The booming voice of the commentator, the talented athletic director Dan Jones, calls for the players to make their way to the field. Two teams of seven stride onto the green turf carrying their broomsticks, or in this case, two different colored pool noodles.

The sound of Ms. DelGuidice’s whistle echoes throughout the field, signifying the start of the match. Boys and girls alike race off to the half line, fighting their way through fellow and opposing teammates to get to the quaffle. The beaters grasp for the bludgers, whipping them at any moving target. Someone riding a purple broomstick breaks through the crowd, darting down the field towards the three oval goal posts. Skillfully and with extreme agility, the chaser dodges around the keeper and flings the quaffle through the post.

“Ten points for purple!”

This past Sunday, May 3, the Junior Class Board held the first annual, hour-long Quidditch tournament on Dickinson Field.

Quidditch, a sport created from the worldwide best-selling Harry Potter book series, has recently been making waves. Schools all over the country banded together to create teams and rules in order to make the fictional sport come to life. Snapchat even created a story for the college level Quidditch tournament that took place a few months ago.

“Barbara Heidkamp, our class board secretary came up with the idea,” said Colleen Martucci, member of the Junior Class Board. “It’s gotten very popular at colleges such as UCLA and Harvard, so we thought it would be a fun idea to get people involved in the high school level.”

The board raised awareness for the event by creating flyers and posting on the Red Devil Nation Facebook group. Although they hoped for more kids to attend, everyone involved enjoyed the experience.

“We originally expected more participants, but for a first time even we thought that it went really well,” said Blair Wilder, a Class Board member. “Everybody had a really good attitude about the game, considering the fact that you have to run around on pool noodles.”

And run around on pool noodles they did. Every aspect of the game was recreated with some real life, tangible object. Volleyballs acted as quaffles, dodgeballs as bludgers, pool noodles as broomsticks. Even the infamous “butterbeer” from the book series was being sold on the sidelines. Emma Day, senior, filled in as the snitch.

“I was messaged by the Junior Class Board and they asked if I wanted to be the snitch, and I was like ‘is that even a question?’” Day said.

Day entered the game in the final five minutes, where her career as a snitch lasted a whopping minute and a half, when Ben Chapman, senior, chased her all the way down the field.

The final score of the game was 140-90, in favor of the purple team since they caught the snitch. Even with the low attendance, the event was considered a success and the board wishes to continue it for years to come.

“I think we’re definitely going to do it next year because a lot of people have expressed interest in it,” Martucci said. “It would be fun to make it an annual event.”

Wilder added, “Hopefully it’ll become a highlight event of the year like the Variety Show or the 24 Hour Relay are.”