Yeah, I said Quidditch.

For all you Muggles out there, there is a version of Quidditch that is played in our world.

No, we don’t fly. I’m sorry to disappoint you.

Apparently playing Quidditch in the Muggle world has been around for awhile. The International Quidditch Association, or the IQA, was founded back in 2007 and there are tons of community teams, college teams, and even high schools are jumping aboard from countries all over the world.

I just recently discovered Muggle Quidditch. I know, insane, right? Biggest Harry Potter fan ever and I didn’t even know about Muggle Quidditch. Travesty.

Anyway, the first time I experienced Muggle Quidditch was at the Intermagical Relations Picnic and Quidditch Tournament back in October. It was my very first meetup with the amazing, awesome, fantastical Los Angeles Dumbledore’s Army.

Now the best way for me to describe Muggle Quidditch is its a combination of basketball, soccer, rugby and dodgeball. All at the same time. While riding three foot brooms. Yeah.

I’m not going to go through the rules and gameplay. Its just too much to explain.

But I will tell you one thing: Its SO MUCH FUN!

I’m not an athletic person. I am the type of person who trips over flat ground while walking, the girl who finds bruises and has no idea where they came from. I was that girl who either skipped P.E. or always seemed to be having women troubles so I didn’t have to jump those hurdles or run that mile. Yeah, that’s me.

And the thing that you have to understand, as silly as Muggle Quidditch sounds, it is an extremely athletic sport. It involves a lot of running, throwing and catching, tackling and blocking, all while holding a broom between your legs. Its hard work.

But I love it! Its so much fun to play, even though I’m sure I’m just as terrible at it as I am playing basketball or softball. But Its the fun of it that makes me come back for more and more.

One of my good friends from Los Angeles Dumbledore’s Army (henceforth known as LADA) contacted a few of us with the idea of starting an Orange County community team.

There is an L.A. team, the Hollywood Harpies. They are awesome, and you should definitely check them out; they play often and they’re a blast to watch.

Anyway, so we got together and we started our team: The Orange County Obliviators.

We’ve been practicing together as a team for a couple months now, learning the game, since most of us are not the biggest athletes in the world. But we’re having fun and we’re coming together as a team. When we first started, there were only five or six of us and yesterday at practice, we had enough people to run a full scrimmage (minus the Seeker/Snitch).

So I definitely encourage you to check it out. There are over 400 collegiate and high school teams out there and the number is growing every day. Just in the last year, we created our community team and my old high school created their own team. I encourage all you nerds to do it because its keeping the Harry Potter alive and its SERIOUSLY SO MUCH FUN.

I literally can’t emphasize how much fun this is.

So definitely go on the IQA website and check it out. Head out to a Quidditch game. I guarantee that you will leave that game wanting to play.

And hey, if there aren’t any teams near you, or your school does have one, do what we did! Start a team, get your friends involved, get your college involved! If big schools like USC and UCLA can get in on this, anyone can!

And if nerdy, flat-footed, extremely uncoordinated, short and slightly rotund girls like me can get involved and LOVE IT, you can too!