Setting up Interviews
To interview Alex Benepe or any of the board members, staff, captains, or players, please email alicia.radford@internationalquidditch.org.
Biggest and most favoritest Press Clippings & TV segments (2006 – 2011)
Wall Street Journal: What’s That Student Doing With a Broom? (12/16/2006)
“MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — Rainey Johnson, sporting a yellow shirt, yellow socks and yellow paint smeared on his face, darted across the freshman quad. Other students, in capes, ran after him clutching brooms between their legs and grasping in vain for a tennis ball stuffed in a sock hanging out of his yellow shorts.”
USA Today: Collegiate Quidditch takes off – figuratively, at least (11/26/2007)
“MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The broomsticks they hold between their legs can’t help them fly. The Snitch is not a winged golden ball but a young man who sprints across the field at lightning speed.”
CBS News: Quidditch for Muggles (Video) (3/28/2008)
“Muggles are catching on to quidditch across college campuses. Greg Gumbel gives a play-by-play of a real-life match between Middlebury and Princeton. And Dave Price plays a round. (CBSNews.com)”
MTVu Unique Spring Break: Quidditch Tour (Video) (3/29/2008)
17 Middlebury students travel the northeast during the spring break, putting on Quidditch demo matches at seven colleges. MTV catches them during an expo game at Princeton.
Boston Globe: Seven Game Sweep (3/29/2008)
“AMHERST – Players wearing purple and navy blue capes hopped on brooms and rushed out of tents to a cheering crowd of students and family members, even little kids dressed in wizards hats, who held up signs reading ‘Chasers, Beaters, and Seekers’ and ‘Remember Cedric Diggory.’”
Mental Floss: 10 Reasons Why the Quidditch World Cup is the Best College Sporting Event (10/28/2008)
“There are a lot of college sporting events out there – tournaments, championships, bowl games… But the best intercollegiate sporting event is the Quidditch World Cup.”
Seven Days: Quidditch World Cup [102] (10/29/2008)
“The 2nd Annual Quidditch World Cup was held on the Middlebury College campus this weekend. Teams came from across the country (and even from Canada) to compete for the prestigious title.”
MTV: How Much Do You Love Quidditch? (HP6 Movie Commercial) (6/24/2009)
Middlebury College and Emerson College students starred with IQA Commissioner Alex Benepe in an MTV-produced commercial for the HP6 film, which debuted during the premiere of Real World season 10.
The Associated Press: Muggles take to broomsticks for Quidditch in NYC (5/30/2010)
“NEW YORK – The seeker from the Bronx High School of Science had to jump a fence and follow the snitch down Fifth Avenue. He caught the snitch but it didn’t count because his broom wasn’t between his legs.”
AP story picked up by:
CBS: Quidditch World Cup Held in N.Y. 11/13/2010
“‘I don’t know what a nerd looks like, but I’m pretty sure if you looked it up in the dictionary, it wouldn’t be me… so if Quidditch is for the nerds, then hey, I guess I’ll be a nerd,’ says Chestnut Hill College player Devin Dev.”
TIME Magazine: The Quidditch World Cup: Fantasy Game, Real Bruises 11/16/2010
“But this sense of nerdish camaraderie came to an abrupt end right around the time of the first gang tackle. Quidditch is a sport striving for legitimacy. Its players move with the grace and ferocity of top athletes; the best of them look like lacrosse players and hit like linebackers. All told, 46 teams from the U.S. and Canada vie for the Cup, and hundreds more franchises are just getting started. For a five-year-old sport, it’s a remarkable ascension.”
NY magazine: Muggles Take Manhattan for the Quidditch World Cup 11/15/2010
New York City residents are used to seeing all kinds of crazy on a Saturday morning, but a parade of hundreds of screaming Muggles crossing the West Side Highway can really draw a few stares. It’s the Quidditch World Cup. Forty-six teams — mostly university squads, with a few high schools and club teams mixed in — have come from across North America to Dewitt Clinton Park to run around with brooms between their legs and throw balls at one another.
Wall Street Journal: Harry Potter’s Game Grows Up 10/25/2010
The “Quidditch World Cup” is moving this year to the Big Apple from Middlebury’s idyllic campus. More than 60 college and high school teams have registered to compete Nov. 13 and 14—up from 20 last year—at a park in Manhattan. ”Our hope is that it will be a real coming out party for the league,” says Alex Benepe—one of the sport’s founders and president of the newly formed nonprofit International Quidditch Association. It’s now played at hundreds of schools, he says.
