The latest installment of the Harry Potter movie saga has had its fans forgetting about Muggle responsibilities and diving headfirst into Potter mania. Some camped out at movie theaters for the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
Some students were seen around campus in Hogwarts apparel, but others have taken Harry Potter to another level, bringing the game of Quidditch out of the books and into Buffalo parks.
QC Buffalo, the unofficial Quidditch club at UB, was started in the spring of 2010 by members of an already-existing Quidditch team in Buffalo, Ives Pond. In 2008, recent high school graduates, including now junior electrical engineering major Michael D'Angelo, thought of the idea for QC Buffalo.
"We came together originally as a group of friends, and we've managed to continue our growth and maintain membership through word of mouth between friends," said D'Angelo, the president of QC Buffalo.
The game is broken down into two teams with three chasers (or forwards), two beaters (or defenders), one keeper (or goaltender), one seeker, and one snitch (or neutral player).
QC Buffalo now serves as the non-competitive club in Buffalo and is open to all those who may be curious about the game of Quidditch.
However, this year QC Buffalo plans to compete in a tournament it is hosting with Ives Pond as part of the Buffalo Winter Florious Festival in collaboration with Buffalo Rising. The teams plan to invite seven International Quidditch Association teams to compete in the first Winter Quidditch Tournament.
Ives Pond currently has 21 members, with more than half being UB students, and competes in tournaments including the Quidditch World Cup in New York City. Recently, Ives Pond made it to the quarterfinals at the fourth annual World Quidditch Cup.
QC Buffalo has 41 members that regularly attend practices, according to D'Angelo.
The teams have had their fair share of naysayers, but that has not gotten in the way of the teams' progression. In past months, both teams have gained a massive amount of media coverage that has brought them offers for sponsorship and inquiries from documentary filmmakers.
"Most people are put off by the idea that we play a sport where we simulate flying by running around on a broom and look like idiots, but that is one of the things that makes Quidditch even more fun," D'Angelo said.
According to D'Angelo, those who were initially skeptical about the game became members of the club and haven't looked back since.
"I get a lot of strange looks when I tell people I play Quidditch, but I cannot find a single person in our club that stopped playing for dislike of the game," D'Angelo said. "I would like to suggest to all of your readers to try playing. Every single one of them would have fun."
Quidditch has created a small community in Buffalo for those who gather at Ives Pond in Tonawanda on Sunday afternoons. The teams have also built friendships with other Quidditch players at the University of Rochester and the University of Pittsburgh.
Both the Ives Pond team and QC Buffalo hope that Quidditch becomes a nationally recognized sport by associations such as the NCAA in future years.
For more information, visit the QC Buffalo Facebook page or contact D'Angelo.
E-mail: news@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
