There’s a new sport at Dickinson College: one that involves hoops and brooms.

Katherine Heacock ’13 and Dylan McNair ’14 started the Dickinson Quidditch team last year. The game is based off of a sport from the fictional Harry Potter series.  Last spring, Student Senate officially recognized the team as a student organization.  Because of time spent last semester getting funding and equipment, this is the first semester the team has been able to play.

The team name is the “Dickinson Dirigible Plums,” a reference to the magical plums grown in the Harry Potter books.

“Dirigible plums, if eaten, were believed to allow the eater to be ‘more accepting of the extraordinary,’” said Heacock.   “So our sort of motto is ‘Accept the Extraordinary.’”

Heacock explained that Quidditch was originally adapted for the non-magical athletes by Middlebury College.

“They have a really strong program, and their graduates are the ones who began the International Quidditch Association,” said Heacock.

Many colleges, and even some high schools, have Quidditch teams, according to Heacock.  Each fall, the best college teams compete in a Quidditch World Cup hosted in Long Island.

In Harry Potter, Quidditch players fly on brooms, but adaptations have been made for play by college teams.

“Right now we are working with the Shippensburg Warlocks to learn how to play competitively and just to get to play other teams,” said Heacock.

The team positions are the same as in Harry Potter, with three chasers, two beaters, a keeper, and a seeker.  The bludgers, which are actually dodgeballs, are thrown instead of hit with bats.

“Each player gets a broom that they run around with, like they’re flying,” reported Heacock.  “If you’re hit by a bludger, you have to drop the ball and go run and touch your own goal posts. It’s like getting knocked off your broom.”

The golden snitch is a person who runs through the field with a tennis ball while the seekers chase him or her.

“Each time the quaffle is thrown through the hoops, it’s 10 points, and when the snitch is caught, the game is over, but the seeker’s team only gets 30 points, rather than 150 like in books,” said Heacock.

Contact Heacock at [email protected] for more information.  The team meets on Sundays at 2 or 3 p.m. for about an hour, currently at the Kline center.  Students are welcome to show up, even just to watch.

“Right now, we’re looking for anyone who’s interested, no experience necessary.  We’ll teach them how to play if they really want to,” said Heacock.

The Dirigible Plums will have their first scrimmage against the Shippensburg Warlocks on Feb. 24.