’s very similar to soccer in the sense that the goal is to pass the ball and score. It’s also similar to rugby in the sense that the opposing team will do quite a lot to keep you from scoring.

There were falls, collisions, accidental slides, near tackles, a nasty case of rug burn and a lot of sweating. While the quaffle is in play, you’d think the players on opposing teams were mortal enemies. However, when the game is over, they go back to talking and joking like best friends.

For every rule that exists there seems to be a rule someone forgot to write down. It leaves the game highly competitive. However, the level of competition can vary from player to player or team to team. Some schools treat it like a completely serious sports team complete with rigorous practices and team workouts. At Iowa State, the game is taken seriously, but there’s also an importance placed on having fun. Anyone is welcome to join the team and participate in practices.

The quidditch season lasts the duration of the school year. Iowa State’s team practices three times every week. Members make it as often as they can. Because of this, every practice can offer a slightly different group. With practices taking place at 9 p.m. or 11 p.m. during the winter months, being a part of the team takes some dedication.

By the end of practice, most of the team members wanted to know if it was my first practice and whether I was going to become a part of the team for real. The team persisted that I “totally should” join and told me that they are always looking for more girls to join the team. 

US Quidditch has a rule called the gender maximum rule. This rule allows each team to have a maximum of four players who identify as the same gender on the field at the same time. At practice, there were 11 of us in total. Only two of those 11 were women. Quidditch is looking to improve gender inclusivity in sports by requiring teams to mix it up. This creates an environment that’s not found in many other sports. Men and women are usually separated and therefore, it’s implied they have different levels of skill or ability. This dynamic is completely erased in quidditch. Although only two of us were women, I never felt like the odd man out.

Beyond gender, each player comes from a very different place. Although the sport is modeled after the popular game played on broomsticks in the magical world of Harry Potter, only about half of the members of the team are fans of the series. Several of them have never read any of the books, only read a few or only seen some of the movies.

Henry Pham, junior in kinesiology and health, is a boxer, wrestler and triathlete. A friend introduced him to the team. At first he was skeptical and just went to have fun and see what quidditch is. At his first practice, he got hurt and decided it was something he really wanted to do. During one play at his second practice, he and another player, an opposing chaser, dove to the ground in a battle for the quaffle. This is the kind of competition quidditch offers.

“It’s really for anyone who wants to run around a field or hit people,” Pham said.

Most of the members of the team were brought into quidditch because friends begged them to go and, when they did, they found it was more than what it seemed on the surface and decided to stick around, allowing the small team to grow.

“It’s all about bringing your friends in and getting involved,” Vogts said. “It’s a lot of fun and you don’t realize it until you get involved.”