“Hut, hut, hike!”
Now that’s a phrase you won’t hear at any Mercy games. While other all-girls schools, like Marian and Regina, already have Powder Puff football, Mercy does not.
Powder Puff is a simpler version of football with the main difference being that intentional tackling is prohibited. The rules resemble flag football rather than the full-contact sport. Instead of tackling, players must pull a flag off of the opposing team’s Velcro belt.
“Last week there was a Marian vs. Regina game and a lot of Mercy girls were tweeting about how they wanted a powder puff team,” said junior Mary Girjis. “It would be a lot of fun.”
Often, powder puff is played as a fundraiser for dances like homecoming or prom. Another somewhat obscure sport that has yet to make it to Mercy is Quidditch.
Quidditch comes from the worldwide known Harry Potter series. The game consists of players with broomsticks between their legs, trying to throw a large ball into the opposing team’s hoops (circular goals attached to the top of a five foot pole). These players are called “chasers” and the ball is called a “quaffle”.
There are “keepers” who keep the other team from scoring, like a goalie. Other players, called beaters, try to peg their opponents with a heavy ball, called a “bludger”.
In the novels, “seekers” try to catch a tiny, fast moving ball called a snitch. Unfortunately, since Mercy is a muggle school, an enchanted snitch is out of the question. To compensate, an actual human dresses in gold and runs around the field in place of the snitch.
“It’s a much more diverse sport so I would definitely want to be a part of it,” said sophomore Libby Lee, “especially since I’m a Potter fan.”