When the athletes take the field for the 2015 U.S. Quidditch Southwest Regional Championship on Feb. 21-22 in San Marcos, they will do so with brooms in hand and eyes set on advancing to the Quidditch World Cup in South Carolina this April.

The sport traces its roots to J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" book series, but most players say the sport has taken on a life of its own.

"There are people [on the team] who don't know who Harry Potter is, and there are people who are huge fans," Texas State Quidditch President Beth Clementi said. "What brings people in is the sense of community."

Although the sport was reserved for broom-bound wizards in Rowling's universe, a group of students at Middlebury College in Vermont brought it to the world of muggles, a Potter term for those without wizard powers in 2005.

There are now more than 200 quidditch teams throughout the nation, and U.S. Quidditch, the 501(c)(3) organization that governs the sport in the United States, has more than 4,000 members.

Clementi described the sport as similar to basketball. The object of the game is to put a ball—known as a quaffle—through one of your opponents' three hoops. Points are tallied each time a team scores, and the game ends when a team catches the golden snitch, a tennis ball tied to one players back.

The teams, which are co-ed, are able to send seven players on the field at a time. Those players are beaters defensive players who are essentially playing dodgeball in the middle of the field chasers, who are typically responsible for scoring; keepers responsible for protecting their teams goal; or seekers, who catch the snitch.

They do it all while clutching a broom between their legs.

"The first time I saw it, I was confused, but when you actually play the game its so much easier," said Brandi Cannon, director of the U.S. Quidditch Southwest Regional Championship.

Cannon played quidditch for the Sam Houston State University quidditch team from 2009 to 2013.

"When I was recruiting people would look at me like I was crazy," Cannon said. "It is a little weird seeing people walk around with their broomsticks and trying to convince people to come and play. Most people are so intrigued that they sort of forget how weird it is."

Eric Reyes, one of Texas State University's veteran players, said he joined the squad two weeks before the team's first tournament. Skeptical at first, Reyes traveled with the team as a spectator, but he said he quickly wished he had registered for the tournament.

Reyes was on the field last year when Texas State's team achieved second place at the Quidditch World Cup, but he said he still has friends and family who discount the competitive nature of the sport.

"It's pretty frustrating," Reyes said. "After so many years of being in it you accept it because you know some people are just going to be stubborn about it. Then you realize two-thirds of people are going to be completely open-minded about it."

Reyes and Clementi said they were drawn to the sport as much for its competitiveness as for the community it offers players.

"For me part of it was that I played softball throughout high school, and I missed being on a team," Clementi said. "I missed that team environment, and quidditch gave me that."

Texas State is expected to make noise again at this years Southwest Regional Championship. Heading into the tournament, the team was ranked seventh in the nation.

Clementi said she anticipated a strong fight from Lone Star Quidditch, a team composed of former college players, at the regional championship, but she welcomed the challenge.