The magic that lies within the pages of "Harry Potter", has spread far beyond the pages. From Harry Potter world to the towns that turn into Hogwarts overnight, the magic of Harry Potter will forever live on.
For this past weekend, the magic has spread to the city of Kissimmee, Florida; which was host to the 2017 Quidditch Cup 10. 60 teams gathered from their scattered locations, to celebrate the sport that we love most.
A line about a mile long of Quidditch teams processed around the main field, bearing their team flags on Saturday morning. After a ceremony to welcome the teams that came from the far corners of the country, we split up to the fields to play some of the best quidditch in the country.
On Saturday the eighth, over 240 Quidditch matches were played, while only the top team remained on Sunday.
I was accompanied by the Illinois State University Firebird Quidditch Team, where we played for our small town of Bloomington-Normal. Some of the crowd favorites included the Texas Lonestars, Kansas University, Arizona State University, and Mizzou University. The Firebirds put up a hell of a fight in all four matches that we played and came out with a win and a couple of close matches.
As the tournament progressed, the crowds got bigger, and the stakes higher. The second day of the tournament was a steamy 80-degree day, and despite the mutual exhaustion among the player's everyone was extremely hyped to see who would take the cup.
The major upsets were the Bosnia Bear Sharks (their logo is a bear in a shark costume) who made it to the final four and devoured all competition, despite it being their first year as an official team. Then there were the Texas Lone stars who unsurprisingly played some of the best Quidditch in the cup (thank you, Tyler Walker).
Finally, there was the top four, who plowed their way through their pools to get gain the title of top four. The teams that made it to the top four were The BosNYan Bear Sharks, Texas Cavalry, Texas State University, and Mizzou. After the four battled it out for a spot in the cup match, Texas Calvary and Texas State University made it onto the final match of the tournament.
Before the final match started, a marching band processed onto the field and got the crowd hyped for the playoff, and all of the snitches ran around the field throwing shirts into the crowd and doing their own snitch chants. Then, the snitch of the year chosen to snitch the cup game and the game began.
Both Texas teams were neck and neck until later in the game when Texas Calvary gained a huge quaffle lead and later captured the snitch.
Texas Calvary became the 2017 Quidditch Cup 10 champions, by giving everything they had to an incredible weekend of Quidditch.
The Quidditch Cup 10 was so much more than a major sporting tournament. It was a celebration of the magical sport first introduced to us by J.K Rowling. There were tents dedicated to the history of Quidditch, broomstick making, and "Harry Potter" themed charity booths. And it was one of the most incredible experiences that I have had yet.
Congratulations to Texas Calvary for their championship, and all of the teams that were able to make it out for a weekend of intense Quidditch.
