A couple dozen Virginia Commonwealth University students are off on a flight of fancy this weekend.
Kind of. They can't actually fly, you know -- life as a muggle does have its drawbacks -- but that's about the only thing that'll keep them grounded as they head to Middlebury, Vt., for tomorrow's Intercollegiate Quidditch Association World Cup III.
"We're excited," Britni Puccio, a junior mass communications major and the team captain, said as her squad ran through pre-tournament drills this week on a field near campus. "The team has really exploded this year."
Founded two years ago, the VCU team, like 225 others across the country, plays a ground-based version of the game from the Harry Potter books and movies. There's the usual lineup of three chasers, two beaters, a keeper and a seeker. With flight out as a strategic option, the players run, duck and dive. It's kind of like dodgeball, only the players have broomsticks between their legs and they're on, not zipping around above, a large grass field.
Ten other colleges in Virginia field teams, but VCU is the only one playing in the World Cup.
"It's really quite fun," said Barbie Benson, a senior English major.
And challenging, she said, especially for someone who spent years shunning organized athletics.
"Most of us are the type of people who would have skipped gym practice," said Benson, who at 21 is on her first team.
But the chance to take to the field to live out a little Potter fun was too much to pass up.
"I was so excited when I found out we had a team," she said.
Puccio said the team is about half experienced athletes, half not. She has been on field hockey, softball, basketball and swimming teams.
"It's definitely a lot different, a lot rougher," she said.
If practice is any indication, the sport is about as subtle and easygoing as rugby. The players -- 15 of the 25 or so team members were on hand at the practice -- spared no one, male or female, in their pursuit of a score. An occasional hit, throw or tackle left a player gasping for breath as everyone else sprinted to the other end of the field.
It won't be easy for VCU in the 25-team tournament. The squad is in a bracket with the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Miami of Ohio and (gasp!) host -- and IQA founder and annual Quidditch champion -- Middlebury College.
"We probably won't come home with the No. 1," Benson said.
"We're awesome," said Puccio. "It'll be good to play the best. They created this, and they're the highest."
Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or zreid@timesdispatch.com.
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