A magical sport has arrived at Oakland University.

Quidditch may have began as a game played by wizards with broomsticks and a flying snitch in the Harry Potter series, but the game is taking root on OU’s campus.

The OU Muggle Quidditch League has joined the ranks of hundreds of other college, high school and community muggle quidditch teams around the world.

Eastern Michigan University, Central Michigan University, Western Michigan University and Michigan State University are just some of the statewide muggle quidditch teams.

Muggle quidditch first began in 2005 as an intramural league at Middlebury College in Vermont.

Junior Nichole Seguin and junior Jeff Lamkin started the group last fall. Both Seguin and Lamkin are longtime fans of Harry Potter.

“Nichole and I have a mutual friend who goes to Loyola University in Chicago. She was telling us that they have a team and we were sitting around talking about it, and we looked into it and figured why not start it here … we thought we could try it and see if there was interest in it. We started a Facebook group and within the first week, we had 40 people,” Lamkin said.

There are not too many differences between muggle quidditch and the quidditch played in the movies. Players are required to have a broomstick between their legs at all times, and are attempting to throw a ball into the goals located at each end of the field.

“The only two differences are the flying and the snitch is actually a person; everything else is pretty much the same,” Lamkin said.

The OU Muggle Quidditch League was recently recognized as a forming team by the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association, which organizes quidditch teams all across the world. The Intercollegiate Quidditch Association currently encompasses 226 schools.

While the team is still considered a student organization as part of the Center for Student Activities, they hope to eventually become a club sport in the recreation center where they would have access to the upper fields to hold games.

“Right now we’re just trying to get people interested and see who wants to play … that’s why we’re staying with the CSA. We want to try and get the public relations aspect of the organization down and then we’re going to move over to club sports,” Lamkin said.

An official OU quidditch team has not been formed yet, but the organization is looking for prospective players. Members are not required to be OU students to play; prospective high school students and longtime Harry Potter fans can also join the organization.

Their goal is to establish two to three muggle quidditch teams on campus. Only 13 players are needed per team.

“Our goal is to have at least two or three teams here to play each other, and then have teams go to other schools or have other schools come here to play,” said Lamkin. “If you’re interested, just contact us and we can get you on the e-mailing list so we can inform you about what we’re doing.”

Students can follow the OU Muggle Quidditch Team on Facebook and Twitter and can e-mail the team at [email protected] to get involved.

There will be a screening of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. in Lake Superior Room B. Food and butterbeer will be served.