Page 50 December 2011 A RC A DI A SPORTS PAGE A RC A DI A SPORTS PAGE Mount your brooms, it’s time for a Quidditch match By Jennifer Crane Fourteen people stand on the fi eld holding brooms between their legs. Four balls lay on the grass. And all players await the referee’s shout: “The snitch is loose.” This is Quidditch, as played by 300 high school and collegiate teams worldwide. Quidditch, a sport that originated from the Harry Potter franchise, was developed for muggles, or non-magical people, in 2005. At Arizona State University, the team was a club of fi ve people three years ago. During her fi rst year at ASU, junior Alexis Bristor saw on the club’s Facebook page that the team was looking for a new leader, and she jumped at the chance. “Originally, it was ‘Harry Potter is awesome and Quidditch would be cool to play,’” she said, about her involvement with ASU Quidditch. “But now it’s ‘Quidditch is awesome and Harry Potter is cool.’ “It’s invaded my entire life. It’s my sport.” As a freshman, Bristor had no equipment and virtually no team. Now the competition team has 21 members and 35 people show up to the weekly practices. Since Bristor took over the team in 2009, it has rarely lost and ranked second in the world at one point. The game is played with seven people on each team – three chasers to score goals with volleyballs, two beaters to throw dodge balls at the other team to disrupt their play, a keeper to guard the three goal hoops, and a seeker to snatch the snitch and end the game. Also on the fi eld are the referees and the snitch runner, who is not a member of either team, and can use physical contact to avoid takedown by the seekers. Continued on page 52 Photos by Dale Messmer Banner seasons for AHS It was quite a fall for sports at Arcadia High School. The girls swimming team reclaimed the Division II state title, winning its fi fth championship in six years. The boys team fi nished second. In volleyball, the Titans advanced to the Division II title game for the fi rst time in school history before falling to Sunnyslope. And the football team was one of the fi nal four teams left standing in Division III, losing a semi fi nal game to Cactus.

Chris Paulson is the Decem- ber Athlete of the Month. As the starting Varsity center on the Arcadia high school Foot- ball team, Chris helped lead his team to the semi fi nals this year. He blocked boys much bigger than him and was a tre- mendous asset to the team. Chris is a multi sport athlete and also plays baseball for Arcadia high school. As a left handed pitcher, Chris has been awarded the Cy Young Award for his pitching for the past two years. Nominated by Gina Paulson, she says, “Chris is hungry like a wolf. He is a great asset to any team.” Do you know an Arcadia athlete who deserves to be recognized by the community? Fill out a Nomination Form at Arcadia Sports & Fitness or www.arcadiadaily.com/athlete.pdf, or drop us a line at athlete@arcadianews.com. HURRY! WE WILL BE CHOOSING ANOTHER WINNER ON DECEMBER 15TH! Congratulations Chris Paulson! C t l ti of the of the