Social Club Presents Magical Sports Tournament to Benefit Local Elementary School

Gamma Tau Omega, one of Freed-Hardeman’s six social clubs, will be bringing FHU a little of the charm associated with J.K. Rowling’s immensely popular Harry Potter series with their version of the wizard game Quidditch. The Quidditch tournament, benefitting the club’s tutoring effort at South Elementary School, will be Saturday, April 30 at 1 p.m. on the FHU practice soccer field.

The game’s rules are well-known to Harry Potter fans. Each team will consist of three chasers, two beaters, a keeper and a seeker. Chasers attempt to score the quaffle through one of three hoop goals guarded by the opposite team’s keeper. Beaters prevent chasers from scoring by throwing bludgers at them as distraction. The seeker, a position unique to Quidditch, attempts to capture a golden snitch to score 50 points and end the game. Each regularly scored goal is worth 10 points.

Each team is only required to have seven members, but Gamma Tau Omega is encouraging ten members to allow for breaks during games. Like the mythical sport, players will be required to make all movements on the field while sitting on brooms. Certain rules have been changed to make this version less contact oriented, including the quaffle being a traditional volleyball, bludgers being dodgeballs, and the golden snitch a recruited cross-country runner wearing golden flags.

Gamma Tau Omega has been tutoring at South Jackson Elementary since the spring of 2010. More than 80% of the students there are on free or reduced lunch, and many come from broken homes. GTO club members tutor students in hopes of helping them raise their TCAP scores. The GTO members typically tutor the same students each visit so they can become influential mentors and develop a personal relationship with them.

T-shirts will be on sale for $10 the day of the event. A portion of the t-shirt proceeds and the entire $25 registration fee required for competing team will go to help South Elementary. Harry Potter-themed concessions will be for sale, and donations of cash, clothing, canned foods or school supplies will be accepted at the gate.