The LA Times: College quidditch: A sweeping question for colleges that embrace Quidditch (4/10/2011)
“There’s plenty of action on the field as two teams scuttle about, chucking balls and driving for the hoop. But it’s clear this sport is a little different. For one, the most important part of the game is way on the other side of a hill, perched high in a tree.”
All Press Clips and Videos (2011 – 2006)
2011
The Mirror: Quidditch craze, team comes to UNC (4/11)
“The ‘Harry Potter’ buzz around campus has not been about the upcoming DVD and theater releases of the final two movies, but rather the new quidditch team starting at UNC.”
The Ball State Daily News: Quidditch team plays despite weather conditions (4/11)
“Despite the chaotic Indiana weather, the Ball State Horcruxes took on the Illinois State Redbirds for an early win but a defeat in the second match of the day.”
The LA Times: College quidditch: A sweeping question for colleges that embrace Quidditch (4/10)
“There’s plenty of action on the field as two teams scuttle about, chucking balls and driving for the hoop. But it’s clear this sport is a little different. For one, the most important part of the game is way on the other side of a hill, perched high in a tree.”
Daily Toreador: Tech places third as hosts of regional Quidditch event (4/10)
“With frequent meetings across several sports, it’s no surprise Texas Tech, Texas A&M and the University of Texas are rivals, but that enmity has now expanded into a new realm — the wizarding world.”
Lubbock Online: Texas Tech to host Quidditch Contest (4/8)
“Texas Tech on Saturday will host a tournament of the real-life version of quidditch, the game played in the popular Harry Potter novels, on the fields near the Robert H. Ewalt Student Recreation Center.”
Morris Sun Tribune: Quidditch anyone? (4/8)
“Anyone familiar with the ‘Harry Potter’ books or movies knows about the fictional and supernatural game Quidditch, with characters flying around on brooms and the magical winged orb called a ‘Snitch.’ But college students around the world have brought the game down to the ground and are having a blast with the new sport.”
The East Texan: Quidditch levitates students’ interests (4/7)
“The Cain Sports Complex hosted the first ever Quidditch match April 4, between the Dementors and the Timelords. The event, popularized by the Harry Potter book and movie franchise, is just beginning to get off the ground at A&M-Commerce as it has around the nation’s college campuses.”
The Independent Florida Alligator: Teams gather to play Quidditch for Swamp Camp (3/18)
“Just because the last ‘Harry Potter’ movie is coming out in July doesn’t mean that the magical spirit of the wizarding world will end. Perhaps nothing is more of a testament to the livelihood of “Harry Potter” fans worldwide than the International Quidditch Association, formed in 2007 by Alex Benape from Middlebury College in Vermont.”
Gainesville Sun: Muggles converge on Gainesville for a weekend of Quidditch (3/17)
“They won’t be riding flying broomsticks trying to maneuver balls into ring-shaped goals in midair, as they do in the ‘Harry Potter’ films. Instead, these mostly college-age Muggles (a term that refers to people not born into Harry Potter’s magical world) will be playing Muggle Quidditch, an on-the-ground adaptation of the famous Potter game.”
Naples News: Not just for Harry Potter: Gulfview Middle School students form quidditch club (3/17)
“Once a game reserved strictly for wizards, the magical sport of quidditch has sprung from the pages of J.K. Rowling’s popular Harry Potter book series. Students at Gulfview Middle School in downtown Naples recently decided to engage in this fast-growing sport by creating their very own quidditch club.”
Chicago Tribune: An A-list guide to C2E2 (3/15)
“Let’s kick this old-school superhero: Last year’s C2E2 at McCormick Place — also known as the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo — was the origin story, year one, issue No. 1. It even had a nemesis, Wizard World Chicago Comic Con, which is out in Rosemont every summer.”
83 Degrees: Quidditch takes off at Ringling College, Sarasota (3/15)
“Most college campuses thrive on the tradition of athletics. You see tradition in the camaraderie formed during tailgating and in the legions of body-painted fans cheering on a team from the stands. So, how can you elevate school spirit on a campus that lacks in the athletic department? If you’re like the students of Ringling College of Art and Design you introduce a new sport — Muggle Quidditch.”
