Broooers host second Butterbeer Classic

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. Suddenly, "WHAM!" a flying blur appears out of nowhere, blindsiding the player, and leveling them to the ground. The player smashes into a soggy puddle of brown mud and wet grass, sliding a few feet until finally collapsing on the ground in a heaping mess of limbs, dirt, and broomsticks. Broomsticks?? That's right, the scene I'm describing did not take place on Vassar Farm at a Rugby game, it unfolded during a quidditch match on Sunday in Noyes Circle as a part of The Second "Annual" Butterbeer Classic.

A sport that is derived from J.K. Rowling's famed Harry Potter series, the muggle form of quidditch was invented in 2004 by students at Middlebury College, and has been growing in popularity on college campuses throughout the country. Vassar has developed its own following here, hosting the second iteration of its tournament, the Butterbeer Classic on Sunday. Though the day was dreary, rain and grime could not deter from the entertainment that ensued, and possibly even contributed to the fun and excitement of the day.

"Overall, the Second ‘Annual' Butterbeer Classic" was a great success," says Sophomore Captain, Molly St. Clair. "The tournament was set up as a round robin, with each team playing each other team once. The two teams with the worst records of wins/losses then played for third and fourth, and finally the two teams with the best records battled for first and second." State University of New York (SUNY) Geneseo, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Villanova University joined the Broooers in the tournament on Sunday.

After defeating SUNY Geneseo, who put up a valiant effort for a brand new team, and a veteran UMass Amherst squad, the Broooers faced a tough Villanova team in group play, and then again in the finals. "The championship match [against Villanova] was really physical." Says second year player Aaron Suzuka ‘12. "Both teams really stepped up their aggression to try and shut down break-aways and attacks. We had to stop play twice for injuries. However, at the end of the day, Vassar emerged victorious and undefeated!"

Behind Vassar, SUNY Geneseo came in fourth, UMass Amherst finished third, and Villanova was second. While Vassar's squad, the "Butterbeer Broooers," enjoyed the sweet taste of victory at the tournament, consensus sentiment was that the day was more about making friends and living childhood dreams of becoming a wizard, rather than who won or lost.

Though J.K. Rowling clearly defines the rules of quidditch in her books, things become kind of complicated for those of us who can't do magic. Poor muggles who want to engage in the sport have to find ways around their unfortunate shortcomings, thus, the rules to the land-based game are slightly different that the one's in the wizarding world.

Like in the books, each team has seven players on the field: three chasers, two beaters, a keeper, and a seeker. Chasers move the "quaffle," which is usually a soccer or volleyball, downfield and attempt to throw it through one of the other team's three mounted hula hoops, which is defended by a keeper. If the chasers prove successful there team is awarded 10 points. Opposing Chasers are charged with tackling the ball carrier or stripping them in order to obtain possession, while all players must hold onto their broomsticks at all times. This is where the game gets interesting. "quidditch is, somewhat surprisingly, a rather intense sport. Tackling is a big part of it, as well as balls being thrown at [opponents]. Naturally, there are bound to be some injuries." Says sophomore Captain Daniel Bossert. Fellow Captain St. Clair elaborates: "At the World Cup [held at Middlebury College] this year, three students [not from Vassar] were taken off the field in ambulances, including one player with a broken collarbone." Watching the action play out is like watching a combination of handball, dodge ball, basketball, and rugby all meshed into one.

To add another aspect to the game, there are two beaters on each team. These beaters can "bludgers" (kickballs), to pelt the other team. St. Clair plays beater, and says that it is "a nice way to get out any pent up aggression after a long day of classes. My job is to defend my chasers against the other teams' beaters or chasers, and to assist the keeper in guarding our hoops by bludging any approaching chasers." After being hit by a bludger, a player must drop whatever ball they are holding and run back to their own hoop, symbolizing the amount of time it would take to fall of an aerial broom and remount.

While all of this is going on, the seekers have an important mission, to catch the snitch. "While Rowling's snitch is a magical, flying, walnut-sized golden ball, a muggle snitch is a cross country runner dressed in a ridiculous amount of golden and yellow clothing with a tennis ball in a sock tucked in the back of his or her shorts." Says St. Clair. The Snitch is encouraged to taunt, dance and anger the seekers. "It is also good to have some martial arts training, skills in parkour or free running, or maybe some gymnastic skills." Says Suzuka. "Snitches are able to do bascially anything to avoid being caught. I saw a snitch flip a seeker with a crazy jiu jitsu move once." The Snitch can be caught anywhere, however they are encouraged to return to the field every 10 or 15 minutes so that all can witness the highly entertaining spectacle.

People of all athletic and Harry Potter backgrounds are encouraged to play with the team. I am a huge Harry Potter fan, but when I heard that muggles were trying to recreate the game, I was admittedly skeptical. However, after watching the games on Sunday, I was extremely impressed with the amount of strategy and physicality that went into the game. As St. Clair puts it, "While my inner nerd and my outer athlete brought me to the Butterbeer Broooers, it was the glorious people I met on the team that kept me there."