In spite of having gone to bed so very very early, I didn’t sleep soundly or wake up, as I anticipated, around dawn. The day was to be devoted to Quidditch, as our team, the Silver Snakes, had at least two games in the morning, and possibly more in the afternoon. So I packed an extra shirt to change into after the games, grabbed my umbrella as a concession to the grey weather outside, and headed off. I managed to catch the shuttle bus around 7:45, which put me at the Quidditch Breakfast around 8:30, only a half hour after it started and not really “late” by my reckoning. <\/p>\n
The day was hot and damp, and I was in jeans and a long sleeved black shirt, so it wasn’t entirely comfortable, but the temperature was just on this side of bearable. Breakfast wasn’t bad, though it was there that we discovered that our team was two men down. (Or rather, one man and one woman down.) There were a few other teams in a similar predicament, but given that to play pro quidditch was an additional charge on top of the attendence fee, most people managed to show up. For some reason we were just unlucky in this.<\/p>\n
Our first game was scheduled for 10, so we all soon headed up to the pitch — the Salem Commons — and milled around in the drizzle until everyone was ready to play.<\/p>\n
As they were unable to come up with any flying brooms for our use, we were forced to make do with a modified version of quidditch that involved running around on the ground. If you’re looking for a quick and dirty description, I’d say it was like a combination of basketball and dodgeball. But a more detailed explanation can be found at the event website<\/a>.<\/p>\n I was a Chaser — having GMed games online for the last 4 years suggested to me that this would be the most interesting position, and I don’t think that I was wrong, though both Seeker and Beater had some interesting facets to them. (Keeper was boring as ever.) The quaffle was a ball the size of a small volleyball, with a similar feel to it, while the bludgers were kickballs. And, of course, as I mentioned before, it was raining and we were outside.<\/p>\n We recruited some replacement players from teams who weren’t yet playing and began our first match. We were among the first group of teams to play, and the first game was a learning experience for everyone, players and spectators alike. (We won, 80-20). By the time our second game rolled around, the ground was a giant mud slick and game play had become much more physical as everyone slipped and slid into the mud. We lost this one, due to some bad luck with the snitch, and at that point we had to wait and see if we were going to make it to the quarter finals.<\/p>\n