Quidditch tournament was a magical experience

Morning rain did not keep away these keepers and seekers

Fierce rain showers on the morning of April 24 did not faze the hosts of the 2nd annual Quidditch Tournament. Even though the bad weather lessened toward the game’s beginning at 11 a.m., the participants still huddled together in heavy sweatshirts while they listened to the rules of the game. More than thirty participants came to play, despite the weather.

“Everyone who signed up showed up,” said Breagan Shoquist, one of the event hosts. Some came as part of pre-formed teams, while hosts combined other partial teams. The end result was four functioning teams: Neville Shlongbottom, Snapes on a Plane, No Beta, and Huff n’ Puff.

The rules required multiple adjustments. Even after the fifteen-minute instructional period at the beginning of the game, the referees ran into several issues that caused them to pause gameplay and set new rules. During the first round, the teams had to stop game play multiple times to regroup and relearn a rule or two. However, as the day wore on, all the players grew more comfortable on the field.

“You forgot about the rain and cold because you were too busy slipping up and down the field trying to win to even care,” said freshman Emily Clark, member of the team titled No Beta. “As soon as we started playing, it was truly enjoyable.”

One distinct difference from the Hogwarts version of Quidditch was that the Seekers caught the Snitch relatively quickly in both games. The referees released the Snitch, a human endurance athlete, at halftime, fifteen minutes into each half-hour game. At Hogwarts, the Seekers’ hot pursuit of the Snitch could last hours or even days, but the MSU Seekers usually caught the Snitch within a few minutes of its release. For this reason, capturing the Snitch gained each team fewer points than it would have in Hogwarts, but still ended gameplay.

In lieu of flying, all players received PVC pipe “brooms,” which they were instructed to keep between their legs at all times.

The game hosts marked two fields, and held three rounds of gameplay. All four teams played the first round. For the second round, the losers of the first round played each other for 3rd and 4th place. In the championship round, the two winners of the first round played each other for 1st and 2nd place. After the first round, which allowed the teams to figure out how the game worked, the players became very absorbed in the competition. As gameplay grew more intense, layers of clothing came off, despite the chilly spring air. One player received a bloody nose and a swollen ankle, but there were no other known injuries.

No Beta received 4th place, with Snapes on a Plane coming in 3rd. In a close championship round, Huff n’ Puff received 2nd and Neville Shlongbottom won 1st. There were many shouts of triumph and fist bumping, and since butterbeer was not available, they celebrated their victory by dumping Rockstar over a team member’s head.

The event had numerous raffle prizes from Jimmy John’s, Cold Stone Creamery, Kerfoot Canopy Tour, Mount Kato, Dork Den and the Campus Recreation Department. Each player also received a swag bag after gameplay, with gifts from additional sponsors.

“[The participants] and the spectators had an awesome time exploring the game of Quidditch,” said Greta Wintersteen, the event’s primary contact. Even though the weather was not optimal for the 2nd annual Quidditch Tournament, the positive morale of the event hosts and the heated competition between players kept everyone warm and ended in great success.

Photo: (Yohanes Ashenafi/The Reporter)