Backslash Magazine: Collegiate Quidditch – The Harry Potter Generation Grows Up (3/14)
“Every Harry Potter fan, and indeed some nonfans, are familiar with Quidditch and its premise – a sport played in the air on brooms by witches and wizards across the world. It’s the wizarding world’s only sport, and now it’s crossed over into the Muggle realm.”
Adelaide Now: Quidditch takes off among the muggles (3/12)
“The brooms may not fly but muggle quidditch is becoming as popular as its fictional Harry Potter equivalent. South Australian Harry Potter fans hope a local team will soon join the craze that is being played across the US, Germany, Iceland, the UK, India and New Zealand.”
Statesman Journal: Quidditch tourney benefits Doernbecher’s (3/11)
“Dementors, flying broomsticks and a golden snitch jumped out of the fantasy world of the “Harry Potter” books and roamed the Willamette University soccer field on Saturday for the March Madness Quidditch Tournament.”
Brainerd Dispatch: Chasers & Keepers & Seekers, oh my! (3/11)
“Muggle students rejoice: Quidditch has come to Brainerd. The fictional sport created by J.K. Rowling in the popular Harry Potter series has been played out in the gymnasium at Washington Educational Services Building over the last six weeks.”
Northbridge Times: From Hogwarts to Northbridge – Students to participate in Quidditch match (3/08)
“Friday, March 11 from 6-8 p.m. in the school’s field house, the group will host a fundraiser, Quidditch for Haiti.”
Arcadia Bulletin: Dumledorks conquer First Annual Arcadia Quidditch Cup (3/8)
“The Society for Castle Restoration’s first annual Arcadia Quidditch Cup drew an enthusiastic crowd on Saturday, March 5. Armed with brooms, wands, and other wizard gear, the Dumbledorks were triumphant, with Double Trouble trailing close behind.”
KVAL: Quidditch: ‘The bristles totally chafe your legs’ (3/07)
“EUGENE, Ore. – If you’re planning on mounting a broomstick any time soon, you should consider wearing tights. ‘The bristles totally chafe your legs,’ said Patrick Millegan, who is a member of the University of Oregon’s Muggle Quidditch League.”
The Camarillo Acorn: Harry Potter club takes flight (3/04)
“Students and teachers had their first practice in Quidditch, the sport imagined by Potter author, J.K. Rowling, on Feb. 11 at Lokker Park in Camarillo. The students, ‘flew’ on their broomsticks while chasing, ‘quaffles’ to score goals.”
RVANews: Quidditch: how it’s done [Video] (3/02)
“Quidditch! We sent Doug The Intern over to VCU’s latest Quidditch match to grab a couple ‘moving pictures’ of the Harry Potter pastime.”
WHPTV: A real life Harry Potter game (2/27)
“A real life version of the Harry Potter game flew into our area today. Teams from all over came to the Roof park in Fairview Township for a muggle quidditch tournament. It’s part of the Central Pennsylvania Quidditch League.”
The Ridge Review: Quidditch sweeps across the nation (2/25)
“There is a new athletic team at Cedar Ridge this year: the Norwegian Ridgebacks. Any Harry Potter fan will recognize the name as a creature from the series, and any Harry Potter fan will be thrilled to find out that it is indeed a Quidditch team.”
Blast Magazine: Emerson gets its Quidditch team (2/25)
“Every Saturday afternoon on the Emmanuel College campus, you can see Kaitlyn Hajjar and her group of Quidditch-loving athletes running back and forth between hoops on their Scarlet Falcon brooms.”
Newcastle Herald: New broom, old customs (2/24)
“Knights and fencers both did combat, but it was Harry Potter and his game of quidditch that won the recruitment drive at the University of Newcastle’s orientation week. Callaghan campus students have started their own quidditch society to play the game made famous in the Harry Potter series.”
The Marcolian: Students ride brooms for new campus club (2/24)
“Quidditch is not just for wizards anymore. This fall, Marietta College officially became one of more than 400 schools with a team devoted to playing the renowned game from the “Harry Potter” series.”
American Chronicle: Quidditch, anyone? Volunteer takes page from “Potter” for fundraiser (2/22)
“Spectators at the Lee County Armory were in for quite a magical sight Monday night as players on broomsticks threw balls through hooped goal posts, other team members threw dodgeballs at the competition and two athletes wrestled in the corner with a person dressed in gold. For some it might look like chaos, but for “Harry Potter” fans, it’s Quidditch.”
