Ben challenged me to write why football is better than baseball, but I can’t for the life of me string together any semi-intelligent statements to that effect. But I DO know what is better than baseball, and the youth group agrees with me. Quidditch. Ah, yes, that sport that Harry Potter and the Hogwarts students played while flying on broomsticks, in a massive arena with multiple types of balls, a complex scoring system, and fans going wild. This sport has made its way out of the book and movie realm to be played in parks and on college campuses everywhere. Why is Quidditch such a great game?
1. It has vastly different roles for people of different talents. Chasers, Keepers, Beaters, and Seekers all need complementary but unique intellectual and physical skill sets to excell at their position… not to mention that in Muggle Quidditch (our non-magical variety) the Snitch, rather than flying, is moved around the arena by the smallest and fastest kid available.
2. It builds community across social groups, bringing together the athletic and competitive “jocks” and fantasy-loving, book-devouring “nerds.”
3. It’s deliberately and formally inclusive. According to the International Quidditch Association, under Title 9 ¾, each team must have at least two players in play at all times who identify with a different gender than at least two other players. In a world where top athletes are subjected to the embarrassment of physical and hormone testing to make sure their physical sex is in accordance with their prescribed gender category, this is a welcome move to build a positive co-ed community and to build transgender and agender inclusion and awareness.
4. Quidditch is outside of the mainstream enough to not have been commercialized and monetized, remaining an amateur sport in the best sense of the word – those who love it, from the latin amar, “to love.”
The Youth Group will be playing Quidditch this Spring as a part of our theme for the spring: “Defense Against the Dark Arts: Fighting Racism and Sexism.” We will indeed be watching Harry Potter movies, playing Quidditch, and probably wearing related Halloween costumes out of season, but at the same time we will be using this as an empowering platform to discuss practical ways we, in our everyday lives, can fight racism and sexism using common sense, skills we build together, and the strength of the Christian faith. Although the Harry Potter books are far from perfect, and not all the movies passed the Bechdel test, fighting prejudice and racism is a strong theme through them, and studies have shown that they are effective tools in teaching children lessons about prejudice.
Stay tuned – we will need cheering fans when we have our final Quidditch tournament of the year.
Every Blessing,
Talitha
Lego Quidditch photo by Tim Moreillon
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tdm911/