Being compared upon arrival to Hermione Granger (Gryffindor House) by an editor of Cursor is something that Industrial Design student Evelien Flipsen can easily live with. “I am also a cosplayer and have a Slytherin school uniform so people often say, ‘It's Hermione!’” she says with a laugh. “I take it as a compliment”. But for the record Flipsen is actually a Slytherin; like any good Potterhead she is affiliated with a Hogwarts house.

Not that this counts for anything on the field, this first-year student and one of the three team captains at Lumos is keen to stress. There it is all about the sport - which even without Potter plots is challenging and intense enough. With features of rugby, dodgeball and handball, it is above all a very varied and tiring sport, she feels, that is fast-paced and has strategic elements.

“In a single game, both teams can easily score twelve times. And yes, we run around on brooms - that was the cause of a great deal of laughter to start with. But if you show people the game and explain it, they do realize that it's a serious sport.”

The hunt for the snitch

Quidditch for beginners: the game is played by two teams, each with seven players, consisting of chasers, beaters, keepers and seekers - all of whom have a broom handle between their legs. “The chasers are allowed to score, the beaters are allowed to unseat other players, the keepers are sort of like chasers but with more power in the keepers zone. And then every team has one more seeker who hunts the snitch.” The snitch is released into the game after seventeen minutes - not in the form of a golden ball with wings as in the Potter films, but as a tennis ball affixed to an impartial snitch runner. Capturing the snitch is good for thirty points and signals the end of the match.

Lumos has been going since September, is now affiliated to Quidditch Netherlands, and is very much still in development, although Facebook had been abuzz with talk of Eindhoven's quidditch ambitions for quite some time. Real headway started to be made with the involvement of Turkish TU/e student Can Atalay. “He had already played quidditch in Turkey for two years, and wanted to help us get things started. He now runs the training sessions.”

Membership of the club currently stands at fifteen; partly students of TU/e and other institutions, but the club is open to everyone. As yet, there is no formal cooperation with TU/e's Student Sports Center, although, says Flip, they did like the plans. “That would have meant asking all our members to buy a sport card," she explains, "on top of the membership fee, while most people only want to play quidditch.”

Given the situation, Lumos is not currently making any use of the sports center's facilities or grounds. Instead training sessions are held (every Monday and Wednesday evening) on a neighborhood recreation ground in the south-east of Eindhoven. Lumos will, however, be presenting itself next month at the annual Van Lint Student Sport Week.

The club hopes to participate in the Dutch national competition in a couple of months' time.

For more info, check the Facebook page of Lumos Eindhoven Quidditch.