Grab your Broomsticks as Mississauga Hosts the Quidditch Eastern Regional Championship

Are you seeking something fun and exciting to do this weekend? Mississauga residents can enjoy a little taste of Harry Potter as the City prepares to host the Quidditch Eastern Regional Championship, November 12 to 13 at the Iceland Fields.

“We’re excited to be bringing our sport to Mississauga this year,” said Sachin Kotecha, Events Director, Quidditch Canada. “Our Eastern Regional Championship is an opportunity to showcase this unique sport with the best teams in Eastern Canada.”

Based on J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter book series, the once fictional game of Quidditch was created in 2005 and has been brought to life for fans around the world.

Quidditch is a face-paced, full contact, hands-on sport. Referred to as a cross between rugby, basketball, dodgeball and handball, Quidditch is a gender-integrated sport that is as fun to watch as it is to play.

“We are pleased to host the Quidditch Eastern Regional Championship in Mississauga and expose the community to this new and unique sport,” said Shari Lichterman, Director of Recreation at the City of Mississauga. “We have a history of hosting successful national and regional sporting events. Our goal is to attract tournaments and major sporting events like the Quidditch Eastern Regional Championships that showcase Mississauga as a sport destination and draw a large number of spectators.”

The championships will run Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

To learn more about Quidditch, visit: quidditchcanada.com. To learn more about sport tourism in Mississauga, visit: sportmississauga.ca

About Quidditch

“I don’t care if you fall off your broom as long as you catch the Snitch first.” – J.K. Rowling

Equipment

Quidditch requires a few pieces of equipment to be played:

six goal hoops

one semi-deflated volleyball

three dodgeballs

one snitch sock and shorts (long sock with a tennis ball in the bottom)

fourteen brooms

How to Play

To play Quidditch, you need two teams of seven players each on the field at a time. Players include a seeker, three chasers, two beaters and a keeper. The game also includes a snitch runner (an impartial player), usually dressed in yellow, and with a long sock tucked into the waistband of their shorts containing a tennis ball.

All players are required to carry a broom between their legs at all times; otherwise they are considered off their brooms and must touch their team’s hoops to rejoin play.

For the first 18 minutes, the game focuses on the keeper preventing the chasers from putting the quaffle (volleyball) through the hoops. Throughout the game, the two beaters throw bludgers (dodgeballs) at players. When players get hit by a bludger, they must drop any ball they are holding and dismount their broomstick and run and touch a goalpost. After 18 minutes of play, the snitch comes out. The snitch runner is chased by the seekers.  The seekers try and grab the snitch hanging from the waist of the snitch runner. Once a seeker has caught the snitch, they must maintain possession of it for a minimum of three seconds. Once the snitch is caught, the game is over. Catching the snitch awards a team 30 points, while each goal scored is worth ten points.

The ultimate goal is to have more points than the other team by the time the snitch is caught. The team with the most points wins.

To learn more about Quidditch, visit: quidditchcanada.com.