SPOKANE, Wash. — Hoopfest depends on the help of hundreds of volunteers to keep things running smoothly, from court monitors to check in volunteeers.
Since its first year, Hoopfest has been ran with the help of Madelynne Wilson, who hasn't missed a Hoopfest since its start in 1990.
She may not be playing, but she's definitely heavily involved in all that's going on this weekend.
"We take the old stuff out, throw it away, and then we hav to fill it with the new stuff," Wilson said.
It's a process Madelynne Wilson has memorized.
"We gotta put all this stuff together. These are empty when we get them," she said.
She's a substitute teacher most of the year, and one year even wore a name tag that read "yes, I'm Miss Wilson."
But when summer break comes around, she still fills out papers, as she's been working at Hoopfest since 1990.
"When we first started out, it was really mechanical. We had to do things by hand. Now in this day and age, it's all computerized, but there's still mistakes," Wilson said.
Wilson said its an experience she wants to do for as long as she can. She said helping the people that take part in Hoopfest, especially the children, is the best part.
Over the years, I've seen them walk through when they were little. And now they're out there on that court, so I'm really excited when I see that," Wilson said. "Long as I can get down there and walk, yes, I'll be down here at Hoopfest."
Michael Metcalf, another volunteer with Hoopfest, said that the city is a massive source of support for the tournament, and some like him have done it for over 25 years.
"It's like that song 'Hotel California'," he said. "'You can check in but you can never leave,' that's our attitude."