The Mahwah Library Quidditch Team and Harry Potter Alliance Chapter is for fans of the Harry Potter series who want to spread the magic even further. It meets 2:30 p.m. Friday and Aug. 17 at Mahwah Public Library, 100 Ridge Road, Mahwah. Free. 201-529-7323 or mahwah.bccls.org or internationalquidditch.org.
From left, Michael Parada of Montvale, Matthew Ziff of Upper Saddle River and William Greco of Montvale played on the gold-medal-winning U.S. team.
The Olympics haven't begun yet and the United States has already won gold — in Quidditch.
The U.S. team won the Quidditch Summer Games 2012, held July 8 and 9 in Oxford, England, to coincide with the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, which begin Friday.
"It's a lot more intense than people would think, as it is full speed and full contact," said Michael Parada ofMontvale, who played on the U.S. Quidditch team. "No one can grasp how intense it is until they watch. Originally, I didn't want to play because I thought it was a nerdier sport, but once I played I had to keep playing."
The sport, a "Muggle" adaptation of the magical game portrayed in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books and movies, is described as a cross between rugby and dodgeball. Players hold broomsticks between their legs rather than flying on them, as they would in the books and movies.
Other North Jersey players on the winning team were William Greco of Montvale and Matthew Ziff fromUpper Saddle River. "I was really excited and couldn't believe I was really going to do [it]," said Ziff.
Five teams representing the U.K., the U.S., Canada, France and Australia competed in Oxford as part of the Olympic torch relay celebration, held as the official torch passes through the town. Started in 2005 by Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt., the International Quidditch Association now boasts 692 teams, primarily associated with schools, in the U.S. and 2,000 teams worldwide.
A World Cup has been held every year since 2007, in which teams across the nation battle it out. This is the first time that the Quidditch Summer Games were held to coincide with the Olympics. The Harry Potter novels and movies are set in England.
Players of Quidditch are very serious about the sport and say it's less geeky and more intense than some may think.
"We are playing on brooms and it can be a little ridiculous to watch," admitted Ziff. "But it really is a full contact sport."
The game is played with balls that are thrown through three hoops for 10 points each, but the main purpose of the game is to capture the "snitch." Rather than a flying gold ball, as portrayed in the books and movies, the snitch is played by a wrestler or track player dressed in yellow or gold with a sock hanging from his waist. Players must try and catch the sock to end the game and earn 70 points.
Because of the physical demands, some players equip themselves with mouth guards and padding.
"It's a very intense sport," said Greco. "A lot of people look at it like a nerd sport and are turned off by it. But if you watch a game, it's very fast-paced with lots of hitting."
For more information on Quidditch in the U.S. and around the world, visit internationalquid ditch.org.
Email: tarrazi@northjersey.com
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