A person dressed in gold with a tennis ball attached to his pants will soon be sprinting across the Res Quad.
Others around him will hurl dodge balls at each other and toss a slightly deflated volleyball into hoops. Those too immersed in the muggle world to translate shouts about ‘bludgers’ and a ‘quaffle’ may wonder if Loyola students will make up any excuse to be outside as the weather cools this season.
Some Harry Potter fans will watch and dream about being Loyola’s next chaser. The university has joined over 200 schools nationwide with quidditch clubs based on the sport from J.K Rowling’s novels.
“We want to keep it true to the books and true to the sport,” said Terra Durio, English sophomore and Loyola Quidditch Club co- captain.
Seven players from each team are on the field at once, their positions indicated by headband color. The team with the most points from scoring goals and catching the snitch wins. Because magic flying objects don’t exist in our world, the main difference between the book’s game and the club’s is that it’s grounded. Players run rather than fly.
But there are still brooms.
“The game is played with one hand on a broom at all times and the other hand is for game play,” Durio said.
The club’s founder and captain is Kayla Cox, criminal justice junior. She discovered the International Quidditch Association online and signed Loyola up as one of the schools forming clubs across the country. The game’s head organization sends out rulebooks and organizes competitions.
Student Government Association chartered Loyola Quidditch Club in a meeting early September.
“The enthusiasm behind the team so far leads me to believe they will be very successful. You’ll find me at their games, cheering them on,” Haley Humiston, SGA chief of staff and music and public relations sophomore said.
Justin Fecke, finance junior, is Loyola Quidditch Club’s president. Michael Morin, music education junior, is vice president. Carissa Marston, biology sophomore, is treasurer.
The 22 current official members paid $10 dues for the IQA affiliation and were given rulebooks at recent meetings.
“Once we get everything going and we all know how to play, we are going to open it up to the rest of the university,” Cox said.
Practices are twice a week and matches are scheduled to take place in Audubon Park. Loyola Quidditch Club is the first Quidditch Club in New Orleans, and Durio has talked to students at University of New Orleans and Tulane University in hopes there may be some future intercity competition.
“LSU so far is the only school that we are absolutely certain that we’re going to play,” Durio said. The Loyola club wants to make it to the World Cup in New York next year. “When you play in a World Cup, you have to wear a cape, so I’m looking into getting us capes that have the Loyola logo on them,” Cox said.
Literary fanaticism fuels the Quidditch captains’ devotion.
“I’m a huge Harry Potter fan,” Cox said. “My favorite book is number three. I didn’t really care for the movie, but I love the book.”
“I have read every single Harry Potter book five times. The first five, I’ve read 10 times,” Durio said.
Club members are enthusiastic as well.
Alex Hillis, business of music sophomore, is anxious to start practice. “Right now I think I’ d like to be a beater just because it sounds like a lot of fun because you basically get to throw dodge balls at everybody,” Hillis said.
Yvonne Labbe can be reached at [email protected].
