SALT LAKE CITY — When Amber Zehner started the painstaking process of applying for colleges and deciding where she would spend the next four years of her life, there was one major, unusual requirement for her future university: a Quidditch team.
“I already knew it existed, I already loved ‘Harry Potter,’ so I just thought it was the perfect sport for me to continue being athletic and to continue staying in shape throughout college,” said Zehner, who is now a chaser and team manager for Utah State University’s Quidditch team.
More and more Utah “Harry Potter” fans like Zehner are getting the opportunity to live their childhood dream and play Quidditch, the popular magical sport in the fictional world of J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" books.
Real-life Quidditch started in 2005 when students at Middlebury College in Vermont geared up in robes and broomsticks and brought the beloved game to life. Since the first real Quidditch game, according to US Quidditch, more than 450 minor league Quidditch teams have formed across the country.
Utah is home to two college Quidditch teams, one community Quidditch team and even a major league Quidditch team, one of 16 in the country. USU’s Quidditch team recently performed better than ever in nationals, and Salt Lake City Hive, Utah’s Major League Quidditch team, is ranked second in the West and headed to nationals this summer.
Although Quidditch is less popular in Utah than at Hogwarts — the stands aren’t filled with every student in the school — it has a growing presence in Utah.
So, how does it work?
In the “Harry Potter” series, competitors play Quidditch on flying broomsticks with magical balls. The team’s chasers throw balls called quaffles in the opposing team’s hoops, earning 10 points per goal.
At the same time, the team’s seeker tries to catch the golden snitch, a small, golden ball with a will of its own. Throughout the game, players called beaters protect their team from bludgers, enchanted balls that knock players off their brooms.
The game ends when a seeker catches the golden snitch, earning 150 points for his or her team. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
There are some obvious adjustments that have to be made for real-life Quidditch. The golden snitch, which is worth 30 points, is a player unaffiliated with either team. The snitch runner wears gold shorts with a tail the seeker must catch to end the game. Instead of magical broomsticks, players run with a PVC pipe between their legs.
“The broom is the handicap that makes the sport more difficult,” said Kellan Huber, seeker for USU Quidditch. “For example, in basketball, you have to dribble the ball, you can’t carry it. In soccer, you can’t touch the ball with your hands or arms. In Quidditch, you have to keep the broom between your legs.”
A detailed explanation of real-life Quidditch rules can be found here.
Utah’s Quidditch accomplishments
Although they may be smaller and less experienced than other teams across the country, Utah’s Quidditch teams are proving they can carry their weight in regional and national competitions.
Salt Lake City Hive is the only major league Quidditch team in Utah. Unlike college and community Quidditch seasons, major league Quidditch seasons happen during the summer. All Hive team members, who are volunteers, must live within 100 miles from Salt Lake.
“You have a couple really good, very talented athletes on every single team, but in major league Quidditch, they kind of bring all of that together,” said Katie Shields, a player for Salt Lake City Hive and the community team Crimson Quidditch. “It’s just such a higher, more intense game of play.”
Salt Lake City Hive is currently ranked second of all the Quidditch teams in the West. Because of the team’s impressive performance in the season so far, it earned a spot in the 2018 Major League Quidditch Championship in Madison, Wisconsin, Aug. 18-19.
“Just being able to qualify for championships is huge, especially for us,” Shields said. “We play against teams like L.A. that have such a bigger population to draw from. For Salt Lake to be so small and still have such a strong team, that in and of itself is an accomplishment.”
USU Quidditch, which has been a student club since 2014 and became an official club sport at USU last year, recently qualified for the US Quidditch national tournament for the third year in a row. The team traveled to Round Rock, Texas, for the two-day tournament.
For the first time in the program’s history, the team advanced to the second day of the tournament before being eliminated. To qualify for the second day of the tournament, a Quidditch team must have a record of 2-2 or better for the first day.
“The accomplishment of getting to the second day of play and sort of making a name for ourselves, people start to notice that, and it’s really cool,” Huber said. “We’re just a smaller team, but we have somewhat of a reputation.”
‘Growing the community’
The Quidditch community is continually growing in Utah. The first Utah Quidditch team, Crimson Quidditch, was formed eight years ago. Crimson Quidditch had a hand in forming USU Quidditch in 2014, and Crimson Quidditch players from the University of Utah branched out last year to form an official team at the University of Utah called the Utah Raptors.
“We split off from Crimson because we wanted to be able to actually grow our team and be competitive,” said Sandra Sato, captain and manager of the Utah Raptors. “Raptors is focused on training players as an individual, so individually we can be the best players we can be, and then grow the team from there.”
Many of the Utah Quidditch teams, including the Utah Raptors, visit elementary, middle and high schools to teach children about Quidditch so the sport can continue to thrive in the future.
“We just love growing the community,” Soto said. “A lot of people in Quidditch, myself included, think that the community and the friendships you make by joining a team and by just participating in the events are … one of the most valuable aspects of Quidditch.”
Huber agreed, saying some of his closest friends in college have come from Quidditch and the friendly environment present in the community.
“Quidditch is a sport for everyone. … It’s more like a family,” Huber said. “There’s positions for everyone. There’s positions where you find your strengths, and find where you fit in, and find what you’re best at. Everyone can offer something.”