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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2011
Featuring Dole Fellows Susan Bryant & Tom Baxter, noted campaign ethics lawyer, Jan Baran KU professor, Jonathan Earle and KU student, Evan Gates.
QUIDDITCH
KU faculty and students will mix it up with national political strategists and journalists on current events. Hot topics, cool discussions, and, of course, a lightning round. Depth, debate, civility...Not your average talking heads show
The team is raising funds to support its trip to play in the International Quidditch Association World Cup Nov. 12-13
HANNAH WISE/KANSAN
HANNAH WISE/KANSAN
Jordan Dauer, a Lee Summit junior, explains how quidditch is played to a woman at the "All Harry's Hallows Eve" event in Overland Park Saturday. The team taught children and fans how to play quidditch while gathering support for its trip to the World Cup.
Fandom fuels new sport's popularity
HANNAH WISE
hwise@kansan.com
Flying on magic broomsticks is definitely not for muggles, or non-magic people, according to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Despite the challenge, college students across the country have been playing quidditch, a sport created by Rowling but adapted for reality by Xander Manshel at Middlebury College.
Most college students ranged in ages from five to nine years old in 1998 when the Sorcerer's Stone was released in the United States. They grew up reading the novels and watching the films. As they read and watched, they grew up with Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Sam Oppenheimer, a sophomore from Overland Park, is a Kansas quidditch fan. She can be seen at matches decked out in her best wizarding wear.
has become a subculture all its own," Oppenheimer said. "I like being a part of it because it is different and it's magical."
The novels were a refuge for her growing up. She got into the books because she loved the fantasy genre. Oppenheimer said she found ways to identify with the characters as she grew up with them.
"I like that it is a cult classic and it
"It's something you have to experience to truly love," said Ronell Sharp, a senior from Arlington, Texas.
It is the love and the attachment to the Harry Potter story that propelled the fictional game of quidditch into reality.
"I just like that they've taken this ridiculous concept and made it the best they can," Oppenheimer said. "I like knowing that other people feel the same admiration for it that I do."
The thirty-minute documentary shows students from across the United States and Canada gathering in New York to play quidditch. They are buying top-of-the-line brooms. They are coming up with Harry Potter jokes. But more than that they are living out their childhood fantasies.
On Oct. 20, the International Quidditch Association posted a documentary about last year's World Cup titled "Brooms Up" on YouTube.
Encapsulated in the novels are the same elements that exist in sports. There is love and passion. There is fear and loathing. There is sorrow and loss.
Sharp plays as a chaser for the Kansas quidditch team. He has never read the books, but he watched the movies when he was growing up. He joined the team after captain Nicole Denney talked to him about the sport when they were working together at the Boys and Girls Club. Sharp said he was skeptical at first but gave the game a try.
"You look like a nerd with a broom, running, but once you get out there you realize how difficult it really is and your competitive juices get flowing," Sharp said, "you have to play."
The Kansas quidditch team members exemplified that when they traveled to Overland Park on Saturday afternoon to teach local kids how to play quidditch or, as they call it, "kidditch." The team raised money for their upcoming trip to the World Cup, Nov. 12-13.
Quidditch is more than a sport to many. The IQA says in its mission statement, "We are born into an entirely pre-fabricated world, and developing and sharing a new idea with others is important to show people that new ideas can exist, that they can be created by young people, and that they can take root and grow in meaningful ways."
Generations celebrated their love of Harry Potter and the game that grew out of one college student's alternative to playing bocce ball as IQA Commissioner Alex Benepe says in "Brooms Up."
The spirit of the novels moves players and fans. Harry Potter was an
orphan who found a home, friends and more at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Quidditch is a sport for anyone. It has brought Potter fans on campus together this year to stand behind the Kansas quidditch team as they take on the World Cup just as Dumbledore's Army stood behind Harry as he took on Voldemort.
— Edited by Laura Nightengale
VOLLEYBALL
Jayhawks conclude October with another defeat
loss.
The Jayhawks (13-10, 1-9) showed heart on Sunday afternoon, reaching the 20 point plateau in all four sets, but they ultimately lost to the Texas A&M Aggies (17-5, 6-3) in College Station, Texas, 21-25, 20-25, 26-24, 20-25. The defeat wrapped up a 2-7 October for Kansas.
"October wasn't a very good month for us," coach Ray Bechard said. "But we're looking forward to November being something we can look back on and be proud of."
The Jayhawks actually reached 20 points first in the opening set, taking a午-29 lead on a kill by
sophomore middle blocker Caroline Jarmoc. But the Aggies would pull away, scoring four consecutive points en route to an eventual 25-21 win.
The first two sets featured a
wide gap in digs that favored the Aggies, but the Jayhawks would make the number closer in the final two frames. The Aggies would ultimately out-dig the Jayhawks 71-56, which gave them more opportunities at k'l's.
"They were putting balls down," said freshman outside hitter Sara McClinton. "They were just able to find ways around our defense."
Bechard's squad did rally back from a 24-22 deficit in the third set, scoring its final three points on attack errors by Texas A&M junior libero/outside hitter Tori Mellinger. But a tight fourth set would once again go in favor of the Aggies, who got a game-leading 17 kills from senior outside hitter and 2010 All-Big 12 honoree Kelsey Black.
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TH
McClinton would finish with a highly-efficient 14 kills to only two errors. The progression of McClinton, Jarmoc and the other young players has been a silver lining for the slumping Jayhawks. But Mc
"She would be for them what you'd expect her to be," Bechard said, "and that is one of the top performers in the league."
RAY BECHARD
COACH
Clinton said that the losses have stung the underclassmen, too.
"I feel like it's hardest on the seniors. This is their last shot at volleyball, so it takes a toll on them," McClintock said.
"But everyone feels it."
Bechard said that he knows, in the end, his team will be judged by its record, which still stands at three games above. .500 despite the rough October.
"Obviously we've had a lot of disappointment," Bechard said. "Our record isn't indicative of what kind of team we are. But that's what the papers say and what the releases say."
Edited by C.J. Matson
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