Tuesday, November 15, 2011

DHS Muggle Quidditch Team Attends International World Cup

By Annabel Schneider
This weekend (11/12-11/13) the Darien High School Quidditch team attended the fifth Muggle Quidditch World Cup on Randall’s Island in New York. One hundred teams and 2,000 athletes from high schools and colleges came from around the world for the event. Teams came all the way from Arizona and California. International teams included teams from Canada, Finland, and New Zealand.

The event was played under the rules of the International Quidditch Association (IQA). The sport has similar rules to the famous game played at Hogwarts. All players are required to have a broom between their legs and a hand on the broom at all time (the players were given IQA regulated brooms). The chaser's job is to throw the quaffle (a slightly deflated volleyball) into one of the three hoops on the opposite team's side. The keeper is the goalie. Beaters use bludgers (dodge balls) to throw at the players on the opposite team hindering those players' progress toward the goal for a bit of time. The final position is seeker whose job is to catch the snitch (a neutral player dressed in yellow or gold with a tennis ball attached to flag in their belt). Whoever gets the snitch gets 30 points, the game is over, and the score is calculated.

Most of the teams were from colleges; however, there were teams in the high school division whom DHS Quidditch played against. Despite a 0-5 result during the competition the team had a great attitude. It was one of their first competitions and it was great just to participate.

In game three the snitch was caught by freshman Mallory Zabrocky ending the game. The team still didn’t win the game, but it was a great feat to have caught the snitch.

            Captain junior Caroline Golino said, “It was loads of fun, and it was great to be able to meet so many other people who enjoy the game just as much as we do! We learned a ton, and we know we're going to rock the World Cup next year!"




Find more info on the sport and event:




No comments: