The game favored by young wizards everywhere has become a high-octane, full-contact, highly athletic sporting event. The Quidditch World Cup in Kissimmee last spring brought in eight Floridian collegiate teams, including UMiami, UF, FAU, FSU, UCF, Ringling, BCC, and Tampa's home team, USF, to take on 72 other squads. Many snitches were snatched, but in the end the University of Texas-Austin team was crowned world champions. From all reports, the competition held both wizards and muggles spellbound. internationalquidditch.org.
This article appears in Sep 19-25, 2013.