The State News: You’re a wizard, Harry (2/21)
“If you walked past the rock on Farm Lane this past Saturday, you might have wondered what people were doing running around with brooms and throwing balls at each another. The MSU traveling Quidditch team hosted a match against the University of Michigan team, a rivalry that rings true in the magical world.”
The Oakland Post: Muggle Quidditch League begins training for season (2/15)
“Quidditch may have began as a game played by wizards with broomsticks and a flying snitch in the Harry Potter series, but the game is taking root on OU’s campus. The OU Muggle Quidditch League has joined the ranks of hundreds of other college, high school and community muggle quidditch teams around the world.”
2010
NYmagazine – Vulture: Muggles Take Manhattan for the Quidditch World Cup 11/15
NYmagazine: 2010 Quidditch 11/13
Techland.com: Quidditch World Cup Diary: Day 1 11/13
Techland.com: Quidditch World Cup Diary: Day 2 11/14
Techland.com: This Weekend’s Big Sporting Event? The Quidditch World Cup 11/11
TIME.com: The Quidditch World Cup: Fantasy Game, Real Bruises 11/16
GuestofaGuest.com NY: The Quidditch World Cup: 99 Problems but a Snitch Ain’t One 11/15
Rocketbroom NYC: The Quidditch World Cup 11/17
Film: Blogging the real world: Quidditch World Cup Winner Crowned in New York 11/17
Film: Blogging the real world: Fourth Annual Quidditch World Cup Coming to New York City This Weekend 11/9
Yale News: Schools flock to Quidditch World Cup 11/17
WSJ.com: Harry Potter Sport Quidditch Comes to New York 10/24
WSJ.com: Harry Potter’s Game Grows Up 10/25
WSJ.com: Broomsticks! Quidditch world cup comes to NY 11/13
Fanhouse.com: Quidditch World Cup Takes Manhattan 11/16
ESPN.com: Quidditch: From Harry Potter to the NCAA? 11/3
The Miscellany News: Quidditch prepares for World Cup 11/10
Boston Herald.com: Muggles aim to snitch World Cup 10/24
Global Times: Quidditch World Cup takes off 11/17
NYDailyNews.com: Harry Potter enthusiast look to capture ‘snitch’ at fourth annual Quidditch World Cup in Manhattan 11/13
CBS: Quidditch World Cup Held in N.Y. 11/13
ABC Good Morning America: Welcome to the Quidditch World Cup 11/14
CNN: Real-life quidditch 11/19
ABC Action News: Harry Potter Quidditch plays at UFC 11/17
Rysersonian: Broom Bonanza Sweeps Ryerson (9/21)
“They say the witching (and wizarding) hour comes at midnight, but at Ryerson, it’s every Sunday between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. A new sport is enchanting a growing segment of Muggles, and it involves brooms, hoops and a scurrying player on campus dressed in gold.”
Daily Collegian: Quidditch more fun to Play than Read (9/21)
“Ever wondered why people are running around in circles at the Metawampee Lawn? What exactly are those people doing? Is it just ‘a run around with a stick’ game?”
The Miami Hurricane: Muggles Make their own Quidditch Magic (9/19)
“Quidditch isn’t just something to read about in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books anymore. Thanks to juniors Samantha Sutliff and Alex Locust, who created the Quidditch organization last year, students can now play it here on campus, minus the flying brooms and balls.”
Rutland Herald: Quidditch World Cup moves from Middlebury to NYC (9/18)
“The Quidditch World Cup has departed the Middlebury College green where it was born for the big city. Middlebury has hosted the tournament since a couple of its students devised a way to make the magical game from the “Harry Potter” novels and movies into a playable real-world sport.”
Minnesota Daily: MSA to provide start-up grants for new groups (9/16)
“Luke Zak wants to bring some high-flying, snitch-chasing magic to the University of Minnesota. Zak, a linguistics and French first-year, is the president of the University Quidditch League, a group for students who want to play a real-world version of the wizard sport popularized in the Harry Potter series.”
The Daily Texan: Students’ quidditch club applies for official status (9/15)
“Quidditch, the sport of choice for wizards in the Harry Potter novels, is now a club sport in more than 300 high schools across the world and more than 400 colleges, and UT may be next on the list.”
Washington Square News: New York City Welcomes Quidditch World Cup (9/14)
“Although Muggles will never be able to catch the snitch like Harry, some students are getting close. With the help of hula-hoops, softballs and tennis rackets, students from colleges around the world are capturing the spirit of J.K. Rowling’s beloved Quidditch.”
