Caroline

Cay Adams

Discourse Community Project

December 2012

Mischief Managed.

Caroline Cay Adams Mr. Cook - English 1102 Discourse Community Project

Caroline Cay Adams

Discourse Community Project

December 2012

You join a club for a handful of reasons: perhaps the goals of the meetings interest you; perhaps you want to meet people on campus; perhaps youre just looking to boost the number of extra curricular activities you are a part of. But the reason is so much more than any of those when it comes to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Quidditch team.

Before getting into the team itself, background knowledge of the Harry Potter world is necessary to understand the basic elements of the idea of quidditch. Upon ones arrival at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, according to the series author, J.K. Rowling, each student is sorted into one of four houses: Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. Each house has its own pros and cons, mascot, and personality traits attached to its name and house colors: Hufflepuff, the honey badger, yellow and black, where they are just and loyal, /Those patient Hufflepuffs are true /And unafraid of toil, Gryffindor, the lion, crimson and gold, where dwell the brave at heart/their daring nerve and chivalry/set Gryffindors apart; Ravenclaw, the raven, blue and bronze, if you've a ready mind, /Where those of wit and learning, /Will always find their kind, and Slytherin, the snake, green and silver, perhaps youll make your true friends/those cunning folks use any means/to achieve their ends. Each of the four houses has a quidditch team with 7 players on it: 3 chasers, those who score the goals with the quaffle one of the four balls in the game, 2 beaters, those who use bludgers heavy, strong balls, of which there are two - to try and knock the other teams players off their brooms (oh wait, yes, the game is played in the air on enchanted brooms in the series!), and the seeker, who tries to find the fast moving, ever elusive snitch - the last of the balls - to end the game.

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Discourse Community Project

December 2012

I thought I knew a lot about the idea of a competitive quidditch in general a basic grasp on how the game was played but I had no idea about any of the other ideas and morals that supported and fueled the group. With the help of three team members to navigate the murky waters of quidditch in the muggle world, I was able to uncover a lot of information. Each member provided their own perspective and outlook on the team, though the general remarks were the same. Meg Stevens, now a junior, attended UNC Greensboro, where she was a member of the quidditch team and when she transferred to UNC Charlotte, she contacted the captain of her old team and the UNCG captain had a huge hand in helping Stevens get the UNCC branch started. The UNCG team has apparently even offered to spend a day training on campus with the UNCC team to help make sure the group is headed in the right direction. Caleb Wright, a freshman that just joined at the start of the semester, said that the team is extremely close knit. That is something I immediately picked up on based on a story I was told: during the first practice, Wright told everyone his name was Salazar - who was the founding father of Slytherin house - and that ended up morphing into a list of nicknames, which also includes Marvolo Marbles and Slim Shady, each nickname with a story behind it. Ad Kline, roommate of Stevens, is a new member, just having attended her first practice two weeks ago. She was just as bubbly as the other two, who have been there since the beginning, about the team members and the game itself. Time for the down and dirty: how the group operates, how you got a team like this off the ground with only the bare minimum in terms of funding. According to Stevens, the recreational sports office was extremely helpful in getting the team to the level it is at now. While it might seem easy to fund a quidditch team, the list of expenses is substantial: the team needs matching brooms, bandanas to differentiate positions, jerseys, six goal hoops, at

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Discourse Community Project

December 2012

least, a few dodge balls, a volleyball or two, and the list doesnt just end there. An example of something you might not think of is the goal post holders. Each goal post is a hula-hoop attached to a rod of some kind and the rod is stuck into a bucket full of sand, weighting 25 pounds. None of what goes into making the goal post is free. And while the quidditch team doesnt have a game schedule posted just yet, they are working their way toward that goal; Stevens says that the team will begin putting together a schedule once the team is more established and have a core set of players that can be relied on. One of the biggest problems that the team has run into is a sustained interest. Each week, a different number of players show up to practice anywhere from only 5, barely enough for one team, to 15, nearly enough for three teams. The variation in attendance makes it hard to come up with drills that use practice time effectively. Another issue that the team has run into is the lag from getting from PotterWatch (the Harry Potter appreciation club) to quidditch practice. The PotterWatch meetings end at around 7:45 p.m., and while quidditch doesnt officially start until 8:30 p.m., many students hang around after PotterWatch and talk or even get a bite to eat in the Student Union across the street and with the giant time gap, people are often unwilling to wait around for practice to start. Another large issue that the team struggles with is outside drama; that is, events and social issues that make their way from our personal lives onto the pitch: whos dating who on the team; who told this person off; and then theres that one person that not everyone gets along with or the person that people are scared to talk around because they get offended so easily. These examples are, of course, hyperbole; however, the so-called drama of college life does, apparently, make its way onto the pitch, despite Stevens best effort to keep it at bay. But what about solutions, you ask? Well, recently, Stevens has been pushing for those interested in quidditch to change into their athletic gear right at the end of

