By Keanu Haghighi (@KeanuHaghighi):
Imagine a sport that requires the physicality of a rugby player, the stamina of a long distance track runner and the IQ of a quarterback. If you guessed quidditch, then you are correct.
Quidditch was originally a game made up by author J.K. Rowling for her world renowned Harry Potter novels. In 2005, the game that was played in the books by wizards eventually became one played on the field by athletes and fans of the popular series.
At San Jose State, quidditch is a club sport that has rapidly grown over the years while attempting to debunk the existing stereotypes that come with it. Head coach Elizabeth Barcelos wants more people to acknowledge quidditch as a sport.
“This (quidditch) is really an athletic enterprise for people,” Barcelos said. “It is an international sport. Last year in World Cup, there were teams from Brazil, Europe and the United States.”
Club president Malik Williams hopes to see an end to such generalizations.
“The one stereotype that always itches the back of my head is that quidditch is not a sport,” Williams said. “And I ask people, ‘what is a sport then?’ In quidditch, we have to constantly do drills [and] practice all these things. We play at the community, collegiate and international level.”
Williams went on to describe the typical reaction of someone who tries playing the magical game for the first time.
“More people come out to try it then come back and tell me, ‘I’m sorry, I’ll never make fun of you again.’”
Unlike many club sports at SJSU, the quidditch team did not originally have intentions of becoming a competitive team.
“It started off as a club thing,” Williams said. “It wasn’t so much a competitive sport at the time of which it started. Local people would get together and over time it would evolve and more professional people would step up to play.”
The transition from club to competitive team was perhaps the best thing to happen to SJSU quidditch. In 2011, the team qualified for the Quidditch World Cup, which at the time was the most competitive international quidditch tournament. Barcelos was a part of that legendary team.
“That (playing at the World Cup) really opened up quidditch for me because before, I only played in Northern California,” Barcelos said. “To see it was an international thing and to see how high a level quidditch can be played, it made me want to be apart of it. I’ve worked for the league since then.”
The current team has a balanced mix of veterans and newcomers. Barcelos believes that she could be the x-factor when it comes to qualifying for the World Cup because she knows the kind of preparation and dedication it takes to be on a team that competes at the sport’s highest level.
Williams hopes to see SJSU quidditch continue to grow in popularity while becoming a perennial contender for the World Cup.
“I want to see an army,” Williams said, “Nothing will make me feel better than watching a small team of nobodies grow up to be a large army of somebodies.”
The team wants to make it known that there’s a spot on the team for anybody. You can be the biggest Harry Potter fan or someone with an athletic background trying to do something new.
No matter what the case may be, there is room for all different kinds of people on the SJSU quidditch team, which makes it particularly unique amongst all the different club sports.