I'm obsessed with Harry Potter, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I've read all of the books, seen all of the movies, own an array of Potter-themed clothing (including a Harry Potter bra - don't ask) and can whoop anyone's butt in a game of Potter trivia. Though my high school friends accepted my Potter passion, none of them ever fully grasped why spending a Saturday night at home Googling Ron and Hermione fan art was my idea of a good time. They just thought it was weird. You can only imagine my excitement when I found out that Brandeis was starting its own quidditch team. Walking onto Chapels Field and seeing my fellow Brandeisians running around the "quidditch pitch" awkwardly holding brooms between their legs, I knew I had finally found my place. In the Harry Potter books, quidditch is a popular game in which wizards and witches flying on broomsticks try to accumulate the most points by throwing enchanted balls into goals. "Quidditch Fest"-the name chosen for the first practice- took place on Chapels Field and was meant to inform curious Brandeis students about the logistics of muggle (human) quidditch. Besides reviewing the instructions and giving a brief history of college quidditch, the quidditch board encouraged curious students to get out on the field and play. Not surprisingly, considering that many Brandeis students would consider themselves Harry Potter fans, around 60 students showed up ready to learn how to play a game in which the main activity involves flying around on enchanted broomsticks. Quidditch Commissioner Harrison Goldspiel '13 tried to give everyone an idea of what to expect, as he informed the crowd, "Quidditch is a very heavy physical- contact sport, sort of a combination of rugby, European handball and dodgeball." Though no one was quite sure of what he or she was doing, everyone was eager to try it out. Goldspiel reassured the crowd, stating, "Don't worry. None of us has ever played quidditch before. We've just thought about it in theory."

The game is played with seven players on each team: three chasers, two beaters, one keeper and one seeker. There are also four balls in the game: a quaffle, two bludgers and the snitch. Chasers are the team's main offense, and it is their goal to throw the quaffle, an enchanted, heavy, bright-red ball, into their opponent's goal. Beaters are the team's main defense, and their job is to prevent their opponent's team from scoring by hurling bludgders, heavy iron balls, at them. Seekers try and win the game by catching the impossibly fast golden snitch, and keepers are the goalies.

Muggle quidditch here at Brandeis is played in almost the same way as magical quidditch with only a few minor exceptions. It has the same positions and the same rules, but instead of flying on broomsticks, students run on the ground holding broomsticks between their legs. Additionally, instead of a small airborne ball, the snitch is a very fast runner dressed in head-to-toe yellow with a sock strapped to the back of his or her shorts. In order to win the game, the seeker has to catch the snitch and pull the sock out.

The Brandeis quidditch team set up its makeshift quidditch pitch on Chapels Field to resemble that of Hogwarts'. Hula hoops duct-taped to traffic cones served as the goals, blue plastic brooms and wooden poles served as broomsticks and volleyballs served as the quaffles and bludgders. Teams were chosen simply and diplomatically. "Alright, guys!" shouted Goldspiel, "We need 14 volunteers to play. Take a broom and pick a side!" Though one might expect nerdy Harry Potter bookworms to act timid while picking their teams, the crowd could not have been more vigorous. Ecstatic shouts of "Woo!" "Let's go!" and "I want a blue broom!" could be heard through the group as participants rushed to play in the first game. During the first round, one team chose to be called, "The Skrewts" (for those of you unaware of the magical creatures featured in Harry Potter, the name came from "The blast-ended skrewt", a highly dangerous and hideous creature that resembles something between a grey crab and a giant scorpion). Team two chose to be called "Rumbleroar," a less vicious but arguably more regal choice that played on the name of Dumbledore, the much loved Hogwarts headmaster.

Though muggle quidditch was incredibly entertaining to play, it was even more entertaining to watch. Besides the hilarity of watching people simultaneously trying to run around on broomsticks while throwing volleyballs into hula hoops, the snitch/seeker dynamic (picture a person dressed in bright yellow running on and off of a field while someone else runs after him, trying to catch a sock bobbing on the back of his shorts) is in itself a recipe for success. Additionally, since the snitch's space is not limited to the field, he or she can run as far off as they please, sometimes even leaving the field altogether. The announcer, Josh Seiden '13, stood on the sidelines of the pitch, megaphone in hand, maintaining a constant stream of commentary regarding the snitch's wayward progression such as, "Oh, there he is! He's back! And now he's gone off into the woods again!" and "What makes this game particularly enjoyable is that literally no one is chasing the snitch!" Though the snitch's succession was entertaining for everyone else to watch, since the game can't end until the seeker catches the snitch, some of the tired players had to bring in substitutes after 15 minutes of constant running.

Though one might think that quidditch isn't a real sport, it is actually extremely exerting. "I would make them run with a broom for 20 minutes chasing a cross- country runner. [Tell] me they aren't physically exhausted," says Goldspiel. Though the snitch doesn't need to be a cross-country runner, he or she must be able to run extremely fast for an extremely long period of time.

Throughout Quidditch Fest, it was common to, hear phrases such as, "Oh my god, I'm dying," "Anyone wanna sub in for me?" and "This is such a good workout!" coming from the team. Besides being physically strenuous, quidditch is considered a serious intercollegiate sport. College quidditch was started in 2005 by a group of friends at Middlebury University and has since exploded into a worldwide phenomenon. As the quidditch executive board informed the Justice by email, over 200 colleges, high schools and communities play Muggle quidditch. Brandeis is the most recent addition.

The Brandeis community's response to the quidditch team has been unsurprisingly and overwhelmingly positive. According to Goldspiel, "Students have been either supportive or really excited about quidditch. In one night after creating the Facebook group, we got 200 members. Students rushed to sign our club petitions when we started tabling in the Usdan and Sherman dining halls. Our first event was a huge success, with over 60 people who attended with lots of enthusiasm."

"I'm so glad we made time for this," one student remarked to her friend as they jostled through the throng of people trying to sign up for the team's listserv. "I've been in the Harry Potter closet for too long," she continues.

For many students, the quidditch team feels like a community within a community. Melanie Steinhardt '13 said, "I've loved Harry Potter since I was eight years old. My Bat Mitzvah was Harry Potter themed, so to have muggle quidditch is like having a brotherhood of people who are all as insane as I am."

As a result of all the responses, the quidditch team has no plans of stopping.

"Our goal is to create an intramural quidditch league next semester. Students will be able to organize their own teams and play in the league, which will lead up to the Brandeis Quidditch World Cup. Once we gain enough interest and dedication, we will organize an intercollegiate team to play other schools," says Goldspiel.

Though there is little debate on whether the quidditch club will be able to gather enough dedication to play intercollegiate, there is still some disagreement on what its going to be called. "We're thinking, 'Brandeis Basilisks.' But the name is subject to change. Other suggestions have been the Wizengamots, the Boggarts and the Greathorns," said Goldspiel, naming different creatures and institutions from the Harry Potter series. Whatever name they choose, Brandeis is sure to welcome the quidditch team with open arms. As Quidditch Intramural Campus Coordinator Ingrid Schulte '13 believes, "Brandeis is already the perfect school for a Quidditch team-I mean, we have a castle!"

Watching my fellow Brandiesians leave the quidditch pitch, brooms in hand, and humming the telltale notes of the Harry Potter theme song, I couldn't help but recall my friend's comment when I told him I was going to Brandeis. "You're going to Brandeis?" he asked with a trace of derision in his voice, "I hear all the kids there walk around waving wands and wearing capes." How right he was.