Welcome to The Side Hustle. Inspired by ESPN8: The Ocho — ESPN’s annual segment where the sports network highlights more obscure sports — this column highlights the sports that The Campus typically reports on less frequently… until now.
Quadball — a sport from the Harry Potter series that Middlebury College students were the first to bring to the collegiate level — has become an institutionalized club sport on campus. The team, which has around 15 consistent athletes, gives Harry Potter fans the ability to live out scenes from their favorite books while also burning calories.
While the sport is referred to as “Quidditch” in the Harry Potter series, the team officially changed its name to Quadball in 2022 for a variety of reasons. Most prominently, J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, made a number of transphobic tweets, leading governing bodies in the sport to search for a new name.
With the sport in a precarious state, the vibrant fan community took matters into their own hands and officially created the moniker Quadball.
Middlebury’s quadball team makes sure they go about their business with a mix of seriousness and silliness. While the team has an appealing flier that asks potential participants if they want to run around with a stick between their legs, they also also have a regimented practice schedule for their 3:30 meetings on Battell Beach every Monday and Wednesday.
The team’s “Dumbledore” is Josh Harkins ’25, the club’s treasurer who plays the beater position, a role that involves throwing balls at opposing players to “knock them out of play.” As a veteran of the team, Harkins has found a role as a mentor to fledgling first years. Although he can get physical in rivalry matches against Williams and Amherst — Quadball is a full-contact sport — he is gentler to his own teammates in practice. One of the reasons he and his teammates love quadball so much is its mix between severity and levity.
“It’s a perfect mix of a serious and goofy sport,” Graydon Hanson ’25 said.
Quadball is co-ed, requiring all genders to be on the field during play. To Harkins, this embodies the harmonious spirit of the sport.
Katie Barbera ’28 is a first year student who was a big fan of Harry Potter growing up. Having played soccer and flag football in high school, she is no stranger to the intensity that Quadball requires. Barbera brings depth to the team as a chaser, hoping to make a difference this season on the field.
The team greets outsiders with smiles and their own PVC pipes (they don’t use brooms). After each practice they huddle up and scream “Quadball!” as loud as possible.
The team has a busy year ahead of them, and Harkins and the team have been training rigorously for the tough schedule. There are four or five round-robin tournaments each semester, including the National Qualifying round and Nationals in the Spring.
This past weekend the Quadball team started the year on an excellent foot, going 3–0 at a tournament at Brandeis University where they beat UVM, Tufts and Vassar. On Oct. 5 they will host their own tournament here at Middlebury, where they will host Emerson, UVM and a Middlebury and UVM combined alumni team. There will be food trucks, local businesses and an immersive opportunity for kids to get to know the sport by playing “kiddich.”
