Quidditch, Not Your Average Club Sport.
When thinking of Penn State club sports, one that uses broomsticks and imitates a fictional world of wizards is probably not the first that comes to mind.
Quidditch is a co-ed game that is a combination of rugby, dodgeball and handball techniques inspired by J.K. Rowling’s popular book series, Harry Potter. The books and respective movie adaptions have become famous worldwide while the sport is still on the rise and has not yet reached the fame its origin has.
“This was the first year the International Quidditch Association (IQA) started doing regional tournaments,” said Michael Parada, a senior and one of the captains of the team. “It consists of a pool play set up based on team rankings and a single elimination process as the tournament goes on. At our last one, we placed fourth overall.”
Penn State’s team is ranked 15th nationally out of 820 teams. Villanova is currently ranked first in the Mid-Atlantic region, but that doesn’t intimidate the team. Alyson Brooks, a junior and the secretary for the team, explained why playing Villanova is something the team looks forward to.
“We have no rivals really and it’s fun to play them because we always want to beat them. But even if we don’t, we still can remain really good friends with them.”
This is especially true for Parada, who owes joining the team to one of the Villanova players.
“My friend from home became the captain at Villanova and convinced us to all play one summer and I immediately fell in love with the game,” Parada said.
The sport consists of seven players per team, all with specific roles. The object of the game is for three players, known as the chasers, to throw a ball, similar in size to a volleyball (called a bludger), through three hoops that are set at different heights, each worth ten points. The keeper, who acts similar to a goalie, guards the hoops. At the same time, one player on the team, known as the seeker, has to try to catch the snitch, a tennis ball held in a tube sock by a player dressed in yellow. Once this happens, your team gets 30 points and the game ends. On defense, there are two players known as beaters, who are allowed to throw the bludger at chasers, like in dodgeball, to prevent them from scoring. Once this happens, the chasers must run back to touch their respective hoops before being able to resume play.
In the books, the characters fly on magical broomsticks and play in the air. In real life, the players hold brooms between their legs that are designed like the ones in the movies.
“Quidditch is all about fun, even though we’re serious about it. We care about people’s safety more than the way they do in the Harry Potter world,” said Kelly Gambocurta, a senior and fellow captain. “In the books, there’s no physical limits and we have to take out the wizarding and magical aspects… obviously.”
The team starts off every practice with a warm up, followed by a series of drills that improve their skills. At this week’s practice, the team played a friendly game of knockout to practice throwing and then held a scrimmage. The game starts with everyone closing their eyes while kneeling on one knee until the referee blows the whistle.
Gambocurta came to Penn State knowing that she had to find some sort of Harry Potter club here, since she had always been a big fan. When she was a sophomore, she joined the club that is now called “The Three Broomsticks” and learned more about the up and coming sport.
“We always played Quidditch for fun and then I said to myself, why don’t we make this a real thing? So we officially became a club sport and recognized by the IQA last year. It’s awesome to know I was a part of making that happen,” said Gambocurta.
However, two major problem remains for the team, publicity and recruitment. Many of the players said that they joined because a friend told them to and would not have known about it otherwise. And since the team is so new to Penn State, they can only grow from here in getting their name out there.
“We always have a booth at the involvement fair for club sports but we’ve only gotten about 30 people or so that show interest,” said Brooks. “Not many people know what Quidditch is unless they are fans of Harry Potter, even though the team isn’t really focused on that. Though during our big tournaments, there are usually a lot of people that attend cause the towns we play in know it’s going on because the games are on a much bigger scale.”
Eliott Bryson, the president of the team and a chaser, stresses the importance of separating the team and the Harry Potter club as two different organizations.
“I’m not a part of the Three Broomsticks and we try to keep it separate because they’re both time consuming, so there’s only a handful of players in the club. Also, the Quidditch team only allows 21 people to travel and collects dues annually, which requires more of a commitment. The club, on the other hand, can have members come and go and doesn’t require dues to be paid.”
Bryson’s role as president requires him to handle administrative duties for the team’s operations, decide on fundraising opportunities and coordinate tournament arrangements, such as hotel accommodations and transportation. Besides these things, his job is also to boost team morale and ensure they bond in fun ways.
“We usually run and work out together on off days and many of the team members have classes together due to similar majors. These things I’ve seen help build team chemistry for sure.”
With Pennsylvania only having 54 teams, the popularity of the sport as a whole has room for improvement.
“In Quidditch, new strategies are being developed all the time,” said Dave Blyton, a sophomore on the team. “For a ‘made up’ sport, there are a lot of complexities and nuances and unlike sports that have been around for years, it is a great feeling to be a part of an ever growing community.”
