WilliamShatner.com :: THE FEDERATION IS VICTORIOUS!

THE FEDERATION IS VICTORIOUS!
Posted by: LeopardHead on Friday, September 13, 2002 - 10:32 PM

	On August 31st in Joliet, Illinois, William Shatner donned his Captain's stripes once again to lead the Federation to victory. But this time, he wasn't piloting a starship. He was commanding a paintball team in the largest paintball event ever produced for charity.
<p align="right"><font size="2" color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">September 13, 2002</font> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">On August 31st in Joliet, Illinois, William Shatner donned his Captain's stripes once again to lead the Federation to victory. But this time, he wasn't piloting a starship. He was commanding a paintball team in the largest paintball event ever produced for charity. </font> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">SPPLAT Attack was conceived by JJ Brookshire, a paintball enthusiast and founder of the Society of Paintball Teams and Players (SPPLAT). Bill was a longtime friend of JJ's father, Don Brookshire, a well-known horse trainer and breeder. F</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">our years ago, JJ called Bill and asked him to participate in what they hoped would be the largest paintball event in history for charity...and SPPLAT Attack was born. </font> <p align="left"><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF">The event took place at Challenge Park Extreme which occupies approximately 150 acres in the middle of Illinois cornfields. The venue features 5 major theme fields, 13 wooded fields and 7 tournament fields. It proved to be the perfect location to stage such an ambitious event, with the possible exception of the heat and humidity. It was HOT!</font> <p align="left"><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF">Prior to the event, three teams were formed. With Paramount's permission they were called the Federation, the Klingon and the Borg. </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF"> Players were allowed to choose their allegiance for the 8-hour scenario paintball game. There were plenty of opportunities for </font><font color="#FFFFFF" size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> pre-game practice and training so that even novice players would feel at home on the field of play. </font> <p align="left"><font color="#FFFFFF" size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">On Saturday morning, players started arriving as early as 5:00am. Borg team captain Tom Kaye of Airgun Designs entertained participants prior to Bill's arrival. Shortly after 7:00am, everyone looked skyward to see the Federation leader, Captain Shatner and several others paramotoring in. We later learned that Bill had flown over an hour to get to the site - and the competition hadn't even begun yet! The Klingon Commander, radio disc jockey Mancow Muller, arrived via horseback.</font> <p align="center"> <p align="left"><font color="#FFFFFF" size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">All three captains addressed their troops on stage and signaled the start of the game a little after 8:00am! </font> <p align="center"> <p align="left"><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF">Players were allowed to bring their own markers (paintball guns) to the event, but the actual paintballs had to be purchased on site. Above, participants get in line early for weapon repairs or adjustments. Notice how clean the uniforms are and how well rested everyone looks. That changed quickly once the competition started!</font> <p align="left"><font size="2" color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">On the field of battle, players had to wear their team jersey, goggles, face mask and badge at all times. The goggles were absolutely mandatory for safety reasons, as paintballs could fly in from anywhere at any time! That made it difficult to recognize everyone, even your own teammates. Care to hazard a guess as to who's at left?</font> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">Here's a hint, it's not Bill...and it's not Lisabeth. </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">Give up?</font> <p align="left"><font size="2" color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It's Bill's wife, Elizabeth. She was the Communications Officer and a terrific shot! We were glad she was on the Federation team.</font> <p align="left"><font size="2" color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Competition began simultaneously throughout the many fields of play as participants on each of the teams strategized to gain territory and complete missions. The Federation team scored some early points by capturing territory, but lost most of it by the end of the day. They made up for it by successfully completing missions.</font> <p align="left"><font size="2" color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Right, Captain Shatner stalks the enemy. At least he had his name on the back of his jersey! Was it a Klingon/Borg conspiracy to have the Federation in bright red shirts? Hmmm...</font> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">The terrain was varied and rough. Overgrown fields of tall grass, and heavily wooded areas with gulleys and fallen trees gave way to abandoned cities of yesteryear. Each team dispersed their players into small groups with a mission to accomplish. Players which were hit by a paintball or splatter larger than a dime had to go back to a regeneration area called an insertion point and wait up to 15 minutes to be redeployed into the game. Those lucky enough to be hit in the vicinity of a "medic" were allowed to re-enter the game immediately as long as they had not suffered a "head wound." </font> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">Captain Shatner was everywhere, leading from the front lines in typical Kirk-fashion. His second-in-command was a seasoned player who went by the name Pacman.</font> <p align="left"><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Late in the morning, our fearless Captain mounted a tank...yes, a tank and piloted it into enemy territory at the outskirts of Armageddon. Tanks were not penetratable with normal paintballs, only specialty weapons.</font> <p align="left"><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This might look like fun, but by this time the sun was high in the sky, it was about 85 degrees and kind of humid, everyone had been running around for hours, most people were wearing a shirt underneath their jersey AND they were carrying a paintball marker, and lots of extra paintballs. One can only imagine what the temperature was inside the tank! </font> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">After learning of a Klingon/Borg alliance, Captain Shatner entered talks with the Klingon Commander, Mancow, at first with no seeming progress.