Brooms up: ASU quidditch team seeking donations to compete in tournament

PHOENIX — The Arizona State University quidditch team is having a fundraiser to help pay for their trip to compete in a national quidditch tournament.

The team is heading to Kissimmee, Florida this weekend to play in the 10th annual tournament, but said it still needs help to fund the entire trip.

ASU’s team created a PitchFunder campaign page for donations. The campaign page will stop collecting donations after Sunday.

As you all know, our next destination is Kissimmee, Florida for USQ Nationals! We could use all of your support… https://t.co/XJgObNpcRb

— ASU Quidditch (@asuquidditch) March 1, 2017

The J.K. Rowling-authored “Harry Potter” series inspired the foundation of U.S. Quidditch in 2010, a nonprofit organization that hosts games and has a membership of 200 teams nationwide, according to its website.

Quidditch is a co-ed contact sport that is a mix of rugby, dodgeball and tag. The rules of quidditch are mostly the same from the series, but since magic and flying broomsticks aren’t real, there are a couple of tweaks.

There are seven players on each team on makeshift broomsticks: three chasers who score points by throwing a volleyball (quaffle) through hoops, two beaters who try to get players out with dodge balls (bludgers), one keeper who guards the hoops and one seeker who tries to catch the snitch (a player dressed in gold who runs on the field with a small ball attached).

The teams try to score as many points with the quaffle as they can, but the team that catches the snitch scores an additional 30 points and ends the game.

If you want to keep an eye on ASU quidditch this weekend, the game schedule, bracket information and pool divisions can be found online.