A wizardly wonderful game that's straight out of a Harry Potter took flight in Ottawa Saturday.
The Ottawa Black Bears Quidditch team took on the Boston Night Raiders in the Major League Quidditch's only Canadian stop. The teams played three back-to-back games at the University of Ottawa.
"I'm a huge Harry Potter fan and I love the community aspect that the sport brings," said Brian Wong, a player with the Ottawa Black Bears.
"I go to school here in Ottawa so it's great to have people from Boston come up and play with us," he added.
The teams are part of a league that hopes to bring greater professionalism to the sport by using professional referees, live streaming and even a fantasy draft. Major League Quidditch hopes that one day players will be able to make a living playing the high-flying fantasy game.
"We understand that Harry Potter is always going to be connected to the sport, it's always going to be there, but we also want people to see that it's really a physical sport," said Ethan Strum, a board co-chair at Major League Quidditch.
So, what is Quidditch? Players describe it as a combination of rugby, lacrosse, soccer and basketball with tacking allowed and encouraged. The goal of the game is to win the most points by throwing a ball through one of three hoops. A team can also win by catching the snitch. The catch? Players must run around the field with a broomstick between their legs at all times.
"It brings out my geek side and my sporty side, so it's the best of both worlds," said Blanche Bérubé-Babin with the Ottawa Black Bears.
The game of Quidditch has exploded in popularity since students at a college in Vermont adapted the game to suit real life players in 2005. There are now more than 60 teams in Canada and hundreds in the United States. 16 teams are registered in four division of Major League Quidditch.
Next year 23 teams from 6 continents will descend on Germany for the Quidditch World Cup.
