There’s an abundance of activities for both American River College students and citizens of Sacramento to do on any given day. But there’s one egregious omission, and it involves holding a broom between your legs.

Where’s the quidditch, Sacramento? I’m serious.

There have been several attempts to start a team recently in the area, including a student club at Sacramento State. But that’s lacking, considering how many there are countrywide.

There’s seven official quidditch teams in the Bay Area, all registered with US Quidditch, a non-profit organization that serves as a governing body for these quafflepunchers.

There’s a total of almost 200 US Quidditch teams nationwide, including the Honolulu Nightmarchers, who probably have loads of fun playing against themselves, considering the next closest opponent is all the way in San Diego.

But while the Silicon Valley Skrewts are scoring goals and chasing snitches, ARC students and Sacramentans have been left with a bad case of the blue bludgers.

And so, I propose that ARC start it’s own quidditch team. Not just for the nostalgia and novelty that comes via the sport’s roots in Harry Potter. No, we should all be playing quidditch because it’s a sport that has the potential to bring people together.

First off, quidditch (or, official league matches), are strictly co-ed. Teams are required to have a fair balance of men and women on their roster and the pitch. This is extremely rare for an organized sport.

Secondly, there are a plethora of different reasons any ARC student or Sacramento native would want to play.

Maybe Harry Potter fans who otherwise wouldn’t be interested in any organized sporting activity would consider joining a team if it meant playing the same position as their favorite character from the series.

Maybe athletes would be interested in trying a sport all-new to them. Quidditch is a unique blend of soccer, basketball, rugby, hockey and football. Seriously, five sports all in one.

With brooms.

And maybe ARC would get a little more notoriety for being the only team in the area. That would mean all the more people trying out, and maybe even encourage people to start a city-wide team, or a team at other Sacramento-area colleges.

Sure, it seems silly. And sure, it’ll cost some money, though US Quidditch does offer a few grants to help teams get started.

But it will be fun, and when was the last time you did something at your college just for the purpose of having fun?

Just remember, when you come out to play, BYOB; bring your own brooms.

If you aren’t sold on whether or not quidditch is fun, go check out the West Regional Championships, Feb. 14-15 at Maidu Regional Park in Roseville. It’s totally free, 22 teams are playing, and it should be awesome.