Twelve Maryland players kneel on the sidelines of the Loundon Soccer Park and close their eyes. The “snitch,” a neutral player dressed in yellow, sprints off the field. Everything is calm while the two teams wait for the snitch to hide. The ref blows the whistle and then, as J.K. Rowling’s beloved Lee Jordan said: “the game begins.”

At the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships quidditch tournament in Leesburg, VA, last weekend, 41 collegiate teams played in an  attempt to secure a spot in the International Quidditch Association’s World Cup. UMD won the championship game beating Villanova, and going undefeated in pool play.

In recent years, the popularity of quidditch has grown among muggles, or “non-magic folk,” as Hagrid explained in the first “Harry Potter” film. In 2010 and 2011, Whitman’s quidditch league was very popular. But as some quidditch-loving students graduated, the team faded away.

The cross-country team, however, keeps the tradition of playing a pre-season quidditch match alive.

“It has been a tradition forever now,” said senior Rolanda Wang. “You don’t have to be a huge Harry Potter fan to understand the rules.”

Cross-country usually plays with two goals and 10 people on either team. But according to the International Quidditch Association, the game proceeds as follows: seven players on a team run around with brooms between their legs. Three “chasers” try to score 10 point goals with the “quaffle” ball while the “keeper” defends three goal hoops at either ends of the field. Two “beaters” use “bludger” balls to “knock out” other players during the game. Once hit by a “bludger,” the player must run back and touch his own goal. Each team has a “seeker” who tries to catch the neutral “snitch” player dressed in yellow. The “snitch” is worth 30 points and its capture ends the game.

While the sport looks like mayhem to the untrained eye, it’s actually quite organized, players at the Regional Championships said.

“It’s not that difficult to learn. You have just got to keep playing,” said UMD freshman quidditch player John Kum. “It gets easier.”

Kum played football and basketball before he took up quidditch. He struggled to adjust from his two-handed football tackles to the one-handed tackling style of quidditch.

Many players had similar difficulties learning the game in the beginning.

“Running with a broom between your legs—that is so hard, but it’s what makes the game the game,” said VCU sophomore McKenzie Dodd.

Dodd used to play softball but now finds the sport boring compared to quidditch.

“People [in softball] were way too competitive and so intense so it didn’t feel like a family,” Dodd said. “But here, every single team you talk to is so friendly.”

The Internal Quidditch Association has a two-minimum gender rule that requires two out of the five players on the field to be of the opposite gender, so that males and females are on the field at the same time.
Quidditch is one of the only sports where guys and girls can play together, said Jody Greenhouse and Tania Medney, two UMD moms.

“It is a friendly, energetic, competitive atmosphere, but you don’t really feel animosity,” said Christa Kelly, Western Carolina community quidditch player “It’s a lot of friendly competition that you don’t really see with other sports.”