By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
EAST VILLAGE — Mounted on broomsticks, about twenty college students dart around the field, throwing balls called quaffles and bludgers as their opponents nosedive to the ground to catch them. The sun has set, but that doesn't stop the momentum of the team.
"I'm gonna get you, little girl," a player snarls, right before he crashes into the 24-year-old female goalie with alarming velocity.
They're all getting ready for this weekend's Fourth Annual Quidditch World Cup at the DeWitt Clinton Fields near the West Side Highway between West 52nd and 54th Streets. The game, based on the "Harry Potter" books, is a sort of airborne field hockey played astride magical flying broomsticks. But unlike the players in the book, these players will only be able to fly as high as their imagination takes them.
"It's pretty awesome," Sarah Landis, the Freshman NYU Quidditch team organizer said after practice in the Lower East Side Sara D. Roosevelt Park Tuesday. "It's admittedly silly but it's super fun to play, and it brings a lot of people together who wouldn't normally hang out."
Adapted from the game in the "Harry Potter" books by J.K. Rowling, the Quidditch World Cup is the product of the International Quidditch Association, a nonprofit organization that began in 2005 and serves as a guide for Quidditch teams around the country.
NYU Quidditch, a team that advertises through its Facebook page, is one of more than 60 colleges and high schools that will be competing in the game this weekend. And players warn that this is no game for weak bookworms, as players engage in full-contact hits.
"It's surprising how intense it is," said Julia Hu, 21, who has read each "Harry Potter" book at least 20 times. "It doesn't sem like it would be that sporty, but when you see it in practice it's really intense."
Most of the NYU Quidditch players are self-professed hard-core Harry Potter fans, yet despite the popularity of the book, many players said they were surprised to see the turnout at the first meeting, which drew more than 90 students.
"We're all pretty passionate about it, or else we wouldn't be playing," said Brooklyn resident Rowen Darrell, 18l, who used to stay up until 4 a.m. every night in high school to read the "Harry Potter" series.
"All this with brooms between legs...people think it's silly, but I think it's fun. And there's a whimsical element to it."
