In the past, Quidditch on the Quad has brought the student population together and allowed Harry Potter fans and muggles a chance to live in their favorite fantasy world through the sport of Quidditch.

Quidditch on the Quad at The University of Alabama has been growing in popularity and this year is sure to not disappoint fans and athletes. The University Recreation Center is taking on the task of producing this year’s fantasy-world sport.

This year, Quidditch is an intramural sport to be played in a double-elimination tournament that will take place near the end of October.

“We’ve had a hand in the development of it and the implementation the last three years, and we didn’t know who was going to take it over this year and we were like, you know what, why don’t we just go ahead and put it on?” intramural sports coordinator Shelby Sims said.

Students like David Schmitt, a fifth-year senior majoring in business marketing, are looking forward to the Recreation Center taking on Quidditch as an intramural sport.

“Quidditch has been constantly growing from year-to-year without that much advertising about it in the past,” Schmitt said. “With the Rec. Center now taking over, they tend to publicize their sports much better so I expect it to be bigger and better than before.”

Schmitt has participated in Quidditch as a seeker for the past two years and says he thinks this year’s event will run more efficiently.

“We had an issue with the refs last year not knowing the rules so hopefully with the Rec. Center now running the games, they will be officiated better,” Schmitt said. “The Rec. Center puts a good amount of effort into training their referees into the sports they officiate so it should go much more smoothly.”

Sims said they have been marketing Quidditch to everyone, especially groups on campus like the Honors College Assembly and residence halls.

“I think the students will really enjoy it,” Sims said. “Hopefully we get a lot of participation.”

All students are welcome to participate in Quidditch. Online registration is open until Tuesday, Oct. 15, at 4:30 p.m., and rules and information can be found at urec.sa.ua.edu under the intramurals tab.