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SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City’s new Major League Quidditch team is preparing for its first home series this weekend and it's inviting the public to come watch.
The Salt Lake City Hive is one of 16 teams that make up the national Major League Quidditch league. The SLC team joined MLQ in 2016 when the league expanded to the west for its second season.
After winning its first road series against the San Francisco Argonauts 3-0 on June 5, Hive will take on the Los Angeles Guardians at Riverside Park, located at 739 N. 1400 West in Salt Lake City, starting at 3 p.m.
“The quidditch community is saying this game could determine who is in the first place seed in the west division, so it’s an important series for sure,” said Janelle Tardif, Hive’s general manager. “We’ve been preparing for it since the beginning of May. It’s going to be a tough match, but we’re excited for it.”
Quidditch was invented by J.K. Rowling as part of the Harry Potter series, but has since evolved into a sport played by muggles. Five balls and hoops are used in the game, with a “neutral player” filling the role of the snitch by running around with “a ball in a sock velcroed to their shorts” while evading people on both teams, according to MLQ.
There are multiple quidditch leagues around the world, with the largest in the U.S. being the collegiate and community league U.S. Quidditch. Members of the MLQ teams have to try out for their spots, so everyone on Hive came to the team with at least one year of experience in the U.S. Quidditch league, according to Tardif.
While some players are big Harry Potter fans, it is not a prerequisite.
“We’re definitely grateful for our Harry Potter roots, but we’re veering away from associations with the fictional world and trying to really spearhead onward as a sport,” Tardif said. “For example, our head coach hasn’t read or watched Harry Potter ever in his life, so he couldn’t give you any kind of reference.”
Saturday’s series against the Los Angeles Guardians will feature three games, which will begin on the hour every hour from 3 p.m. Each game typically lasts between 20-30 minutes. The games end after the snitch, which is released at 18 minutes, is captured by one of the teams.
Tardif said anyone who is interested can attend the games, which are free to watch. It will also be live streamed on the MLQ YouTube channel.
Hive’s third series will also be held at Riverside Park at 3 p.m. on July 9. MLQ’s national championship will be in Texas on Aug. 20.
Contact the author at ncrofts@ksl.com or find her on Twitter.
