A group of Muggles playing the positions of Beaters, Seekers, Chasers and a Golden Snitch took over an Edmonton park Saturday for the Summer Solsnitch quidditch tournament. If you don’t recognize any of the words in that sentence, it all has to do with J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter saga.
The Edmonton Aurors Quidditch Club hosted Western Canada’s largest-ever fantasy quidditch tournament at Johnny Bright Sports Park.
“When you think of the concept of running around on brooms with multiple balls flying around, it sounds crazy,” said club president Chris Radojewski. “It is, but it’s a lot of fun.”
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Teams compete against each other in a competitive, full-contact sport that combines handball, rugby, dodgeball and flag football. Oh, and they ride around on brooms (without ever leaving the ground).
“We use them as a handicap, so that makes running, throwing, tackling that much more difficult,” Radojewski explained.
Instead of just one ball, there are multiple flying around the court. Chasers try to score points through three big hoops, while beaters defend the hoops using dodgeballs. Then there’s the seekers. They chase around someone in yellow shorts, the Golden Snitch, trying to take a flag football style device off the back of him.
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It may sound confusing, but the challenge is what has drawn a number of players to the sport.
“It’s just as much a mental game for me as it is a physical game and that appeals to me a lot,” said Yara Kodershah , a chaser in the tournament.
“I’m a big Harry Potter fan so that was my entry point,” Kodershah admitted, but she added the physicality of the game kept her going.
Kodershah started playing in Edmonton, but recently moved to Toronto where she’s been able to take her quidditch skills with her.
“Canada is huge, but the quidditch community makes it feel really small,” Kodershah said.
Others travel around the world to take part in tournaments, like Jacob Keith who came all the way from Washington.
“I was looking for something out of the ordinary,” Keith told Global News.
It’s safe to say he found it.
The fantasy-style tournament has players from around the world signed up as individuals. They’re drafted onto different teams, where many of them meet for the first time on tournament day, but no one seems to mind.
Organizers said inclusivity is built right into the sport. There are no co-ed teams, instead they are called mixed-gender. It also doesn’t matter if you’ve never played a sport, or if you haven’t been very athletic in the past.
“It doesn’t matter if you have a physical disability. It doesn’t matter if you’re just not that coordinated,” said Radojewski. “We have a level or something that allows you to be involved.”
Radojewski is also a player and head coach with Team Canada. The team is headed to the Quidditch World Cup in Frankfurt, Germany July 23- 24, where several players from Alberta will either be on the team or acting as alternates.
If you are interested in trying out the sport, the Aurors Quidditch Club practices near the Kinsmen Field House in Edmonton every Sunday at 1:30 p.m. You can contact the team on Facebook or Twitter for more information.