Muggle Quidditch (that’s Quidditch for non-magical people) has been growing in popularity, and now a high school in North Texas is trying to get it recognized as an official sport. The eighty members of the club take their sport from the Harry Potter novels seriously and think that the University Interscholastic League, which regulates thirteen sports, should add muggle Quidditch. George Polaski, the Quidditch coach at Keller High School, explained how it’s played:

“It’s basically the same game you see in the movies, with a few tweeks. First off, no flying. However, everyone has to ‘ride’ a broom. In other words, the can only handle the ball with one hand.

They use the same balls: the quaffle, the bludger, and the golden switch. But, part of the fun of the snitch is it’s unpredictability. So, they strap it on a player. Tuesday, that was sophomore Brian Haywood.

“Our snitch is a person running around in all gold with a tennis ball in a sock tucked into a flag football belt,” explained Polaski.

Then two ‘chasers” try to catch him. You could probably say those three get the most cardio.

News Story and Official Website -via The Mary Sue

The earthbound variation is called Muggle Quidditch. The sport originated in 2005 when a student at Middlebury College adapted the game for the nonmagical world. Its popularity quickly spread, and today more than 150 colleges throughout the United States have Quidditch teams. [...]

While the wizards in the Potter series play Quidditch on flying broomsticks, Muggles (author J. K. Rowling’s word for nonmagical people) run holding a broom between their legs. It’s a lot harder than it looks, and just as awkward, says Stack, who is team captain while Culleton is studying abroad.

“We’re a small, kind of ragtag group,” she says. “Not everyone has brooms yet, so some people play with Wiffle bats or lacrosse sticks. And we only have two hoops. You’re supposed to have three on each end of the field.”

As in the fictional game, each Muggle Quidditch team has seven players: three chasers, two beaters, a keeper, and a seeker. Chasers score points by throwing a quaffle, or volleyball, through one of three hoops (worth 10 points) while trying to avoid bludgers, or dodgeballs, that are thrown by beaters. (If chasers are hit by a bludger, they must drop the quaffle.) The keeper’s job is to protect the three goalposts, while the seeker must capture the snitch — a sock stuffed with tennis balls carried by a person (typically a cross-country runner) dressed in gold. Capturing the snitch nets an additional 30 points and ends the game.

Aah, to be young and going to nerdvana, er … college: Link (with video clip goodness, of course) – via Geekologie