According to Parada, a good Quidditch player needs to have the ability to tackle, speed, field awareness and good catching skills. For example, freshman Zach Williamson has a long cross-country background and was able to have a starting position right away as a seeker, one of the hardest positions.
What most people don’t know is that there is a significant amount of preparation that goes into specific positions. For example, in order to become a snitch, players need to go through clinics and training in order to qualify. Blyton is one of those prospective players.
“I originally tried to be a chaser but soon learned that my lack of throwing ability wouldn’t make me a good enough player. I started training with the seeker squad and became drawn to the snitch side of things. The best thing about being a snitch is the degree of freedom you’re allowed to have because the snitch can run around pretty much anywhere while trying to avoid the seekers. I plan on attending one of the clinics this year.”
Parada was one of the players skilled enough to have competed on the US National Team in London over the summer and said it was an experience he’d never forget.
“I was a part of a team of people who represented the best Quidditch players in America. You always hear about different players that are good and it was cool to finally meet everyone. Each member needed a strong athletic background and we were all good at various sports growing up.”
The United States team went on to win the entire competition and even got to tour some famous Harry Potter landmarks. At Kings Cross Station, the entrance to the annex between train platforms 9a and 9b has a sign hanging that says “Platform 9 ¾.” This refers to the place where the characters in the Harry Potter series would enter in order to get to Hogwarts. There is also a famous museum that holds Harry Potter artifacts and set pieces that have become very popular over recent years.
The IQA website outlines three specific elements that are stressed in order to get the full effect of what the sport has to offer: creativity, community and competition. As can be seen on their website, The IQA mission states,
“Quidditch was founded in the spirit of experimenting with new ideas and daring to participate in an unproven and often unpopular activity. Innovation along with courage… is essential for inspiring the next generation of leaders.”
The International Quidditch Association will be hosting their sixth World Cup Competition next spring in Kissimmee, Florida. The World Cup is when all the teams that qualified after regional tournaments face each other one last time for the year. After spending a few days with this team, it becomes obvious that the Quidditch team is more than just a fan club and an obsession for a fictional wizard.
But as Gambocurta said, “people need to remember that when they get super competitive… they’re running on a broom.”
Quidditch is a co-ed game that is a combination of rugby, dodgeball and handball techniques inspired by J.K. Rowling’s popular book series, Harry Potter. The books and respective movie adaptions have become famous worldwide while the sport is still on the rise and has not yet reached the fame its origin has.
“This was the first year the International Quidditch Association (IQA) started doing regional tournaments,” said Michael Parada, a senior and one of the captains of the team. “It consists of a pool play set up based on team rankings and a single elimination process as the tournament goes on. At our last one, we placed fourth overall.”
Penn State’s team is ranked 15th nationally out of 820 teams. Villanova is currently ranked first in the Mid-Atlantic region, but that doesn’t intimidate the team. Alyson Brooks, a junior and the secretary for the team, explained why playing Villanova is something the team looks forward to.
“We have no rivals really and it’s fun to play them because we always want to beat them. But even if we don’t, we still can remain really good friends with them.”
This is especially true for Parada, who owes joining the team to one of the Villanova players.
“My friend from home became the captain at Villanova and convinced us to all play one summer and I immediately fell in love with the game,” Parada said.
The sport consists of seven players per team, all with specific roles. The object of the game is for three players, known as the chasers, to throw a ball, similar in size to a volleyball (called a bludger), through three hoops that are set at different heights, each worth ten points. The keeper, who acts similar to a goalie, guards the hoops. At the same time, one player on the team, known as the seeker, has to try to catch the snitch, a tennis ball held in a tube sock by a player dressed in yellow. Once this happens, your team gets 30 points and the game ends. On defense, there are two players known as beaters, who are allowed to throw the bludger at chasers, like in dodgeball, to prevent them from scoring. Once this happens, the chasers must run back to touch their respective hoops before being able to resume play.
In the books, the characters fly on magical broomsticks and play in the air. In real life, the players hold brooms between their legs that are designed like the ones in the movies.
“Quidditch is all about fun, even though we’re serious about it. We care about people’s safety more than the way they do in the Harry Potter world,” said Kelly Gambocurta, a senior and fellow captain. “In the books, there’s no physical limits and we have to take out the wizarding and magical aspects… obviously.”
The team starts off every practice with a warm up, followed by a series of drills that improve their skills. At this week’s practice, the team played a friendly game of knockout to practice throwing and then held a scrimmage. The game starts with everyone closing their eyes while kneeling on one knee until the referee blows the whistle.
