Quidditch and Florida Football
Florida football spring practice started up last week and I’ve been out there covering it for the Gainesville Sun and Gatorbait.net. At times, covering practice can be a very slow affair. Saturday’s practice was the first in pads, yet most of the drills were far away on a second field or slow walk-throughs. It did end with an exciting scrimmage as the offense and defense battled to win the practice and more importantly, cold Gatorade. Carl Johnson proved to have a good sense of humor as he bantered with the defense and carried away an official.
UF strong safety Will hill protests as offensive lineman Carl Johnson carries an official away from the goal line during a scrimmage in the first spring practice with full pads on Saturday, March 20, 2010.
I shot video of the first practice for the Sun, it was the first time trying out my new shotgun microphone and I really enjoyed the audio from it. It’s also interesting shooting sports with the 5D. Just like stills, having the big, fast glass helps tremendously. I shot the next practice with a 200mm on a 1.4x teleconverter, but I really missed the 400mm I had borrowed from the Sun.
On Sunday afternoon I was invited out to a small quidditch tournament as part of a day of Harry Potter at the UF honors dorms. I shot video of a quidditch practice soon after the club started, but this was the first time I saw a real match being played. I photographed half of it and since I was out there for fun, I jumped in on the second half of the match. It’s a lot more physical sport than some would think and a lot more fun without the brooms. I played keeper for the green team and was trucked more than once as players tried to score in one of three ring goals.
A player has the ball stripped from him as he tumbled while playing Quidditch in a tournament at the University of Florida on Sunday.
A player has the ball stripped as he rushes towards the goal. The players with kickballs are the beaters, who can throw the ball at a player and force them to run back to their own goal.
A seeker chases down a player taking the part of the snitch during the quidditch match. In this version, the snitch is only worth 30 points but still ends the game immediately.
Links for Saturday’s football practice if you’re a gatorbait.net or Rivals member: