The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry may want to take a look at some US colleges when it begins recruiting its next batch of quidditch stars.
The magical game from J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" books has been transformed from fictional sport to on-field reality at several campuses around the country.
According to the most recent national rankings from the International Quidditch Association (IQA), the reigning number one school in the emerging game is Ball State University.
"It's pretty awesome," Tyler Macy, president of the school's quidditch league, told The Ball State Daily News. "It's the first time we've been ranked even in the top 10, so to go to number one is pretty amazing."
The Ball State Horcruxes top a list of more than 70 schools who currently host quidditch teams. Rounding out the top five is Miami, UCLA, Maryland and USC.
The muggle — or non-magical person — version of the game began in 2005 at Middlebury College in Vermont.
Participants run around an oval field with broomsticks between their legs and attempt to throw a ball through one of three hoops at the opposite end, while opponents try to stop them by either knocking the ball out of their hand or hitting them with dodgeballs.
"We put just as much hard work into it as any other sport," Erin Kelly, a sophomore, told the paper. "We're going to put all our effort into it because it's something we love to do."
As the game grows in popularity — there are more than 600 teams in the US alone, according to the IQA — members of the Ball State team hope the spirit of the game does not get lost in the competition.
"Compared to football and soccer that's all about the sport, quidditch is all about the community," Ball State junior Hannah Lindgren told the paper.
