Quidditch Team Never got off the Ground
In the Harry Potter World of Wizarding, Quidditch is the most popular sport played on broomsticks. Teams compete against each other to catch magical, flying balls to throw into goal posts, always keeping their eyes peeled for the golden snitch.
Muggles of Mesa tried at one point to bring this fictional game to Mesa Community College (MCC). This real-life Quidditch is a mix of handball, rugby, and dodgeball. Seven players on each side fight for balls to throw into one of three propped up circular-shaped goals. Similar to the book, there are seekers, beaters, and the snitch. The snitch is a person who wears yellow with a sock hanging from their backside. Their goal is to avoid capture from the players.
The founder Christina Coolbaugh created a Facebook page and logo and supervisor Lindsey Pederson was their advisor.
“They tried for about three semesters, and they just had a hard time getting enough people who could regularly be there,” said Pederson. “When Christina left it pretty much ended. She did the lions’ share of the work.”
Founder and MCC alumni Christina Coolbaugh graduated and the quidditch team did not start back up. They practiced for three semesters and played a total of 0 matches. They once played a scrimmage against Arizona State University’s quidditch team.
Current MCC students were asked the question: MCC once had a quidditch team in 2014. Would you want to bring it back?
Dominique Alatriste
“Well I love Harry Potter. I’d never think of playing quidditch, but I think it’s a good idea. It sounds really interesting.”
Christian Torres
“I dunno. Yeah?”
Isabelle Jabier
“I’m not really familiar with it. But, I think it’d be pretty cool.”
Nathaniel Martinez
“Not really.”
Joshua Figueroa
“Um, yeah, absolutely. That sounds like it would be a fun thing to watch.”
Cassidy Loveday
“I don’t know what that is. I mean, if it’s what people want. If it makes them happy, I don’t see why not.”
Taylin Bancroft
“For real? Yeah, that’d be dope.”
Stripes
“What I’m wondering is, how did they have a quidditch team in the Muggle world?”
Well, the sad truth is, they didn’t.