The Exponent: Students bring Quidditch to the non-wizarding world (9/13)
“Though Purdue will most likely never offer a course in witchcraft or wizardry, fans of Harry Potter can get their fix playing the books’ most famous game: Quidditch.”
Ethos Magazine: Seek the Snitch (6/1)
“The burning, stinging sensation throbs through the Chaser’s gangly body. Dressed from head to toe in shades of black, the pain pulsates at the epicenter of impact: his shoulder.”
The Berkshire Eagle: Lenox takes Quidditch field (5/31)
“Lenox High School’s latest team sport is something out of fantasyland, well, actually Harry Potter. The school has a Quidditch team, a soccer-like game invented by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.”
The Associated Press: Muggles take to broomsticks for Quidditch in NYC (5/30)
“NEW YORK – The seeker from the Bronx High School of Science had to jump a fence and follow the snitch down Fifth Avenue. He caught the snitch but it didn’t count because his broom wasn’t between his legs.”
AP story picked up by:
The New York Times: Spare Times for Children (5/26)
“QUIDDITCH IN CENTRAL PARK (Sunday) This is a variety of quidditch that mere mortals – or mere Muggles – can play.”
The Justice Online: Wizardry on Chapels Field (5/25)
“‘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.”
San Francisco Chronicle: At UC Berkeley, Quidditch is a game for muggles (5/18)
“If you’ve got an itch to play Quidditch, you no longer have to be a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You could be a student at UC Berkeley.”
Associated Content: Harvard Has a Muggle Quidditch Team (Video) (5/16)
“The idea that muggles can play Quidditch would seem to be at best an eccentric one. After all, muggles cannot use broomsticks to fly. Nevertheless, the game of Muggle Quidditch seems to be sweeping college campi.”
The Sun: Real ‘Quidditch’ Takes Off (5/10)
“STUDENTS don capes and straddle broomsticks for a real-life version of Harry Potter’s favourite game Quidditch – without the flying.”
ESPN Video: Campus Connection: Oregon Qudditch (5/5)
“Qudditch, the much beloved broomstick sport from the Harry Potter series, has found its way to the campus of Oregon. Senior, Abby Silverman reports.”
Daily Emerald: Muggles unite for quidditch on the quad (5/5)
“Passers-by of Gerlinger Lawn on any given Saturday afternoon are likely to see sophomore Charmaine Ng passing the Quaffle. That’s not a typo, and no, she’s not crazy.”
The Daily Iowan: A bit of Harry Potter raises money for School District (5/3)
“When University of Iowa sophomore Rachel Dudley turned 11 years old, she eagerly awaited her acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She wanted to learn the magic of Harry Potter’s fantastic world.”
Newcity: Potter’s Fields: The now-real sport of Quidditch thrives on campus (5/3)
“Quidditch is a full-contact sport. Within fifteen seconds of the opening whistle at Loyola University’s championship match, an athlete had already landed face first in the dirt; at the semifinals the night before, one player had to be taken away in an ambulance.”
The Miscellany News: Broooers host second Butterbeer Classic (4/28)
“A player scoops up the ball and starts to sprint towards the goal. Juking past potential assailants and vicious adversaries, the player eyes the target and rears back, ready to score.”
Ventura County Star: Harry Potter game comes to life in Moorpark (4/24)
“Witches and wizards – or at least college students dressed like them – took to the field at Moorpark College for most of the day on Saturday to play an adapted version of a fictional sport called Quidditch that’s featured in the Harry Potter book series.”
Daily Comet: LSU campus is the latest to feature Harry Potter game (4/22)
“As if the atmosphere is not unique enough, every player must have a broom wedged in between their legs to be in play.”
Spartan Daily: SJSU student club re-creates Potter pastime (4/20)
“Quidditch, the sport created by author J.K. Rowling as a part of her Harry Potter novels, has found a new home at SJSU thanks to Emily Knight.”
Colombia’s First News: Colombia News (Video) (4/5)
“Students in Colombia play Quidditch.”
Philadelphia Inquirer: Earthbound Quidditch in Texas (4/7)
“GRAPEVINE, Texas – It was a windy morning, so it was indeed fortunate that the Quidditch teams were playing by Muggle (nonmagical) rules.”
