history of quid

[div align="center"][div style="background-color:#222222;width:700px;padding:2px;"][div style="border:1px solid #2e2e2c;padding:1px;"][div style="border:1px solid #313131;"][div style="border:2px solid #242423;padding:5px;"][div style="font-size:20px;letter-spacing:1px;"][font color="#676767" face="times new roman"]CHAPTER ONE: A BRIEF HISTORY OF QUIDDITCH[/font][/div][hr style="height:1px;width:95%;"][div style="font-size:10px;text-align:justify;"][font color="#676767" face="arial"]Notably, the great game has gone by other names in its history, such as "Kwidditch" and "Cuaditch", but it is now Universally known as just "Quidditch". It consists of between 10 and 14 players, who fly around at high speeds and high altitudes on their broomsticks with the aim of the game being to determine which team has better mastered the beautiful sport. There are players responsible for scoring and saving goals, there are players responsible for ending the game by catching an elusive little ball, and there are players who are responsible for making all the other jobs near impossible to accomplish.

It would be wrong to talk about Quidditch without first talking about some of its predecessors, albeit briefly. "Stitchstock" hailed from Germany, which involved the defending of a great big dragon bladder in which all of the players on broomsticks would attempt to pierce it with a little stake. There was "Aingingein" which came from Ireland, which existed as a flaming hoop obstacle course that flying players would navigate through and then be granted a chance to score into a goal at the end of. From Scotland came the very dangerous game "Creaothceann" where the flying players would catch falling boulders into a cauldron strapped to their head. England had two games, the first being "Shuntbumps" which was the very popular broomstick-jousting game that my own sons tried to imitate many a time growing up... then also came "Swivenhodge" where players would take turn rolling off of their broom and batting an inflated pigs bladder with the tail end.

Although you can attribute a great many different numbers of sports to the evolution of Quidditch, it is commonly accepted that it all started back at a little Witch's cove in Queerditch Marsh, 1050. The high spirits of these players who knocked many a ball into her cabbage patch is the same spirit that lives in the players and fans of the game today. She talks of how the players would fly on broomsticks and score goals by throwing the ball through trees at the end of the marsh (akin to the scoring of the Quaffle through the hoops that we know of today). Next came the flying rocks that were bewitched to knock players off of their broomsticks, not unlike the Bludgers that Beaters so fondly love to smack at the other players now.

The point, though, is not that Quidditch started in that little Marsh in 1050. Rather, the point is that Quidditch is more than just a game; it is a lifestyle... a feeling, a memory, a higher-power. It's getting up at 7am on a crisp Sunday morning in the middle of Winter to go and rouse your friends and meet up in the local playing grounds until 7pm that night when the sun starts to set and you have to be home for dinner. It's an "energy" that exists in every one of us that love the great game so much, and it's all thanks to those players that weren't deterred by a cabbage patch, or a hex that came from a bitter old witch. That's Quidditch.

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[div align="center"][div style="width:80%;font-size:10px;text-align:justify;"][font face="arial" color="#676767"][span style="letter-spacing:1px;"][font face="times new roman"][b]BEATER[/b][/font][/span] - the player responsible for keeping the bludger away from his team mates.
[span style="letter-spacing:1px;"][font face="times new roman"][b]BLUDGER[/b][/font][/span] - the heavy metal ball used by the beater
[span style="letter-spacing:1px;"][font face="times new roman"][b]CHASER[/b][/font][/span] - the player that scores goals with the quaffle by putting it through the opposing team's hoops
[span style="letter-spacing:1px;"][font face="times new roman"][b]GOLDEN SNITCH[/b][/font][/span] - the small golden ball with wings that is very elusive and hard to catch
[span style="letter-spacing:1px;"][font face="times new roman"][b]KEEPER[/b][/font][/span] - the player who tends to the goal hoops, keeping the quaffle from travelling through them
[span style="letter-spacing:1px;"][font face="times new roman"][b]KIDDITCH[/b][/font][/span] - a child's form of quidditch usually played on brooms only capable of lifting one or two metres off the ground
[span style="letter-spacing:1px;"][font face="times new roman"][b]LEAD CHASER[/b][/font][/span]  - the chaser currently in possession of the quaffle
[span style="letter-spacing:1px;"][font face="times new roman"][b]SEEKER[/b][/font][/span] - the player that catches the golden snitch, signifying the end of the game
[span style="letter-spacing:1px;"][font face="times new roman"][b]QUAFFLE[/b][/font][/span] - a worn leather ball with indentations on it that is used by the chasers[/font][/div]
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