Inspired by quidditch, a fictional sport from “Harry Potter,” quadball boasts a complex set of rules and an opportunity to get involved with a sports team in a relatively low-stakes and fun environment. 

Notably, quadball is the sole Division I sport participated in at Brandeis, with the Judges ranking eighth nationally just last year. Despite the team’s high ranking, the team encourages all students to join, regardless of gender or skill level. Don’t let this lead you to believe that it’s any less legitimate of a sport though. In fact, quadball is a full contact sport, with involvement from universities including Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Vermont, Brown University and Harvard University. 

With games on Saturdays throughout the fall, the Brandeis quadball team has achieved decisive victories, beating Brown 125-60 on Nov. 8 and narrowly losing 125-130 against RPI that same day. At present, the Brandeis team maintains a 50 percent win rate, having won three out of six official matches alongside several victories in various unofficial preseason games and tournaments. 

Beyond the obvious feature of all the players riding around on broomsticks for the game’s duration, quadball's rules are intricate and exciting. The game occurs on a field, with each team having six players playing at a time. Of these six players, two per team are the”‘beater,” who throw dodgeballs at opposing “chasers” attempting to score points. The remaining eight out of the twelve players on the field, the chasers, attempt to acquire the quadball and throw it into one of three hoops on the opposing side (small, medium or large), scoring 10 points for each successful goal. While doing so, they must avoid being hit with a dodgeball. If hit, the chasers have to run over and touch their team’s big hoop before they can resume playing again. Additionally, chasers can tackle other chasers in order to acquire the quadball. 

After the halfway point, the game takes an interesting turn with the addition of the “flag runner.” The flag runner’s purpose is essentially to run around the field with a tennis ball in a sock, the “snitch,” attached to the top of their shorts. Their role is to avoid having the snitch seized by either of the two “seekers,” who are put into play in the second half (in addition to the players already on the field) with the sole purpose of taking the snitch and scoring in the hoops, earning their team 35 points. 

Unconventional and colorful, quadball adopts the spirit of playground games into a very real, but underrecognized, sport. While the fall season ends shortly, the annual Turkey Day Fantasy quadball tournament is happening on Saturday, Nov. 22. This game gives the opportunity for quadball players from across the league to be randomly drafted into different teams and play in a tournament. The tournament will take place at Brandeis — at the fields next to the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center — so students are strongly encouraged to attend. 

After the tournament, the quadball season will be over until spring of 2026, where weekly quadball practices will resume on Mondays and Thursdays from 8:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Again, the sport welcomes any and everyone who wants to play, so consider attending a practice, becoming a member of the team or simply enjoy watching the sport in all its glory from the sidelines.