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 Have
you ever heard of Quidditch? It’s the most popular sport in the magical
world of Harry Potter. It’s kind of like soccer, but instead of running around
a pitch, two teams, each with seven players, ride on flying broomsticks. Sounds pretty
cool, right? Too bad it’s entirely fictional. Or is
it?
In 2005, two college students from Middlebury College in Vermont in
the United States created a muggle-version of Quidditch. (A muggle
is a person who possesses no magical ability
and was not born into the magical world.) Now, eight years later,
Quidditch is played at more than 1,000 college campuses on three continents: North America,
Europe, and Australia. Last weekend, the sixth annual Quidditch World
Cup was held in Kissimmee, Florida. Eighty teams, including some from Canada,
Mexico, and France, participated in the event. This year, the University
of Texas defeated UCLA to claim the championship. Prior
to Texas’ win, Middlebury had won all five previous World Cups.
 So
how is the game played? The rules of muggle Quidditch combine lacrosse, rugby, and dodge ball. Of course, in
a world without magic, there are no flying broomsticks or bewitched
balls. But the two sports are very similar. If you’ve read the
Harry Potter series, some of the rules may seem familiar. Each team
can score points by throwing
a quaffle (a volleyball) into ringed hoops at each end of the
field. Players can knock opponents off their brooms
by throwing bludgers (kickballs) at them, and they must chase and
capture the “snitch” to end
matches.
 In the
magical world, the snitch is a magical object, but in the muggle world,
the snitch is simply a tennis ball inside a golden sock. The snitch
runner is a neutral player dressed in
all yellow or gold. When the game is started, the snitch runner is
allowed to roam the playing field. If
played on a college campus, they are allowed to run around the entire
campus.
Doesn’t Quidditch sound like fun? Hopefully, this game will continue to grow in popularity
and will catch on in Korea! |
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