Defending title with brooms and dodgeballs

— Last year we thought we could win, but we did not think we would actually manage to do so, says Jakob Lenz, coach of OSI Quidditch.

The team is competing in the real life equivalent to the wizardly sport of Quidditch from the Harry Potter universe. However, the soaring brooms are left at home, and the golden snitch, a tiny ball with wings, is replaced with a person wearing a tennisball as a tail.

OSI Quidditch, representing the University of Oslo, is now ready the defend their title as reigning champions during the Norwegian Championship this weekend. But the competition is tough.

— I believe the level of competition has increased this year, and there are some other teams that are going to be hard to beat, says Lenz.

The most fierce competitor

12 teams are going to compete in this year’s tournament. Among them are OSI Quidditch (University of Oslo), NMBU Quidditch (University of Ås), and NTNUI Quidditch (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), all representing institutions of higher education.

Lenz believes there are some key factors that make up a strong, competitive team:

— A good team needs two things: A plan, and good communication. The plan is necessary when looking for an opening, and the team needs to work together, and not as single players, to be able to win, he explains.

OSI Quidditch, winner of the Norwegian Quidditch Championship 2015.

Since OSI Quidditch is one of the teams with a dedicated coach, Lenz has high expectations for the tournament.

— The biggest challenge is going to be NTNUI, but I think Vålerenga Trolls is a strong competitor as well. They are both physically strong teams, but our hopes is that NTNUI defeats Vålerenga Trolls before we get to face them.

From wizards to real people

Quidditch has its’ origins from the Harry Potter universe, where the matches are fought on flying brooms, with balls, such as the snitch, that act and fly by themselves. Jørgen Helgeland Stenløkk, leader of the Norwegian Quidditch Association, says some changes had to be made when the sport was converted to real life.

— There are three things that are relatively different from the books. First of all the players are not flying on actual brooms, he says.

Instead players are carrying equipment that represent the brooms, which Stenløkk says acts like a sort of handicap.

— Most sports have something like this. In football you can not pick up the ball with your hands, in basketball you have a limited number of steps, and in quidditch you have to carry your broom.

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True to the game, when possible

If you drop your broom, you have to walk back to your goals before you can play again. However, the roles that the players assume are kept faithful to J. K. Rowling’s books.

There are three chasers, who’s goal is to score points by throwing the «quaffle» through the opposing team’s goals. Then there are the beaters, who are throwing «bludgers» at the players to knock them off their brooms.

— In the books the bludgers are solid balls, but in real life they are regular dodgeballs, Stenløkk explains.

If you are hit by them, you have to run back to your goal before you can resume the game. You are by definition «knocked off» your broom.

— The last change we had to make was the snitch. In this sport it is a neutral player that is released on the field 18 minutes into the game. He is dressed in yellow, and wearing a tennisball in a sock as a tail. It is the seeker’s job to catch the snitch’s tail, effectively ending the game.

A regular match is usually between 25 and 30 minutes.

The Norwegian Quidditch Championship 2016

The fourth Norwegian Championship is held on march 12th to march 13th at Rustad artificial turf field. The Norwegian Quidditch Association is hosting, and responsible for the official rules of the tournament. 

A list of the competing teams and the match-ups can be seen here.

— I hope that people are interested in watching the tournament, and that they might get inspired to test out the sport themselves, he says.