Quidditch clinic adds magic to muggles' lives on campus

It was a quiet Sunday afternoon on the high-rise fields at 40th and Walnut streets until 15 members of the Middlebury College Quidditch team pulled up in two vans.

Out emerged the Quidditch players - broomsticks, bludgers, hoops and quaffles in hand - ready to share their adaptation of the Harry Potter sport, as described in J.K. Rowling's fantasy series, with the Penn campus.

"Rule number one of Quidditch is you have to be on your broom at all times," announced Middlebury junior Alex Benepe, who co-founded the team and is now its commissioner.

The visit to Penn was part of the team's first-ever spring break tour, which will reach eight colleges across the northeast this week. The tour will make stops at Princeton and Columbia universities and Dartmouth College, among other schools.

Benepe said the goal of the trip is to inspire other schools to start their own teams and join Middlebury at the World Cup - the college's annual Quidditch tournament now in its fourth year.

And Quidditch has spread beyond Middlebury - the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association is composed of 70 member colleges from across the country, with over 21,000 members in the Facebook group.

After a brief overview of the rules of the game, two teams assembled on opposite sides of the field. The "snitch," a Middlebury student dressed in gold, ran on and off the field and across campus, dodging the two "seekers" who tried to snatch the black sock tucked into his shorts.

"[The game] appeals to people for whom the novelty of childhood hasn't worn off," said Middlebury freshman Donny Dickson, who gave a play-by-play commentary on the match at Penn. Dickson usually plays the "snitch" but was injured during Saturday's game at Bard College.

"At college we're expected to be professional in every single way - even extracurricular activities are for your resume," he added. "But there's a reason why we're called college kids, and I think this is the number one testament to that."

The Middlebury Quidditch tour has attracted the attention of major TV networks, including CBS, ESPN, and MTV, all of which will accompany the team at various stops during the tour.

According to Benepe, MTV was scheduled to film the Penn game but informed the team at the last minute that Penn would not allow them on campus. MTV will film the Princeton event instead.

"It was a lot of fun, and the kids were really enthusiastic about it," said College freshman Darby Nelson, who abandoned her sorority flag football practice to play the "chaser" position.

While Nelson said she wouldn't want the responsibility of starting a Penn Quidditch team herself, she thought someone else might step up to the task because of the diverse interests of students on campus.

Dickson said a large part of playing Quidditch is rising above insecurities.

"I think it's one of those things where people watch on the sidelines and are like, 'this is so stupid,' but you can tell that they're having an inner dilemma," he said. "You can tell that they absolutely want to play."

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