Gambocurta came to Penn State knowing that she had to find some sort of Harry Potter club here, since she had always been a big fan. When she was a sophomore, she joined the club that is now called “The Three Broomsticks” and learned more about the up and coming sport.
“We always played Quidditch for fun and then I said to myself, why don’t we make this a real thing? So we officially became a club sport and recognized by the IQA last year. It’s awesome to know I was a part of making that happen,” said Gambocurta.
However, two major problem remains for the team, publicity and recruitment. Many of the players said that they joined because a friend told them to and would not have known about it otherwise. And since the team is so new to Penn State, they can only grow from here in getting their name out there.
“We always have a booth at the involvement fair for club sports but we’ve only gotten about 30 people or so that show interest,” said Brooks. “Not many people know what Quidditch is unless they are fans of Harry Potter, even though the team isn’t really focused on that. Though during our big tournaments, there are usually a lot of people that attend cause the towns we play in know it’s going on because the games are on a much bigger scale.”
Eliott Bryson, the president of the team and a chaser, stresses the importance of separating the team and the Harry Potter club as two different organizations.
“I’m not a part of the Three Broomsticks and we try to keep it separate because they’re both time consuming, so there’s only a handful of players in the club. Also, the Quidditch team only allows 21 people to travel and collects dues annually, which requires more of a commitment. The club, on the other hand, can have members come and go and doesn’t require dues to be paid.”
Bryson’s role as president requires him to handle administrative duties for the team’s operations, decide on fundraising opportunities and coordinate tournament arrangements, such as hotel accommodations and transportation. Besides these things, his job is also to boost team morale and ensure they bond in fun ways.
“We usually run and work out together on off days and many of the team members have classes together due to similar majors. These things I’ve seen help build team chemistry for sure.”
With Pennsylvania only having 54 teams, the popularity of the sport as a whole has room for improvement.
“In Quidditch, new strategies are being developed all the time,” said Dave Blyton, a sophomore on the team. “For a ‘made up’ sport, there are a lot of complexities and nuances and unlike sports that have been around for years, it is a great feeling to be a part of an ever growing community.”
According to Parada, a good Quidditch player needs to have the ability to tackle, speed, field awareness and good catching skills. For example, freshman Zach Williamson has a long cross-country background and was able to have a starting position right away as a seeker, one of the hardest positions.
What most people don’t know is that there is a significant amount of preparation that goes into specific positions. For example, in order to become a snitch, players need to go through clinics and training in order to qualify. Blyton is one of those prospective players.
“I originally tried to be a chaser but soon learned that my lack of throwing ability wouldn’t make me a good enough player. I started training with the seeker squad and became drawn to the snitch side of things. The best thing about being a snitch is the degree of freedom you’re allowed to have because the snitch can run around pretty much anywhere while trying to avoid the seekers. I plan on attending one of the clinics this year.”
Parada was one of the players skilled enough to have competed on the US National Team in London over the summer and said it was an experience he’d never forget.
“I was a part of a team of people who represented the best Quidditch players in America. You always hear about different players that are good and it was cool to finally meet everyone. Each member needed a strong athletic background and we were all good at various sports growing up.”
The United States team went on to win the entire competition and even got to tour some famous Harry Potter landmarks. At Kings Cross Station, the entrance to the annex between train platforms 9a and 9b has a sign hanging that says “Platform 9 ¾.” This refers to the place where the characters in the Harry Potter series would enter in order to get to Hogwarts. There is also a famous museum that holds Harry Potter artifacts and set pieces that have become very popular over recent years.
The IQA website outlines three specific elements that are stressed in order to get the full effect of what the sport has to offer: creativity, community and competition. As can be seen on their website, The IQA mission states,
“Quidditch was founded in the spirit of experimenting with new ideas and daring to participate in an unproven and often unpopular activity. Innovation along with courage… is essential for inspiring the next generation of leaders.”
The International Quidditch Association will be hosting their sixth World Cup Competition next spring in Kissimmee, Florida. The World Cup is when all the teams that qualified after regional tournaments face each other one last time for the year. After spending a few days with this team, it becomes obvious that the Quidditch team is more than just a fan club and an obsession for a fictional wizard.
But as Gambocurta said, “people need to remember that when they get super competitive… they’re running on a broom.”
Post-Season Training for Men's Golf is Not
What You'd Expect!
Every athlete needs to go through specific training during their season in order to perfect their skills. What most people don’t know is the effort that goes into post-season training and how important it is for the athletes to stay in shape. For the Penn State men’s golf team, post-season workouts are especially crucial.
