On Sunday, Hypable’s John Thrasher visited the Quidditch World Cup where high school and college quidditch teams from all over the world assembled for the quest to be named World Cup champions! Check out the videos and photo gallery of the very exciting Potter event!

From John:

Hey Hypable fans! So, I just got home from the very exciting and fun Quidditch World Cup in New York City! This was my first time attending the World Cup and I didn’t know what to expect. I asked my good friend and Hypable’s Potter expert Andrew Sims what I should expect and he gave me some good advice: go in to it not expecting anything and just see what you think. I’m glad that I did because I ended up genuinely excited and thrilled to check it out.

As a first-timer, I had a lot of questions. Where is the butterbeer? Do they really HAVE to play with the brooms between their legs? Are they serious about this? The answers to these questions were quickly revealed: “we’re all out,” yes and YES.

At first arrival the couple of friends that were with me and I decided to go check out the Wizard Wrock band that was playing, Draco and the Malfoys. Not being a huge fan of Wizard Wrock, I actually really liked the song I heard! Check it out in full below:

After that we walked around and checked out some of the VERY intense games that were going on. We all knew that these teams weren’t just here to have fun – they were here to win. If you’ve never seen a quidditch match in person, it’s very much along the lines of a rugby game in terms of physicality. I don’t know how many times I watched a seeker eat dirt in the matter of an hour!

If there is one thing that I realized when I left Randall Island it’s that these teams dedicate their all to these games. People might think that quidditch is a joke sport or that it’s not physical but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. The camaraderie of the teams is truly undeniable. It was very obvious that these teams have traveled and put all of their hearts in to these performances on these fields, and as an athlete I absolutely appreciated that.

Below is a gallery of photos that I took while at the event! Are any of your favorite teams or players featured!? Let us know if you went to the Quidditch World Cup and how much you loved it in the comments below!

Thanks so much to Kristina Moy and Leah Farrar for the opportunity to cover the event! Thank you to Brittney Tyler for taking some of the photos as well!

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