</font> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Undeterred, Bill stepped up his diplomatic efforts. </font> <p align="center"> <p align="left"><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF">He continued talks off the field during a short break in the early afternoon and convinced Mancow that maintaining his alliance with the Borg was not in the Klingons' best interest. The Klingon Commander finally agreed to end the alliance, and the two shook on the deal.</font> <p align="center"> <p align="left"><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Before going back into battle, Captain Shatner assured the Borg and Klingon commanders that the Federation would be victorious!</font> <p align="center"> <p align="left"><font color="#FFFFFF" size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Above, Bill briefed his daughter Lisabeth, onsite war correspondent, on his diplomatic talks with the Klingon and Borg commanders.</font> <p align="center"> <p align="left"><font color="#FFFFFF" size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Above, back on the field in the afternoon, Captain Shatner takes aim...he's the one in the middle with the purple marker. The guy behind him is shooting, too, but with a lens.</font> <p align="center"> <p align="left"><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF">The shuttlecraft came to the rescue many times throughout the afternoon, deploying fresh Federation troops into "enemy" territory. It played Star Trek music (a great morale booster) and was a welcome sight on the fields of battle! The group responsible for bringing in the shuttle drove over 18 hours to get to the event site - an adventure in and of itself! If you want to read more about it, check out posts on the message board under the username tj03a.</font> <p align="center"> <p align="left"><font color="#FFFFFF" size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The final battle between the Federation, the Klingons and the Borg began at 3:30pm. Above, hundreds of Federation "Red Shirts" storm Armageddon at the outskirts of the town of Bedlam. In the end, the Federation was victorious with a final score of </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF"> 630. The Klingons came in second with </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF"> 500 points, and the Borg trailed with </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF"> 298.5 points.</font> <p align="center"> <p align="left"><font color="#FFFFFF" size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Bill affectionately referred to the man pictured above as "Weltman" when he came on stage after the game shirtless and covered with bruises, only some of which are visible in the above picture. </font> <blockquote><font color="#FFFFFF" size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></font></blockquote> <p align="left"><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Above, Bill displays a limited edition marker which was auctioned off for charity. While the final totals are not in yet, Bill was quoted as saying that "a princely sum" was raised for the Hollywood Charity Horse Show, which benefits two children's charities, Ahead With Horses and LA's BEST. Our thanks and congratulations to everyone that took part in this wonderful event! </font> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">Bill vowed that there will be another SPPLAT Attack next year with the same teams, but it may take place in a different location. We'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, if you missed the event, there'll be a DVD coming out later this year. Pre-register for one here on WilliamShatner.com. </font> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">At the very end of the day, actually around 8:00pm, Bill mustered up enough energy to put in an apparance at a local Creation Convention which ran from 2:00pm to 9:00pm. Below, he hands the microphone to his second-in-command during the SPPLAT event, a man affectionately known as Pacman. This is one of the rare times you'll see Bill sitting down at a convention! He remarked as he came on stage, "I need to sit down...and I never sit down!" He was simply exhausted, but still spent nearly an hour on stage reliving highlights from the day's events.</font> <p align="center"> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">Additional coverage of the SPPLAT Attack will appear in the September fan club newsletter, The Best of Times. </font> <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">Contributed by Jane Singer and Sandy Moruzzi</font> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">P.S. I</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">f you missed one of our past web columns, you can view them in the SFI Archive. Our next column will appear on September 27, 2002. </font> <hr /> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="" size="2"><font color="#FFFFFF">Shatner & Friends International is William Shatner's official fan club. We are a community of friends drawn together by an appreciation of William Shatner, the actor and the man. </font></font> <p align="left"><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">O</font><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">ur first newsletter, The Best of Times, is posted online. Each issue features the latest news about Bill and his activities, exclusive interviews, articles, lots of candid photos, charity updates and much more. The next one will be published in late September.</font> <p align="left"><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> We will post time sensitive information concerning Bill's appearance schedule within Bill's online calendar. It's updated regularly, so keep checking back. </font> <p align="left"><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><font size="-1">If you're interested in joining the Club, annual membership includes a beautiful autographed 8x10 photograph of William Shatner as Captain Kirk, a copy of Bill's credits, a short biography, a subscription to The Best of Times and the opportunity to participate in our annual Shatner Weekend. Membership also grants access to the Captain's Club, an exclusive members-only part of WilliamShatner.com which includes a bulletin board and Club merchandise. Click here to join.</font></font> <p align="left"><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">We are excited to be part of WilliamShatner.com and we will be making regular updates to the website. </font>