Photo by Photo via Kristina Lazzara

Sunshine, blue skies and broomsticks. The Marquette Quidditch team flew down to San Marcos, Texas last weekend to compete in the 2016 Consolation Cup tournament.

Now, trying to explain Quidditch to the average muggle is a bit of a challenge but we’ll try to get through it. On our travels we ran into many curious onlookers who wanted to know what we’re playing. Many know that Quidditch is popular among the college community, but for some it’s a more difficult concept to grasp. For those who don’t know what Harry Potter is we say it’s basically a concoction of lacrosse and dodgeball rolled into one sport.

The object of the game is to have the chasers, in simple terms midfielders, get the quaffle, a repurposed volleyball, into one of the opposing teams three hoops. To make things challenging there are also three bludgers, dodgeballs, on the field that the beaters, another position, use to knock their opponents temporarily out of play.

Now comes the fun part. The snitch is a neutral player in the game who’s usually an ex-high school wrestler with sack velcroed to their shorts. The seekers from each team’s only job are to rip the sack off the back of the snitches shorts. “Catching the snitch” ends the game, and gives the team 30 points. Whichever team has the most points wins.

“Watching a 240lb former linebacker tackle an 80lb girl is why I love this game,” Nik Jablonski said, a head referee and player for the Gulf Coast Gumbeauxs.

The sport is coed and allows for a wide variety of players to participate from all over the world.

“There are so many people here. From major athletes to ridiculous nerds,” Jablonski said when asked about what the Quidditch community is like.

Not only students participate in the game. Nathan Love is a teacher from North Carolina who plays for the Rollins College Quidditch Club (RCQC).

“I don’t know why I keep doing it even after school,” Love said. “It keeps me in shape and the community is just great. They welcome everyone.”

“You have no idea what to expect until you do,” said Nathan Digmann, the head captain of the Marquette Quidditch team, when asked why more people should participate or come watch a Quidditch match.

The college Quidditch community has been rapidly growing since the first teams were established in 2005.

“The Quidditch community is interesting,” Didmann said. “There are a lot of passionate and intense people who want to win.”