The Third Year #QuidditchTurnsTen
On November 11, 2007, Middlebury hosted – and won – the very first Quidditch World Cup. Only one other team competed for the title – Vassar College. This was the first of their five-year streak of victory in the competition.
This was also the beginning of the expansion of Muggle Quidditch. After this match, which also happened to be the very first intercollegiate Quidditch match in history, an article from USA Today was released. The article described the match and the festivities that occurred during the World Cup. Students from all over the country took notice of the article and began contacting the Middlebury Quidditch team, saying they wanted to start Quidditch teams of their own at their schools. This was the start of the seven-day road trip for the team. They visited six different schools, playing a demo game for each. They stayed the night, then moved on to the next school. Alex Benepe, founder of the International Quidditch Association, tells the Village Voice what this experience was like.
We were kind of like a traveling circus; we had three vans full of Quidditch players and equipment. Some schools were really prepared to host us; there would be tons of media, and the school would have provided a place for us to sleep, but at other campuses, we would just set up on their quad and start a game and hope that someone would let us crash on their floor.
Middlebury’s last stop was to Amherst College in Massachusetts. Middlebury – having much more experience than the opposing team – shut out Amherst. Watch a full video of the demo match below.
Do any memories stick out to you in this iconic year? Let us know in the comments below!
