Your Story: Krystina Packard
We were so inspired by everyone sharing their stor...
My quidditch story begins with a book. The very first Harry Potter book was given to my family by my grandmother. She read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in a single night, and told my mother that she had to read it to us before bed. I quickly fell in love with the story, and the connection between the book and my grandmother is still something that holds strong meaning to me.
The summer before my sophomore year of college was possibly the worst summer I have ever had to endure. My grandmother, the very same grandmother that introduced my family to a story I fell in love with, fell ill and passed away in late June. It put a damper on the rest of my summer, as she had been such a large part of my life.
In the year before she passed, I had a conversation with her about something I had heard about on campus. Supposedly, people ran around on brooms and someone pretended to be a snitch and ran all over campus. That was all that I knew at the time, but she thought it sounded fantastic and she wanted to learn more. Unfortunately, at that time I could not find any more information, and I was never able to give her a more in-depth explanation.
Going into my sophomore year, I made the decision to get involved in something on campus. So, despite my friends ditching me at the last minute because they did not want to attend the club fair for a second year, I went alone. There I came across the quidditch booth, and I picked up the flyer that would be responsible for giving me the best, most solidified memories of my college career. Quidditch came around when I needed it most.
From the first practice, I was hooked. Quidditch had this strange mixture of competition, imagination, and play that I just could not get enough of. Through the last three years of my college career, through all the ups and downs, I always had quidditch to get me through. The friends I met through playing are without a doubt some of the best people I have ever met. When I went through the drama of roommates, the difficult family times, the stressful class weeks – my quidditch family was there.
Even now, over a year since my graduation and unfortunate departure from the Spartan Spitfires, as I move into the real world, I know I can always count on the people I know and love from the quidditch community. Why else would I have juggled a 40+ hour-per-week job while helping organize World Cup VI? I love this sport and I wanted the people that I love, the people that got me through, to have the greatest experience competing as possible.
And on a personal level, I will always think about my grandmother when I watch, organize, or play in a quidditch match. I will always dedicate them to her memory. I know that if she was given the chance to watch me play in a match, she would be described as that crazy lady on the sidelines, offering her crutch up for the snitch to fend off oncoming seekers and laughing with joy.