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Discourse Community Project

December 2012

PotterWatch and head up to the pitch for stretches and warm-up. And soon after implementing this, a more core group of players has started to form. As far as the social problems that have erupted between team members, the rule is leave it off the pitch. But, for some, that fire and anger fuels their playing better than anything else. Stevens said that when she decided she wanted to make a Charlotte branch Quidditch team, she found most of her help on Tumblr, a social networking website. The world of quidditch is international; in addition to the IQA (International Quidditch Association, found at http://internationalquidditch.org), there is a Tumblr page (http://fyquidditch.tumblr.com) where captains and many members from teams across the world converge and talk quidditch, and websites such as Tinychat are used to have large group conversations. Stevens said she found a lot of her help with starting the team on Tumblr, as well as those close connections with the UNCG team. Stevens and Wright answered in unison with a no when I asked if the short rule book titled Quidditch Through the Ages, published by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling was the basic rule book that was used for the program. Stevens said that QTtA is the magical version but that the IQA has put together a 55-page rulebook for muggle quidditch. A muggle is a non-magical person, someone who is not a witch or a wizard. The muggle quidditch rulebook has some big differences from the magical game, of course, seeing as we dont have brooms that can levitate off the ground or lightning fast balls that can zoom around the pitch. On top of that, the goal posts that are hundreds of feet high in the wizarding world are average height and made from PVC pipe in the muggle world. Brooms, usually made of wood and thistles in the wizarding world, are, again, mere PVC or metal (though Wright informed me that aluminum is strongly discouraged when broken, aluminum becomes all but a spear). The UNCC team will be purchasing PVC pipe brooms

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Discourse Community Project

December 2012

for regulation game play. During practice, however, it is the responsibility of each team member to bring a broom or a broom-like apparatus. Other ideas the way the team functions, the way the captains communicate with the other players, how close knit everyone is, the way people talk were not exactly what I had first envisioned. Youd think that someone on the quidditch team might make a lot of references to Harry Potter during practice, and from what Ive gathered, a lot of that does go on, but at other schools, some of the quidditch team members arent huge Harry Potter fans. Granted, people do make references to and enjoy the books that is what brought them together after all but a big point of having the team is to get out of our dorm rooms and exercise, while in turn, participating in the sport of our favorite books. In the world of Harry Potter, people often make fun and poke at those who affiliate with the house of Helga Hufflepuff, for Hufflepuffs possess few obvious talents (unlike the Slytherins, who are cunning or the Gryffindors, who are brave, or the Ravenclaws, who are incredibly intelligent); however, one is that they are weak, scared easily, etc. And often times, on the pitch, someone will say now, dont be a Hufflepuff about it. I suppose one could say its the Harry Potter version of man up. As far as communication goes, most of the conversations between the team members occurs via Facebook. The quidditch team has an official page, and you must request to join the page. Upon being accepted into the group on Facebook, you can make wall posts and keep yourself up to date on the important information: from upcoming games at other schools to phone numbers of other team members. When I wanted to interview students for this paper, in fact, all I did was post a quick message on the Quidditch page detailing what I wanted to accomplish and Wright, clearly excited by his response time (less than 10 minutes), said I'm interested. I'm undoubtedly one of the biggest characters on the team (ie I have a loud mouth, ie I'm

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Discourse Community Project

December 2012

perfect to interview) Im first string team seeker, but I also play chaser occasionally. I'm the fastest one on the team, and I had a metal broom broken over my head at practice last night. Those are my qualifications While he was over the top, when I read the post, I couldnt help but smile: he and I would get along perfectly. And sitting in that interview, Wright cracked Harry Potter joke after Harry Potter joke and I laughed at each one, catching each reference and each point he made. But every group and community has hidden motives, private conversations, and questionable remarks that are made during practice when you look beneath the surface. But the secret conversations and first time questions are of things that the team members find important: what house are you in (each student that attends Hogwarts is sorted into a particular house based on their personality traits.)? Do you attend PotterWatch meetings (PotterWatch meets Wednesdays at 6:30 in CHHS 380.)?

When my interview was almost over, we were packing up our things and suddenly, Stevens stood up and tapped Wright on the arm and pointed to a boy walking away from the tables we were at. Kline then nodded and said, go get him! and Stevens took off. Thats Meg Kline said. When I asked why she had run over to the boy, Kline smiled and said, he has a Slytherin key chain on his backpack and sure enough, when Stevens brought the boy over, upon being asked the first question (What house are you in?), the boy answered, Slytherin. Stevens said earlier that most of the team, with the exception of two people (both Hufflepuffs) and me, when I show up to practice (as a Gryffindor), are Slytherins. And when asked if he attended PotterWatch meetings, he said, I have; however, when asked about quidditch, he said he hadnt been. And Stevens took down his email so she could add him to the list to receive emails. If you miss those little details, such

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Discourse Community Project

December 2012

as that keychain, you might miss someone that could be a valuable asset to the team, but Stevens, Wright, and Kline seem to already be in the recruiting mindset. And as Wright said, have you heard? Slytherin is recruiting Why is this amusing, you ask? Or important, really? Well, in short, its not all that important in the forefront of what Wright was saying. The importance of the statement is merely that the members of UC Quidditch are outgoing and personable; they have no problem walking up to someone and asking if theyd be interested based off of nothing more than a small keychain on their backpack.

The reasons to join this group have started to pile up on me (despite the fact that snakes seem to have taken over the lions den). Besides the amazingly friendly, outgoing, and personable team members, the list is nearly endless. Ive always thought that it took an amazing amount of raw, natural, athletic talent to be on a sports team in college, and while athletic ability will help you in this game, Stevens said it most certainly is not the first thing that she takes into consideration: heart, drive, and desire are a major part of this team.

Sitting here, thinking about the people I have met and the truth I have uncovered, I find myself thinking its not real never would I have thought I would find people like this on campus so quickly. This has to be going on inside my head. But I know its not; this team is real and from the moment you walk onto that field, and for me, the moment I walked into Starbucks, you are a part of the team. But even if it was all in my head, as Albus Dumbledore once said, why on earth should that mean that it is not real?

Mischief managed.

References:

Caroline Cay Adams

Discourse Community Project

December 2012

Stevens, Meg. Wright, Caleb. Kline, Ad. Personal interview. September 16, 2012. Rowling, J. K., and Mary GrandPr. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine, 2007. Print.