The Universe: Students experience the magic of Quidditch (4/4)
“Brooms in gear, the first official BYU Quidditch match had begun Friday on Wyview fields. The participants used basketballs, volleyballs, soccer balls and a small lacrosse ball.”
The Wichita Eagle: Quidditch sweeps across WSU (2/28)
“For a couple hours every weekend, Caroline Anderson rides a broom. Clutching the handle, she takes off running across a grassy field at Wichita State University, a twentysomething grad student in Gryffindor red, throwing quaffles, hurling bludgers, laughing heartily and making some magic, Harry Potter style.”
The Daily Californian: Cal Quidditch League Holds First Tryout (2/19)
“‘Muggles’ took over Memorial Glade Thursday as onlookers, athletes and fans of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series gathered to try out for the UC Berkeley Quidditch league.”
Yale Daily News: QUIDDITCH | Yale sports magic (1/20)
“The 33 varsity teams, 35 club sports and more than 30 intramural sports Yale offers are just for Muggles. But this past fall, Marty Keil ’12 brought some magic to campus by launching Yale’s first Quidditch team.”
2009
The Harvard Crimson: Blood on a Broomstick (11/20)
“I have a confession to make: I stopped reading the Harry Potter series halfway through book five. That alone wouldn’t be so shocking, if not also for this: I’m on the Harvard Quidditch Team.”
NECN: Harvard, Yale face off in Quidditch (Video) (11/20)
“(NECN: New Haven, Conn.) – Hogwarts could have some competition. This fall, Harvard joined the ranks of more than 200 universities that play “Quidditch”, a fictional sport concocted by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.”
Boston Herald: Quidditch Takes Flight at Harvard (11/19)
“It was a bizarre, magical request that apparently even cash-strapped Harvard University couldn’t refuse.”
The Daily Bruin: Quidditch without the magic (11/17)
“Bludgers? Check. Quaffle? Check. Golden Snitch? Check. Toss in some broomsticks, and you are now ready to play the sport that was introduced to Harry Potter in his first year at Hogwarts and the sport that is now sweeping college campuses across the nation: Quidditch.”
The Review: Students give flight to Quidditch team at university (11/16)
“At the university, Quidditch, the dominant school sport in the Harry Potter book series, isn’t just a sport for wizards, it may be a Muggle sport too.”
Mental Floss: 10 Reasons Why the Quidditch World Cup is the Best College Sporting Event (10/28)
“There are a lot of college sporting events out there – tournaments, championships, bowl games… But the best intercollegiate sporting event is the Quidditch World Cup.”
Richmond Times-Dispatch: At Vt. tourney, VCU Quidditch team falters but has fun (10/27)
“Virginia Commonwealth University’s trip to Middlebury, Vt., for Sunday’s Intercollegiate Quidditch Association World Cup III went exactly as expected.”
VPR: Middlebury College Hosts Quidditch World Cup (10/26)
“(Host) Quidditch is a fictional sport played by wizards in the wildly popular Harry Potter novels. But in the past few years, more and more college students are grabbing brooms and balls and playing a mortal-version of the game.”
My Fox DC: Harry Potter’s Quidditch Game Goes To College (10/26)
“(MYFOX NATIONAL) – Teams from more than 20 schools in the U.S. and Canada descended on a college field in Vermont to test their mettle in the hard-nosed sport of Quidditch this weekend.”
Rutland Herald: Quidditch grows up (10/26)
“MIDDLEBURY – It looked like the weirdest gang rumble in history. Two large groups of people, one clad in purple, the other in yellow, tackled one another and wrestled. They’d form giant dog piles, throwing elbows and applying choke holds.”
CJAD Talk Radio: Quidditch for McGill Muggles and other magic-less students (10/25)
“Hundreds of magic-less Muggles took part today in the 3rd Annual Intercollegiate Quidditch World Cup in Middlebury, Vermont.”
Boston.Com: Quidditch of Harry Potter Fame Comes to Tufts (10/23)
“Every college tries to market a magical student experience, and the Harry Potter Society at Tufts University is picking up the slack. The Society recently launched a club for Quidditch, a game featured in the fantasy series that has caught on like wildfire at local colleges and universities.”
The State News (MI): Harry Potter-Inspired Quidditch Game Gains Popularity on Campus (10/20)
“Members of MSU’s new Quidditch league don’t use jet packs and they won’t fly through fields, but they are contributing to a skyrocketing interest in Quidditch – a game inspired by the fictional world of J.K Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter’ book series – that has emerged on a local, national and international level.”
