The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The Quidditch Craze at WJ

The latest fad to be sweeping the nation is Quidditch, the only sport where flying brooms and scoring goals can be all in the same game. Now WJ has decided to join in on the  magical fun, as a group of enthusiastic juniors have brought the wizarding sport to our hallowed halls  so that muggle-born teenagers  can play along too.

Juniors Tyler Huyser and Jocelyn Wu decided to start the Quidditch club this year with hopes of getting it to spread to other schools in the area so that these teams could then face each other.

“We’re using the same rules and structure of how the colleges are doing it, and next year we’d love to go to New York and compete in the World Cup,” said Huyser.

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Started by Xander Manshel of Middlebury College in Vermont, the Quidditch World Cup is an international event designed by the International Quidditch Association (IQA).  It gets a lot more coverage than one would expect. The first ever World Cup featured eight teams and over 100 spectators. Over the years, more and more schools, such as Vassar and Emerson, have joined and the World Cup has grown to 46 teams and 0ver 10,000 viewers. Last year’s event had 40 different media outlets covering the tournament. The IQA posted video of the event by Youtube user rocketboomnyc.

The allure of Quidditch is infectious as many possible chasers, seekers, beaters and keepers have been drawn to the club. The WJ club has around a hundred members already, making it one of the largest clubs at WJ. Quidditch is becoming a “sport” that is all the rage.

“I thought it would be really fun and it’s exciting just playing the game,” said sophomore Vivian Horvath, who plays defense for Gryffindor.

Nine people are fielded for each team, but there are many substitutes awaiting their turn on the sidelines.

Teams at WJ are formed based on friendships, usually.

“We let people apply for a house they want so that they can be with their friends and [so that the] teams would be more even,” said Huyser.

The rules are fairly simple. Besides the flying aspect, everything is much like in the “Harry Potter” movies. The teams are set up with four chasers, who try score points, three beaters who act as defenders, a goalkeeper and a seeker who tries to catch the snitch. The chasers use a ball, called a quaffle, to shoot at the three goals which the keeper defends. Each goal is worth 10 points. Beaters try and stop the chasers from scoring by throwing a different kind of ball, called a bludger, at the chasers.  Meanwhile, the point of the seeker is to catch the snitch before the other team does. The snitch is worth 50 points and ends the game when caught.  In the game the snitch is a designated person, who puts a tennis ball in the back of their shirt and then runs around until they are caught.

Top players are sophomores Alec Marks who plays for Hufflepuff and Aaron Broun and Sam Brinker on Ravenclaw, who are very into the game and also happen to be very skilled athletes.

“Muggles can’t play Quidditch in the movies, so we might as well play now,” said Marks.

The WJ community is definitely charmed by this new club. During some of the club’s practices, people decide to join in on the fun, even luring the occasional football or soccer player.  Everyone is invited to come and join.

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About the Contributor
Daniel Gorelik, Onilne Assistant Sports Editor
A quirky character, Daniel enjoys many fun-filled activities. When it comes to sports, his favorites are soccer and tennis. He always tries to go out on adventures and those who know him, know that he has the imagination of a six-year-old (that’s a good thing). If someone gave him a box to play with, he would think of so many games that no Xbox could compete with him. Aside from that, in his spare time he enjoys just hanging out with friends or watching some TV. His favorite shows include “Entourage,” probably one the greatest shows ever created, and various other comedies like “Two and a Half Men” and “Seinfeld.” If you ever decide to find him, he'll probably be taking a walk along the beach or reading a book by the sunset.
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