Name: Bennett Morrow
Hometown: King George, Virginia
Major: Media Arts and Design
Graduation year: 2015
What activities are you involved with on campus?
Club Quidditch, Club Water Polo, MadiZONE, Intramural Sports
How did you decide to join those groups?
I joined Quidditch because it was different. I had heard about it in high school and some of my friends and I wanted to start a team, but I had to actually graduate before making that a reality. So playing in college was the obvious next step.
Water polo was a product of me being on swim team…I swam in high school for 4 years and on some days, we would play water polo instead of having practice. I had a lot of fun doing that, so I thought why not play the actual game? I went to a practice here at JMU and fell in love with it.
What impact have those activities made on your JMU experience?
Well, it’s where your friends end up being. A lot of people join fraternities and sororities for that, but for me, I just play sports that I love and with that comes people with the same interests as me. Club sports have BEEN my JMU experience, and its what makes that experience so great.
What is it like being the captain of the JMU Quidditch team?
Challenging. When I was appointed captain at the end of last year, there was a steep learning curve. But this year, there were different (yet good) “problems”. This semester alone, we tripled our roster size. As a captain, that’s something you love to see, until you have to run practices with 35 people waiting to be taught a sport that they’ve never played before. We welcome anyone who wants to play, but because of that (and the fact that this is a game based off of a game from a fantasy book) a good amount of the people coming to play have never played a sport before. That makes it more difficult to get the athletic players ready for game-like situations and also to get the less athletic people more aggressive and to teach them the skills to be able to play the game effectively. I’m proud to say that this team has come a very long way since last year, and I’m excited to see where we can take this team in the future.
Have you been able to use those leadership skills elsewhere at JMU?
Yes…In groups that I’m a part of I’ve used the skills to either lead the group, or keep us on track. That’s a big thing with being a leader; not always telling people what to do, but just keeping people focused on the goal. The thing I’ve been able to take away from it the most though is giving respect to the captains (on my water polo team and other sports/groups that I’m a part of). I understand now what its like to be in charge of a lot of people, and so if I’m in a situation where the captain or a leader is asking me to do something, I know exactly why he is asking me to do that, rather than questioning his motives as I might have done previously.
Do you have any goals (personal, or for the team) for either Quidditch or water polo?
Simple…To win. We’ve got the talent to do so, but it’s a just matter of getting people prepared, conditioned, and mentally ready to win these games. We don’t need to be the champions of the world or anything (in either one of these sports) but I’d like to see us becoming that team that other teams think: “Oh man! We have to play JMU next?! We’re gonna get killed.” My goal is to get us up to that level.
What do you enjoy most about being a part these two completely different sports?
How different the people are and how different the games themselves are. I like that I am able to do both sports and show people that playing Quidditch isn’t a weird thing and that it’s actually pretty cool. I like to think by playing both of these sports I’m starting to bridge the gap between Quidditch and more traditional sports. Once there’s a lot more people like me playing Quidditch and also playing soccer, baseball, rugby, basketball, etc. then people will start seeing Quidditch as a serious sport (which, if you’ve ever seen a game, you’d realize how much of a sport it really is).
Will you continue being a part of both teams next semester and even into your senior year?
Absolutely. I’ve only started to see where these teams can go, so I’m not going to miss next year for anything!