Student Voice: Magic in the wind at Moorpark College (10/13)
“Students from the Moorpark College Muggle Quidditch team grabbed their broomsticks and threw on their capes to bring to life the magical world of Harry Potter with a game of Muggle Quidditch in Moorpark on Sunday.”
Toronto Star: McGill Falls Under Quidditch’s Spell (10/13)
“Tessa Wallace grew up reading Harry Potter. When an opportunity came along to learn how to play Quidditch, the 19-year-old Torontonian jumped at it.”
ESPN: Forget the movie… try Quidditch (7/22)
“There it was, in the January edition of the Boston University alumni magazine. Headline, ‘Stranger than fiction.’ Subhead, ‘BU Quidditch team faces toughest opponent — gravity.’”
New York Daily News: Quidditch isn’t just for ‘Harry Potter’ anymore: College ‘Potter’ fans make magic game real (7/20)
“They can’t fly, and they don’t have any magical powers. But that doesn’t stop groups of college students across the country from playing Quidditch, the midair ‘sport’ from J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series.”
King5 News: The Magical Game of Quidditch (Video) (7/16)
“It’s a magical game made popular by the “Harry Potter” books and movies. Now this wizard game is coming to the muggle world.”
Cracked: 5 Ways People Are Taking Harry Potter Waaay Too Seriously (7/15)
“Readers everywhere have fallen in love with the tale of a magical boy who escapes a decade of child abuse only to wind up in a facility with a worse child-safety record than the Industrial Revolution.”
Paste Magazine: Snitches Get Stitches: Full-Contact College Quidditch (7/14)
“When any creative project starts out small and humble and then vastly expands, those involved face the proverbial challenge of staying grounded.”
Washington Post Express: Potter Around the Field: Playing Quidditch (7/14)
“INSTEAD OF BREAKING out the butterbeer before rushing to that midnight showing of ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,’ why not play a rousing game of quidditch?”
Burlington Free Press: “Middlebury Quidditch Team in MTV Ad” (7/14)
McClatchy Tribune: Harry Potter Fans Play Real-Life Quidditch (7/12)
“Although Quidditch – like almost everything in the ‘Harry Potter’ books – was always fun to read about, most Muggles would think it silly to attempt the game themselves.”
New York Observer Isn’t it Quidditch? (7/7)
“‘Two ferocious teams have gathered here today, on this field, to compete in the greatest sport in history,’ announced Alex Benepe, son of Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, at a muddy McCarren Park in Greenpoint last month as an MTV camera circled around him.”
Chemical & Engineering News: Quidditch for Chemists (6/29)
“Players wearing capes whip by on broomsticks. With one hand on broomstick, the other free to toss a white ball back and forth, they try to earn points for their teams by zinging the ball through one of three hoops defended by a ‘keeper’ on either end of the field.”
The Brooklyn Paper: No Fly Zone: Quidditch Game in McCarren Park (6/23)
“A gang of Harry Potter fanatics turned a make-believe game into a real world sport in McCarren Park on Saturday.”
Sports Illustrated Kids: “Quidditch” (6)
2008
BU Today: Not Harry Potter? Not a Problem (11/13)
“Sean Culleton (CAS’10) founded the BU team last spring, and by this fall the sport had taken off. The team holds scrimmages every Sunday afternoon on the BU Beach and in October competed against 11 other schools in the second annual Intercollegiate Quidditch World Cup, held in Vermont, at Middlebury.”
Seven Days: Quidditch World Cup [102] (10/29)
“The 2nd Annual Quidditch World Cup was held on the Middlebury College campus this weekend. Teams came from across the country (and even from Canada) to compete for the prestigious title.”
The Daily Collegian: College clubs compete for Quidditch World Cup (10/28)
“The world of Harry Potter came alive this past weekend at Middlebury College when teams from along the East Coast battled for the Quidditch World Cup with capes tied tightly and brooms secured between their legs.”
Rutland Herald: A League of Their Own (10/27)
“MIDDLEBURY – Middlebury College doesn’t look much like Hogwarts, the mythical school of witchcraft and wizardry known to Harry Potter fans everywhere. But the game that attracted thousands to the campus this weekend looked just like scenes drawn from the pages of author J.K. Rowling – without the flying.”
