This year marked the 30th anniversary of the annual local April Fools tournament held in Lawrence, KS—Fools Fest!!! It’s one of the oldest tournaments in the nation if I remember correctly from Ultimate: The First Four Decades. Anyway, it was my SIXTH FF, and my first as an alumna. FF is not a college-only tourney—there are alumni teams and random pick-up teams too. It’s quite an experience… I’ll leave it at that for now.
In the women’s division this year, there were 2 Betty alumni teams, an ISU alum team, an Iowa alum team, a Truman alum team, a KC women’s pick-up team, and then a handful of college teams—ISU, Iowa, Truman, Nebraska, and KU. This post is not about the game outcomes, or the stand-out players. If you’re reading for that, it’s time to move on. Plenty of other wonderful authors are covering that aspect. What I really wanted to write about is more conceptual… about Fools Fest and the dichotomy of competition vs. just for fun ultimate.
Fools Fest is all about getting together with your friends and playing the game you all love. It’s not so much about winning, though bragging rights are definitely involved. It’s a special tournament, but I don’t think I really grasped that concept until this year. Though I didn’t attend every single Fools Fest event of the weekend (disc golf, meet-and-greet, games on Saturday, showcase game, Saturday party, games on Sunday, plus many other unofficial events (meals, pre-gaming, and the bar-hopping on Sunday…)), I attended probably the most events this year than in previous years personally. I always struggle with a tourney that’s a weekend-long celebration, and the responsibilities of my non-ultimate life. That said, I had an awesome time getting involved in more of the happenings. I really look forward to the day I can go to a FF and not be a student (2013 anyone?!).
I think Fools Fest could be improved definitely. We need the Sunday games schedule to be announced sooner, and we need people to actually show up on time. My former teammate proposed, “Why can’t FF be like Harvest or Mardi Gras? You party, but you still show up.” Maybe this is something I still don’t understand, but to me—I can’t NOT show up. I might not be feelin’ my best, but I’d always be there for the people I make that promise to. Anyway, those things aside, I’m pretty happy with the tournament.
As a junior, I helped a ton with the tourney. I tried to get more college teams to come, and to make it more competitive. I was so short-sighted. I kind of tried to change tradition, and you can’t really do that. You can change some things, but I couldn’t (and shouldn’t) change the premise of Fools Fest. I guess that’s something I’ve been learning my entire ultimate career as I’ve tried to help the Bettys transition into a competitive team. I had to learn to give a little in order to get a little. Most everyone I talk to encourages me that I’ve done good work with the girls. I’ve grown to appreciate who the Bettys are. I’m not giving up on the idea that they can’t return to Nationals someday, not in the least. I’m not giving up on anything, but I’m realizing that there are parts of the sport/culture that I won’t change. And that’s just me… And that’s okay. It should be this way. That’s what makes our sport so special. I guess I just feel with every season, every weekend, I’m learning my spot in our community and accepting it. What a rant–apologies.
I’m glad FF is what it is. There are other great competitive tourneys out there for that opportunity, but you don’t get many weekends like FF. Also, I’m glad it’s only one weekend/year. I couldn’t handle that kind of fun too often 
