The wizarding world would have been proud…

My sports class played quidditch today for the first time. I’ve been developing a version of muggle quidditch off-and-on for the last couple of years. I wanted to create a game that was relatively simple to explain, cheap to play and supported a broad range of high school student participation. Several versions of the game have been developed in the last 10 years or so, and each one has good points, but none quite worked right for the classes and students I have in my sports classes. A couple of weeks ago, though, I finally felt like I had just the right combination of rules and equipment, and I asked the class if they wanted to “playtest” the rules. They got really excited! Who knew my sports class was full of Harry Potter geeks?

To give you an idea of what muggle quidditch is like, think of ultimate frisbee (with a ball, not a disc), dodgeball and capture the flag, all happening at the same time. It’s wildly chaotic to think about, but even more so to actually watch happen. I can also say that it was an interesting and entertaining challenge to officiate.

Today we played quidditch for an hour in the cold, raw weather that blanketed the Pioneer Valley (weather should never be an impediment to quidditch, after all). There was a lot of running, chasing, beating, bludging, seeking and, on occasion, points were scored. Everyone said they'd had fun. They even asked if we could play it again on Thursday.

I guess I'm bringing my Gryffindor socks.