Quidditch, Anyone?

I may have mentioned that the boy is going to various day camps around the city this summer, because even though he doesn’t have school, I still have to go to work. This week is QUIDDITCH CAMP!

Mr. F., one of the very most awesome teachers at the boy’s school (who has FIVE sons of his own), has put this camp together, and while I wasn’t sure how it was going to work, it turns out that it’s brilliant.

Muggle quidditch works pretty much the same way that wizard quidditch does, with a few adjustments. Obviously, there’s no flying—everyone just runs around. All the positions are the same, but the keepers both only have one ring to guard. The rings are elevated at either end of the field, and the keepers each get a “noodle” (those foam things you play with in the pool) to try to knock the quaffles (balls slightly smaller than basketballs, and lighter, but not foam) away from the rings. The chasers try to get the quaffles through the rings, to score ten points per goal. In the meantime, beaters pick bludgers (yesterday they were tennis ball-sized Nerf balls; today the kids were told to bring swim suits so they can use water balloons) up off the ground and wing them at the chasers. The seekers run around looking for the snitch. What in the world does Mr. F. use for a snitch? One of those helicopter-like things you launch by pulling a ripcord! I think that’s genius!

So there you go. If you’ve got a yard and enough kids around, chances are you have enough things around your house to set up a quidditch team. If you have a whistle, you can be Madam Hooch.