My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. I love the food that's served, the family I get to communicate with, and it gives a chance to reflect on what I am thankful for that has happened over the past year and my entire life. During my Thanksgiving break, I was able to attend a tournament called Fowl Play. According to the Fowl Play Facebook account, "Fowl Play is an annual Thanksgiving Ultimate tournament that has been hosted in West Dundee for the last five years." This year was my second year attending this tournament. There are eight different teams to join with at least 13 different teammates that you will team up with. They also provide a buddy system. The buddy system allows you to be paired up with one teammate/friend of your choosing, and you are guaranteed to be on the same team with them. There are three different kind of registration to choose from: bronze, silver, gold. Each different registration has a different price on it. Bronze gives you registration to the tournament with a randomize color team you will be on, a chance at a raffle, a pie for the whole team, apple cider for the whole team, and water for the team. Silver is similar to bronze, but you receive a frisbee with the logo on it. Gold will get you everything from silver plus a long sleeve jersey with the logo on it with a color and size of your choice.
The team I was on this year was the Lime Shock color with the team name "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turkeys." It wasn't my idea, but it was a unique name. Out of the whole team, I knew one person on that team that I played with. I'm glad that most of my teammates on that team were strangers. It may sound weird, but it gives ultimate players a chance to get to know others around the nation. Each different player has a different background on how they play ultimate, who they play the game with, and how they started playing the game.
We started playing at the tournament in pool play. In these pool plays, there are two pools of four teams. The first team we faced was the red team. This was everyone's first game playing together with their new team. We had to figure out our strengths and weaknesses. We lost to them. The next team we played next was the blue team. They played a little differently than the red team. It was still fun, but we also lost to them. The last team we faced in the pool was the tropical blue. By this time, our team knew what works and what doesn't work. At the end of the game, we won. Overall, we ended the pool play with a 1-2 (win-lose). We placed third in our pool, which meant we faced the second-place team in the other pool.
After the round robin play, we had our "lunch break." It gives everyone a chance to eat some food, like a sandwich or a bagel. It's also a time to have the raffle drawings. At the beginning of the tournament, you get a raffle and have a chance to win some sweet ultimate gear. Then, after the gear is gone, there is a special prize for the last two raffle winners. I won part of the raffle, and I picked up a new hat. Some ultimate players wear hats when they play, others don't. I like to wear them sometimes.
In the beginning of the tournament bracket, we played against the other green team. Their green was darker than ours. They were a tough team to play against. In the first half, they were up by a few points. However, my team and I made an epic comeback and won the first game. The next game was against the red team again. They were ranked number one in our pool with zero loses. In the first half, we were winning by one point. Since we already played against them, we knew their strengths and weaknesses. Later on, we end up winning again. Next was the championship game. We faced the number one team in the other pool, and they were undefeated at this point. In the first half, we were up by a few points against them. Throughout the whole tournament, we lost a few teammates because they got injured or did not feel well. When we entered the second half with a little bit more than half our team, we went hard. The other team went hard as well. They made a comeback and tied up the score. The final point was on the line. After a long time of playing point after point in this game, our team claimed to be victorious. We made a huge improvement on our playing style, created chemistry, and won as new friends. I was really proud of each of my teammates. I also enjoyed my experience at Fowl Play. I can't wait until next year.
If there is free time around the Thanksgiving time for you, if you love playing ultimate in the cold, if you want to go to a new tournament that's around the Chicago area, Fowl Play is a hat tournament for you. A unique thing about Fowl Play is the logo. Each year, they change up the logo. This year's logo was a Harry Potter themed. The year before that was Jurassic Park. Who knows what next years is going to be. I know that I will FOR SURE attend and play again!
