Step aside non-believers, quidditch has come to Geneseo and it is taking over the muggle population in a non-magical flying frenzy. The mythical sport has leapt off the pages of "Harry Potter" and onto our athletic fields.
Sophomores Olga Iodko and Alie Bauer are the co-presidents for quidditch club, which is just beginning to take off this semester. The group has a year to be officially recognized by the school and deemed a club sport.
The idea for the club came from shameless YouTube viewings of Vassar and Middlebury colleges playing the game. "There's really nothing like it," said Bauer.
After their recent interest meeting, they have had over 110 students sign up. Iodko and Bauer are in the process of interviewing people to fill vacant positions such as treasurer, vice president, equipment manager, secretary and publicity chair. Qualifications include having enough free time and being a fun person.
"Basically, everyone must have the broom between their legs at all times. You hold the broom with one hand. There are three chasers and they have a volleyball [also known as the quaffle] that they throw back and forth into the three hoops at the end of the field [to score points]," said Bauer.
Additionally, there are keepers who protect against the other team scoring.
"There are two beaters, who can throw and peg other players with dodgeballs," she continued. If pegged, the player must run to their team's goal and back to resume playing in the match. The same goes for a player who falls off their broom.
The object for both teams is to be the first to catch the snitch. "The snitch is a person with a tennis ball and a long sock attached to their shorts. Basically, they run around the field and they can also leave the field [and run around campus] and the seekers run after them and try to get the tennis ball," said Iodko. The area that the snitch can run is determined before each game.
"We just figure that everyone in our age group at this school grew up with Harry Potter so there's no shortage of people who like it," said Bauer. "We thought it would be really fun because neither of us are really big sports people." No one has ever played before, so everyone has the opportunity to start on the same level.
Quidditch is not a sport to be taken lightly. "There's an official rulebook which is really long and has already been revised three times," said Iodko. After hopefully obtaining the school's approval, the team hopes to travel to the Quidditch World Cup, which will be held next October at Middlebury College, where the muggle version of quidditch originated.
Syracuse University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Cornell University and University of Rochester are some surrounding colleges who have also formed or are in the process of forming quidditch teams.
Those seeking more information can attend the interest meeting which will be held this Friday, Sept. 25 at 4 p.m. in the Fireside Lounge or join the Facebook group "Unofficial Geneseo Quidditch Association."