I honestly can't believe how things turned out. Stress ran through my veins the entire week leading up to this Magic tournament. I don't think the stress actually left until round three of the tournament. I'm the type that needs everything perfect or I get peeved that something is wrong. Even little things, things that don't need anything done to them, need to be perfect. Looking back at it now, I'm glad I was that way because this entire event turned out to be perfection. And I think it was because of every single person that came to play and to help out.
True, I had a lot to do with the overall success of this event and I deserve a well placed pat on the back for everything that happened. All the emails that I sent and all the work that I put into this to get everyone to come was all my doing. And to have a turnout of 72 people coming and playing Magic for a great cause was phenomenal.
I always felt that Magic tournaments were the type of place where everyone is so competitive and in it for themselves. I've been to quite a few where people that lose get very upset and people that win brag a lot about their wins. But when you bring up that this is a tournament for a great cause, you notice more about people. You notice that people enjoy playing the game and like to have fun doing so. Seeing so many smiles on people playing a game that is usually so competitive really makes things worth it. Even people that didn't win a game stayed a kept playing. That's the magic in this game. When you can get people together for a great cause, it starts to be more about the cause than about the victory.
From the beginning, I felt like this would be such an amazing event. Even before I got any of the artists involved for prizes and silent auctions, I felt that even if we got 20 people to come to this it would be a great turnout. But once I started getting some of the most popular Magic artists to help out with donations, I kept getting more and more interest. An event that I felt would be small turned out to have over 70 people show up. A huge success in my book, especially for something so new and unsure. People can say they will show up on Facebook but will they actually show? Will people actually want to give money to someone who has never ran a tournament like this before for charity? Do people still have kindness?
Then they started showing up at 9:20am, forty minutes before registration even was suppose to begin. From then on, I knew that something like this was going to be important.
Once the games began at 11:30am, people started having fun and I could finally see all my hard work come to fruition. I could actually see all my stress leave and I was able to smile at everything that I have accomplished. As the day progressed, everyone continued to have fun. I made sure that every raffle we had was held between each round so people weren't standing around, something I felt was a huge positive. The silent auctions had people taking pictures of throughout the day. More people were shocked that I was able to get all the stuff I did. When it's for a good cause, people are generally more open to help.
After the event was over, seeing everyone help clean up and make sure we were done was fantastic. I can't thank everyone enough for that. In all actuality, I can't think of any words that can describe how thankful I am for everyone involved. Players, artists, staff, event hall, everyone. It was one of the best things I have ever done in my life and I want to continue doing things like this. More and more people want me to do this again next year and I'm pretty positive I will continue to help the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by doing these events. Overall, we raised $4278. Each time I see that number, I can't believe it. No words can describe my feelings.
I know that there are things we could do better for next year and I plan on fixing that for everyone. I do hope we get more people next year and make even more money for a great cause. I can't thank each and every one of you enough for all your support. My girlfriend and I will never forget you. Just wait til next year. I have a lot of things I wanted to do this year that we couldn't. We'll make those things work next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment