The university has its own Quidditch team. That's right - the sport known from the magical Harry Potter world and played at lofty heights on flying brooms. But the university athletes stay on the ground.
In the evening in the dark, it's only eight degrees Celsius outside. With the broom between their legs, 15 players jog from one end of the open-air hall to the other, sometimes side-stepping, sometimes cross-running. They are warming up for today's Quidditch training session. What is it about? According to the German Quidditch Association, it is a contact sport "played in mixed-gender teams and combines elements of handball, rugby and dodge ball". It was invented by students in Middlebury (USA) in 2005 - they gave the Harry Potter sport the necessary grounding and thus transferred it to the real world.
Today, Quidditch is one of the fastest growing sports: The game is already played professionally by over 500 teams worldwide. In Germany, too, there are already around 30 officially registered teams with illustrious names such as the "Bielefeld Basilisks", "Augsburg Owls" and "Portkeys Bremen". Others are currently being formed, including the "Dobby Klatscher" from Oldenburg.
Verena Hopp and Marlon Raabe came up with the idea of bringing Quidditch to the university. They were inspired by the comedy "Prakti.com", in which two interns have to prove themselves in the company's own quidditch team, among other things. It wasn't difficult to get university sports interested in their idea. Marlon quickly put together the six goals they needed. A whole team has now formed around the two initiators, including die-hard Harry Potter fans. Together, they are gradually developing Quidditch, which is anything but trivial with a 260-page rulebook.
The short version goes something like this: On the pitch, each team has three Chasers, two Beaters, a Keeper and a Seeker. The hunters have to throw the "Quaffel", a volleyball, through one of the three rings the size of hula hoops to score goals. The goal rings are defended by the keeper. The drivers, on the other hand, target the opposing team's hunters with the "clappers", in this case softballs. The seeker has to catch the golden "snitch", which is actually winged in the magical Harry Potter world - this earns their team 30 extra points. In reality, the snitch is less spectacular, namely a tennis ball in a sock attached to the waistband of an impartial player. Which should please Joanne K. Rowling, author and inventor of the fantastic world of magic: Throughout the game, athletes must hold a broom between their legs. Quidditch therefore primarily trains dexterity and endurance.
The Oldenburg team is currently still working on the basic techniques, such as the running quaffle handover, dropping with clappers and throwing goals. At the end of a training session, there is a longer free game: Everyone can try out every position. In the Quidditch world of Harry Potter, the course of a "match" is sometimes dramatic: the game lasts a whole day, players are lost or killed by a bludger. The reality is much more harmless: "Of course, things can get rough in the championship matches, as the players like to 'tackle' each other. But we're careful with each other during training at university," assures Marlon. As soon as the team has trained sufficiently, they might want to take part in the German Quidditch Championships. "But we're not there yet. We need to get the basics down first," says Verena. In general, training is open to everyone.
