Quidditch Comes to Pine-Richland High School

They won't be flying on brooms, unfortunately, but the Quidditch tournament scheduled for Friday in the stadium is definitely going to have some nail-biting action.

For those who have been living in a cave for the past dozen years or so, Quidditch is the fictional game played by students at Hogwarts Academy in the Harry Potter books. Violent and very fast-moving, author J.K. Rowling's descriptions of the Quidditch matches are some of the most exciting passages in her books.

Various adaptations of Quidditch have made it to the non-fiction, human world, and it's one of those adaptations that spectators will enjoy Friday beginning at 4 p.m.

According to organizer Allie Marshall, a junior at PRHS, there will be seven people on each of two teams.

Three "chasers" try to throw or kick the Quaffle (deflated soccer ball) through the goal (hanging hula hoops) of the opposing teams. A "keeper" guards the goal and the "beaters" try to hit the chasers of the opposing team with  bludgers (dodgeballs).

Meanwhile, the final position on the team, the "seeker," has to try to catch the "snitch," a person dressed in yellow wearing a flag football belt and running like heck to keep from being caught. Points are awarded for goals. The game ends with a victory if the snitch is caught.

Sounds like more fun than most real sports.

And the goal is fun, but there's a larger purpose as well. The match is sponsored by the PRHS Interact Club, a community outreach organization. All funds raised will go to the Adult Literacy Council in Pittsburgh.

"From the start, the girls that I have been working with to plan the event and I decided that it made the most sense to in some way promote literacy because we got the idea of Quidditch from the Harry Potter books," says Marshall.

"A child's literacy is most dependent on their parents' ability to read for their first years of life; so, if there was some way to lower the adult illiteracy rate, we would in turn promote children's literacy."

Admission is either $2 per person or $1 plus a book donation. The book should be for children from preschool to teen reading levels.