Sports Illustrated: The Campus Quidditch Craze (10/24)
“Cape-clad competitors banter as the referee instructs, “brooms up!” The game begins with a blur of yellow spandex as the Snitch explodes onto the field. Fierce competition ensues as the Hungry Hungry Hippogrifs battle the Mollywobbles.”
Rutland Herald “Middlebury College to Hold Quidditch World Cup” (10/23)
NESN: “Quidditch Anyone?” (10/21)
The Daily: Bludgers and Broomsticks (5/20)
“Ben Elliott clutched his broom tightly in his left hand as he effortlessly caught a ball in his right. Leaning to dodge another ball hurtling for his head, he picked up speed as he raced down the field.”
CSN Chicago: Quidditch Soars on Middlebury Campus (Video) (4/2)
“If you’re a Harry Potter fan .. you’ve probably heard of the game ‘Quidditch.’ Since it involves zooming around on broomsticks, you probably haven’t played it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t An earth-bound version of it is now being played at colleges across the country, thanks to a club started a few years ago at Middlebury College in Vermont.”
Boston Globe: Seven Game Sweep (3/29)
“AMHERST – Players wearing purple and navy blue capes hopped on brooms and rushed out of tents to a cheering crowd of students and family members, even little kids dressed in wizards hats, who held up signs reading ‘Chasers, Beaters, and Seekers’ and ‘Remember Cedric Diggory.’”
MTVu Unique Spring Break: Quidditch Tour (Video) (3/29)
CBS News (via Youtube): How to Play Quidditch (Video) (3/28)
“Players of real-life Quidditch at Amherst College tell Dave Price how to play. (CBSNews.com)”
CBS News (via Youtube): Quidditch for Muggles (Video) (3/28)
“Muggles are catching on to quidditch across college campuses. Greg Gumbel gives a play-by-play of a real-life match between Middlebury and Princeton. And Dave Price plays a round. (CBSNews.com)”
Mass Live: Quidditch at Amherst College (3/28)
“They play Quidditch in college. As part of the Intercollegiate Quidditch Assocation, started in 2005 and over 60 teams strong at colleges nationwide, the Amherst College Acromantulas welcomed the Middlebury College Mollywobbles today (although the names appear to change from time to time).”
Daily Hampshire Gazette “Sport of Wizards Hits Amherst” (3/27)
Times Argus: Middlebury Quidditch Team Hits the Road (3/22)
“MIDDLEBURY – The Middlebury College quidditch team set out Friday for its first round of away games. The game spawned on the pages of the Harry Potter novels has proven so popular on campus that Middlebury supports an intramural league.”
New York Post: “Quidditch Coming to New York” (3/21)
2007
USA Today: Collegiate Quidditch takes off – figuratively, at least (11/26)
“MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The broomsticks they hold between their legs can’t help them fly. The Snitch is not a winged golden ball but a young man who sprints across the field at lightning speed.”
Addison Country Independent: Quidditch Anyone? (11/15)
“MIDDLEBURY – “Brooms down. Eyes closed. And the snitch is loose,” boomed Xander Manshel, commissioner emeritus of the Middlebury College Muggle Quidditch League. The crowd cheered as a gold-clad player dashed away and two teams of undergraduates wearing capes and holding broomsticks between their legs took the field.”
The Burlington Free Press: “On Scene: Quidditch World Cup” (11/15)
Rutland Herald: Quidditch Grows as College Sport (11/12)
“As the setting sun spun red light, similar to the streak of a flying bludger ball, onto the Middlebury College campus, the Mollywobbles celebrated victory and geared up to capture a championship cup.”
Seven Days: Harry Potter-Inspired World Cup Comes to Vermont (11/7)
“A historic event is set for Sunday on the Middlebury College campus when a team from Vassar challenges the host in the first-ever intercollegiate World Cup Quidditch Tournament.”
Reuters: U.S. college students seek the magic of Quidditch (7/18)
“Dewey, a student at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, organizes the campus Quidditch club of about 40 Potter devotees imitating the aerial game of the book series.”
Reader’s Digest: “Quidditch Anyone?” (4)
ESPN Magazine: “Wiz Kids” (1/29)
2006
Wall Street Journal: What’s That Student Doing With a Broom? (12/16)
“MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — Rainey Johnson, sporting a yellow shirt, yellow socks and yellow paint smeared on his face, darted across the freshman quad. Other students, in capes, ran after him clutching brooms between their legs and grasping in vain for a tennis ball stuffed in a sock hanging out of his yellow shorts.”