“During the season we do a lot of training on our overall strength and lifting techniques,” said Jay Woodward, a senior on the team from Bridgeport, West Virginia. “But during our season breaks we focus more on flexibility and quick movements that will help our golf swings become more efficient.”
The players are currently in their off-season break and will resume regular season play in February. In the meantime, strength and conditioning tests are done before each training period in order to let the players know if they are improving.
“We all have gone through tests such as a flexibility one that tells us what we need to focus on,” said Woodward.
Off-season workouts consist of two days of lower body drills, two days of upper body, with one day of the week off. Sophomore player Jens Talbert from Little Rock, Arkansas, owes his training to their strength coach, Kirk Adams.
“Many of the lower classmen need to put on weight. Kirk has done a great job adjusting the system for the makeup of this year’s team so that we can improve and show up strong in the spring.”
According to Penn State Fitness Center supervisor Lydia Serfling, the men’s golf team is not one of the teams that have free access to fitness centers on campus.
“If they want to participate in our facilities and meet with personal trainers, they would have to sign up for a membership. It would be considered an extra benefit if we let them in for free and wouldn’t be fair to give athletes special treatment. Other sports are allowed to train here without memberships because they don’t have any other facilities dedicated to their sport specifically like the football team does, for example.”
So for players like Woodward, other options for physical training need to come into play. However, the golf team does have access to The Tombros Varsity Clubhouse, which holds their locker rooms and is considered their training building.
“I plan on continuing to work with my personal trainer from South Carolina that I’ve been working with for years now. We focus on flexibility and fast twitch muscles, that way I can be more efficient on the golf course.”
Senior Matthew Porter of Cortland, New York, has a different road to follow for training, due to a hand injury earlier in the season.
“Everyday I have been working with the training staff rehabbing my hand. I can’t do a lot right now because my ligament is still damaged and it amazes me how weak my hand got from not being able to use it. It takes about 45 minutes to go through the whole rehab process before a workout.”
Porter also added that he feels off-season training is much more time consuming and strenuous than in-season. He says this is because since they are unable to play outside, they must focus on muscle building so that “players will not be sore when playing golf during the season.”
Contrary to popular belief, golfers do spend a lot of time on getting their bodies into shape and training appropriately for their sport. As Porter said with a laugh,
“People think golfers don’t work out and that is completely false. We can all blame Tiger Woods for that.”
“During the season we do a lot of training on our overall strength and lifting techniques,” said Jay Woodward, a senior on the team from Bridgeport, West Virginia. “But during our season breaks we focus more on flexibility and quick movements that will help our golf swings become more efficient.”
The players are currently in their off-season break and will resume regular season play in February. In the meantime, strength and conditioning tests are done before each training period in order to let the players know if they are improving.
“We all have gone through tests such as a flexibility one that tells us what we need to focus on,” said Woodward.
Off-season workouts consist of two days of lower body drills, two days of upper body, with one day of the week off. Sophomore player Jens Talbert from Little Rock, Arkansas, owes his training to their strength coach, Kirk Adams.
“Many of the lower classmen need to put on weight. Kirk has done a great job adjusting the system for the makeup of this year’s team so that we can improve and show up strong in the spring.”
According to Penn State Fitness Center supervisor Lydia Serfling, the men’s golf team is not one of the teams that have free access to fitness centers on campus.
“If they want to participate in our facilities and meet with personal trainers, they would have to sign up for a membership. It would be considered an extra benefit if we let them in for free and wouldn’t be fair to give athletes special treatment. Other sports are allowed to train here without memberships because they don’t have any other facilities dedicated to their sport specifically like the football team does, for example.”
So for players like Woodward, other options for physical training need to come into play. However, the golf team does have access to The Tombros Varsity Clubhouse, which holds their locker rooms and is considered their training building.
“I plan on continuing to work with my personal trainer from South Carolina that I’ve been working with for years now. We focus on flexibility and fast twitch muscles, that way I can be more efficient on the golf course.”
Senior Matthew Porter of Cortland, New York, has a different road to follow for training, due to a hand injury earlier in the season.
“Everyday I have been working with the training staff rehabbing my hand. I can’t do a lot right now because my ligament is still damaged and it amazes me how weak my hand got from not being able to use it. It takes about 45 minutes to go through the whole rehab process before a workout.”
Porter also added that he feels off-season training is much more time consuming and strenuous than in-season. He says this is because since they are unable to play outside, they must focus on muscle building so that “players will not be sore when playing golf during the season.”
Contrary to popular belief, golfers do spend a lot of time on getting their bodies into shape and training appropriately for their sport. As Porter said with a laugh,
“People think golfers don’t work out and that is completely false. We can all blame Tiger Woods for that.”