Leakycon 2012 hosted the LeakyCup, a unique amateur Muggle Quidditch tournament organized by the International Quidditch Association (IQA).
To open the tournament, the IQA’s Regional Director for the Mid-Atlantic, Logan Anbinder, explained the rules and roots of Muggle Quidditch. He explained how accessible the sport is.
“Whether you have a background in varsity sports or have never touched a sports ball in your life, Quidditch is for you.”
Then the games began.
The LeakyCup started off with an exhibition match between Purdue University and ISU, to show the amateurs how it’s done. The round robin tournament between the six amateur teams took place on Friday, while the playoffs happened on Saturday.
In the first semi-final on Saturday morning, a real nail-biter, Puddlemere United was losing 80-70 but caught the snitch, worth 30 points, to win the match. In the second semi-final, the snitch literally jumped through hoops to escape the seekers.
The snitch is typically the most exciting part of Muggle Quidditch. A person dressed all in yellow, the snitch can go wherever and do whatever they want.
The snitch in the final match, 19 year old Sam Harris, had a few trick planned. He carried two miniature confetti cannons and stashed two cans of silly string with the commentators.
The commentators were an impressive pair. Alex Benepe is the commissioner of the IQA and he commentated alongside Evanna Lynch, the actress who played Luna Lovegood in the Potter films.
“I’ll do the sports commentary and you do the commentary,” Benepe said the Lynch before the match.
When the snitch came into play, he made a beeline for Evanna Lynch (who can blame him) to get his silly string. In his hunt for the silly string, after only firing a little bit of fun into the seekers’ faces, he was caught!
Puddlemere United beat the Elmherst Arrows 40-20 to take the LeakyCup. The players were thrilled and so was Evanna, since she no longer had to speak on the megaphone.
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