Friday, December 10, 2010

Non Magical Sports played by Magical People.



So when people find out that I play Quidditch oftentimes the first (and most ridiculous) question is "How do you fly?" My answer depends on my mood.  It can go from the very curt "We don't." to me making up the story that the IQA hires the wire guys who make modern Kung Fu epics like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.  Personally that question annoys me.  It is often the persons first judgment against Quidditch.  In retrospect, I think my only answer should be We don't.  Because Quidditch is a non magical sport played by magical people.
Now this entry isn't going to be about the history of the game.  If you want that I am going to quote my mom in saying "Look it up dear."  It's more about how I believe the forces that brought this sport and  team together are simply magical. 

Dictionary.com has several definitions for the word magic.  One listed is, "any extraordinary or mystical influence, charm, power." Since the world cup we have gotten several inquiries from people in other areas wanting to start a team.  I have a hard time giving them advice because I really don't know what to say because I honestly feel that this effort has been charmed from the very start. 

The International Quidditch Association or IQA 's popularity in all of this has also been magical.  Since the sport was started 5 years ago it has grown to include hundreds of high schools, colleges and universities with formed or currently forming teams.  That being said their success while amazing is like a  textbook lesson in potions.  What I mean by that the schools represent a controlled environment where all the components are available and the conditions are set. You have a community of people with of the same age and similar set of priorities most of which want to be active and social. The only thing that determines the success or failure of the mixture are the people mixing it.  For example take NYU, one of the largest schools in the world.  They have tried fielding a team for years but the Violet Hipster Horcruxes have only unofficially* been a team since October 2nd. 

So what explains our success in forming this team?  The people who knew each other were acquaintances at best and our ages and backgrounds couldn't be any more different.  A few adult professionals, a few high school and college kids ranging in age from 16-35.  One member is a singer in a dirty doo wop band. None of them except one coach had played IQA Quidditch before.  Some of them had never even played a team sport before.  If you brought this idea to Snape he would look at it, sneer  and deduct 50 points from Gryffindor no matter what house you came from.  To be frank this mix would only work if you were playing Monster Rancher and the two CD's were mixtapes made by someone with multiple personality disorder.    Fortunately the Badassilisks emerged.  So you can see a different type of magic at play here.  I don't know what it is but it's definitely magic..

Back to my original point of Quidditch being a Non magical sport played by magical people.  Let's face it Muggle Quidditch is the bukkake love child of basketball, rugby, dodgeball with flag football and hide and seek mixed in.  It's the people who play it make the game magic.  The IQA with their golden formula that they have created, mixed and added to over the years.  NYU for finally throwing the right mix into the cauldron and then being confident enough in what they had to drink it.  Finally the Badassilisks no one knows why it worked but I'm glad it did. 


So I guess my answer to anyone who asks how to start a team.  Is keep working at it.  Keep adding ingredients, keep working on your swish and flick and finally keep believing that it will happen.  It's magic.


*NYU refuses to acknowledge the Violet Hipster Horcruxes as a school club thus not helping them with funding and support.  So everything they have accomplished in such a short period of time is spectacular.

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