Photo: WBZ NewsRadio \ Matt Shearer
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Players might not be seen roaming the skies of Boston on a broomstick, but the intensity of the game is still there.
WBZ's Matt Shearer got hit with a dodgeball when trying to play quadball, the game previously known as quidditch, with the Boston Pandas.
"It's rainy, it's muddy, and I've already been hit with a ball in the face," Fiona Wiseheart, a coach for the Boston Pandas told WBZ's Matt Shearer.
The Pandas are a nationally ranked team that compete in the US Quadball Cup. Club teams and collegiate teams compete in the tournament for a chance to win the US Quadball Cup, previously known as US Quidditch Cup.
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Inclusivity is important to the team. The Pandas have a self-imposed rule that no more than three players of the same gender identity can be on the field at the same time.
"It's on our jerseys here, focus on our accomplishments not our gender," William Andrews, a beater for the Boston Pandas said.
Quadball was inspired by the fictional sport of quidditch in the Harry Potter series and has since been adapted into a full-contact sport played on the ground. The mix-gender sport combines elements of rugby, dodgeball, and tag, according to the United States Quadball Organization.
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