From the wonderful wizarding world of Harry Potter comes the sport of Quidditch. Those who know of the Harry Potter franchise, know what Quidditch is because of its importance to the series. Quidditch is a fiction-based sport created by author J.K. Rowling. Ashland University has had a Quidditch club since 2013, which is known as the Ashland Sidewinders.
The team currently consists of seven members which is the exact number of players needed to participate in a match according to President of the Ashland Sidewinders Mckenna Shaw. The Ashland Sidewinders have lately had trouble with being able to gain numbers and compete in matches this past year due to COVID-19.
“[This past year], at the tabling event we were able to gain three new members,” said Shaw.
Recruiting has been an uphill battle for the Ashland Sidewinders and they are working continuously to find new ways to recruit others to join the team. The team uses its Instagram account and the possibility of having a Harry Potter movie night, in order to isolate the Harry Potter fan-base and get recruits.
Many wonder how to play Quidditch without magic. The Ashland Sidewinders, as a team, explained the basics as how to play.
Eli Ankenman, a member of the Ashland Sidewinders, put it best by saying, “[Quidditch] is a cross between lacrosse and rugby.” Another player on the team Mariel Leatherman said, “It is similar to other sports rules like handball.”
Each team in quidditch has seven players on each side, which consist of one seeker, three chasers, two beaters and one keeper.
The seeker is in charge of catching the snitch which is worth thirty points. The chasers are in charge of using the quaffle and throwing it through the hoops to score points for the team and each one is worth ten points. The beaters are in charge of using the bludgers to set the opposing team players back to the starting position. Last but not least is the keeper who is in charge of protecting the hoops
In the games, there are a total of three balls used as mentioned above: the snitch, the quaffle and the beater. The snitch is basically a person running around the game with a velcro yellow tail attached to them. The quaffle is a volleyball that is used to score points throughout the game by the chasers and the bludgers are the balls used to hit other opposing players to set them back to the starting position.
There are no time limits that are set in a game of Quidditch and the game usually ends once a seeker catches a snitch, but this is not always the case because a team could potentially score more points than the team that caught the snitch.
Quidditch is also a contact sport where players can be aggressive towards one another in order to get the quaffle or prevent players from scoring and during the enitre game, a player must remain on their “broom” or they will have to go back and restart from the starting position.
Quidditch has many more complex rules than listed, but these are the basics in playing Quidditch at Ashland University.

Gallery • 5 Photos

KATELYN MEEKS

The Quidditch Club is enjoying the beautiful days March had to offer Ashland University the last couple of weeks.