A Blaze of Nerdy Glory

Team Underfist wins first Quidditch tournament at UAFS

November. Saturday morning. The leaves have changed, the air is crisp, and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Family gatherings, tryptophan-induced comas and dreams of gridiron glory are at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

photo by Kevin Ledford

Well, not everyone’s minds. Some have instead mounted their brooms in search of a different kind of glory—the kind that can only be had by snatching a tennis ball-stuffed sock from the waistband of a guy wearing yellow sweats.

Only the sport of Muggle Quidditch offers this nerdy glory. And to its players, the sport is gloriously nerdy.

"It's a fantastical sport," said Kim Stevens of Lions Quidditch, one of three organized teams at UAFS.  "It's whimsical.  There's no logic to it."

For those not in-the-know, Quidditch is a fictional sport played by the students of Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. The term “muggle” is from the same and means “a person without magic.” Though a little hard to take seriously, Muggle Quidditch is quickly becoming a real sport.

The numbers don’t lie. When you combine both divisions, NCAA Football has only 244 teams. The International Quidditch Association is comprised of over 1,000 teams from 13 nations. College football may draw bigger crowds, but the muggles from big football universities like LSU, Virginia Tech, Michigan State, and yes, Arkansas, now have Quidditch teams. Even Ivy Leaguers like Harvard and Yale are getting in on the action.

It was only a matter of time before UAFS jumped on the broomstick bandwagon  On November 5th, UAFS proudly hosted the first ever Lions Quidditch Fall Cup. Three teams competed: Lions Quidditch, the Theatre Department’s Team Underfist, and a team comprised of both members of the Baptist Collegiate Ministry and UAFS faculty. At the end of the fourth round, Seeker Shawn Mann captured the Golden Snitch (that’s the tennis ball sock thingy) for a stunning upset, securing final victory for Team Underfist, and for himself, undying nerd glory. —Bryce Albertson