UCLA-hosted invite unifies global Quidditch “family”

In hosting the Gold Medal Invitational, UCLA Quidditch players invited teams not only to their own turf, but to their own homes as well.

Fourth-year neuroscience student Brennan Ross, president of UCLA Quidditch, said that in order to minimize visiting teams’ expenses, the L.A. teams, including UCLA’s teams and the independent Lost Boys, hosted all the visiting teams in their dorms, apartments and houses for the duration of the weekend.

“We look after our own in Quidditch, and we’re especially grateful that UCLA Quidditch and the Lost Boys collectively housed 150 competitors alone,” Ross said.

On Saturday and Sunday on the intramural fields, the two UCLA teams – Wizards of Westwood and UCLA Quidditch – held the invitational, bringing together about 300 competitors from 15 teams around the United States, Canada and Mexico to scrimmage. Partnering with UCLA Quidditch for the event was Project HEAL, a nonprofit organization aimed at promoting self-esteem and a healthy body image.

Newer teams entering their first tournament, such as UC Irvine, were pitted against more seasoned teams, such as UC Santa Barbara and the University of British Columbia. Saturday was a pool day where each team competed against three other teams. Sunday brought out much more competitive Quidditch as each team fought to maintain a spot in four rounds of elimination tournament play.

Despite the long distances between the attending schools, some of which were hundreds or even thousands of miles away, competitors interacted on very familiar terms and could be seen cheering on other teams during their events. UCLA had an especially strong relationship with Northern Arizona University, which it had collaborated and competed with several times. According to NAU captain Cooper Davis, UCLA and NAU’s relationship extends back six years, and the two teams have developed somewhat of a casual rivalry.

“On the social side, things are really good, but on the pitch, it’s turned into a rivalry,” Davis said. “We finally pulled off our first victory three years ago in the Western Cup, and I think they really want their revenge.”

Collegiate Quidditch is about a decade old, centered in the East Coast and founded at Middlebury College. It was eventually adapted for West Coast play five years ago in the Western Cup, and the two coasts come together in Spring for the World Cup, held in South Carolina this year.

Creative adjustments were made to Quidditch from the Harry Potter universe to make it actually playable. Games run for about 15-30 minutes on average, and while players are still required to run with makeshift brooms between their legs, the Quaffle is simply a deflated volleyball, the Bludgers are dodgeballs that can temporarily disable a player, and the Snitch is a person clad in yellow with a tennis ball dangling at the hip.

The friendly atmosphere was quickly tested on the pitch as the raw physicality of modern Quidditch came into the spotlight. Injuries are common, and the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in particular played extremely aggressively. However, bruised limbs and bloody noses did not impede potential friendships; rather, the Thunderbirds were seen joking and laughing with a player on the opposing team they had accidentally injured in the previous game.

“It’s quite honestly the best group of people you can find out there,” said third-year civil engineering student Adam Richardson, captain for UCLA Quidditch. “Everyone’s nice, everyone’s open and everyone’s friendly. We’re really more of a family.”