Wayland Represents at the 5th Annual Quidditch World Cup

“Brooms up!”

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing that phrase, and this sentiment was proved true last weekend at the 5th Annual Quidditch World Cup when more than 200 quidditch matches were played at Randall’s Island in New York.

Those of you frequent readers to my (two) Wayland Patch blog posts may have noticed the description “writer, traveler and quidditch enthusiast” next to my name. Many of you may recognize the word “quidditch” from the world-renowned Harry Potter book series, but what you may not realize is that in the past few years this magical sport has been translated to reality in our all-too-muggle world. And all thanks to the International Quidditch Association, a 501c3 nonprofit run solely by adults under the age of 25.

The weekend of Nov. 12-13, 94 dues-paying member teams traveled from across the United States, Canada and even Finland to participate in the historic event. Our dear town of Wayland was well-represented, as well. My three siblings (Caroline Stack WHS ’08, Brendan Stack WHS ’10 and Ian Stack WHS ’11) participated as members of the Boston University quidditch team, and WHS ’10 Hannah Mead played for Franklin and Marshall College. More than 12 bands performed throughout the weekend, viewed by an estimated 20,000 attendees. The tournament culminated in a series of semifinal and championship games under the lights of Randall’s Island Icahn Stadium.

The weekend tournament was the result of more than a year of planning and hard work by some of the IQA executive staff, and I was fortunate enough to join these incredible people as World Cup Tournament Director for the weekend. I spent a week in New York City setting up for the tournament, organizing and managing weekend gameplay, and then helping clean up. Sleeping and eating were not on the top of the priority list, unfortunately.

The stress and physical toll were more than worth it, however, as fans screamed along the lyrics to the songs of the famous wizard wrock band, Harry and the Potters. Children wearing wizards’ robes dashed around with wands, dueling each other; full-grown adults got in touch with their not-so-inner children by donning costumes complete with masks and stuffed pets; hundreds of enthusiastic quidditch-loving volunteers assisted with referee duties, crowd management and trash detail. Dozens of golden snitches hid and played pranks, and thousands of intercollegiate athletes ran, dodged, caught, tackled and beat for the honor of hoisting the traditional homemade, gold spray-painted trophy.

From the handful of students at Middlebury College seven years ago who made the fateful choice one afternoon of playing quidditch instead of bocci, to the International Quidditch Association that boasts hundreds of member teams from across the world, the young sport of muggle quidditch has indeed flown far.

I co-founded the Boston University quidditch team my freshman year at school after the Middlebury team "toured" the Northeast, playing exhibition games at various schools. Both the BU team and the IQA have doubled in size and scope each year since, both striving to live up to the IQA’s now-official mission statement of fostering community, creativity and competition. Book drives, quidditch programs for children and local charity fundraisers are only a few of the groups’ accomplishments.

There is really no sufficient way to explain the real-life magic in our decidedly non-magical version of the popular wizarding sport, but I can proudly say that I have never been a part of a more fun-loving, creative and welcoming community as that of the muggle quidditch world. I suggest you look for quidditch events near you soon in order to experience it for yourself!