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KALIS: The Philippines' Premier Airsoft Tournament

OptimusPrime

Kalis 7.0: TIP OF THE SPEAR will be held on the 13th of October 2007 at the Amoranto Stadium in Quezon City, starting with the introductory brief..."an elite military force stationed at forward operating base, FOB-alpha, received reliable intel regarding a well armed terrorist cell operating near an urban area. Recon units are currently gathering data re: troop number and location, civilian proximity, routine movements, etc. ­The group, is on alert status awaiting more intel and the order for deployment. They are the leading unit in combat, the tip of the spear!"

That is the KALIS, the premier airsoft tournament in the Philippines, coupled with some glitz, glamour, TV coverages, blow by blow accounts, and of course some controversies (what else is new in the boob tube?).  Going on its 7th year, KALIS is the event that any Philippine airsoft team wants to participate in.  Even news channels are going into the act, sending their pretty anchorwomen and camera crews in the line of fire (of bbs, of course), as shown by this news clip (apologies, the language is in Filipino): 

 

We have interviewed Sir Dennis Acorda, one of the chief organisers of the KALIS annual tournament  to share his insights and experiences in organising the tournament::

Sir Dennis, what do you do when you're not playing airsoft?

Dennis: I work for a living.  I am a lawyer by profession but I'm on leave from my private practice and currently employed as the City Administrator of Malabon [a city north of Manila].  I'm also a husband and a father of 2 boys and a girl. Airsoft is my other life and Fenris;  they are the two things that gets me through the rest of the week.  My office staff know that it's my favorite joke every Monday morning that I count the days to Friday because weekends mean airsoft. 

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What does KALIS mean? Why have you adopted this title for the tournament?

Dennis: Actually the term Kalis was coined by the original organizer of the event, Mr. Jag Garcia.  He used Kalis as a way of pandering to a more nationalistic side of the players.  Kalis is basically a double edged wavy sword -- actually not exclusively Filipino because it was also in use in Malaysia and Indonesia.

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Can you explain to us how the tournament works? Are there different game play scenarios each year?

Dennis: The tournament is a multistage, variable task game setup.  Every Kalis since the second one has been formatted this way.  Each stage is different from the other in that it challenges the competing team's skills, preparation, and team work.  Nonetheless, there is a central theme or plot that ties the whole story together.

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To appreciate Kalis you have to understand its history.  The first Kalis, the one organized as I said by Jag Garcia, had a basic force on force format.  There were 2 teams which would play in skirmish setup with the primary purpose of securing a flag in the middle if the field and would need to bring it over to their side.

Kalis 2 was organized by Alvin Limgenco – I think he still plays and logs on in FAS and the other fora as Cereal Killer [at the ACM Games].  At that time, Combat Missions the reality TV series featuring U.S. Special Operations veterans and SWAT officers was very popular.  K2 borrowed heavily and unabashedly from the show.  That format would set in and would become the standard Kalis format in the years to come.

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Can you tell us how you got to organise KALIS? And your experiences organising this annual tournament over the years?

Dennis: For a team to organize Kalis, it must first win the championship.  This practice began right after Kalis 2.  Recon 1Bn won K2 and it was agreed that the winning team would organize K3.  In less than a year after Fenris was formed, we managed to snag the championship in K3.

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Organizing and running K4 was more nerve wracking than preparing for the game.  In K4 we got more ambitious.  First of all we ran it for 2 days at Nayong Filipino.  We had sponsors from all over, opened an airsoft fair, had contests and even had a static display and gear exhibit by the PNP Special Action Force.  When running a Kalis event you deal with all types of demands from different personalities from all over airsoft and without.  But it's fun and can be very gratifying especially when you see all these players from all over coming together as one community.

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Is it getting bigger and better each year?

Dennis: Definitely.  Kalis 1 was a pioneer effort but it was relatively small in scale.  Then around 14 teams competed and people had to bring their own food and hung out to watch the games.  Now, the number of participating teams have almost doubled.  It's a fair atmosphere what with the main event going on and the different competing teams set up with their tents (some even go so far as bring their own catering).  There are stalls which ply food and gear and other competitions going on like Best Dressed and other minor events and competitions.  I guess its like the Woodstock of airsoft.

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What is the most interesting part of KALIS?

Dennis: The main event – the competition itself -- of course.  There are many other events and (I mean no offense) many are merely rehashed versions of speedball/skirmish/force on force scenarios.  Kalis requires a different kind of approach than the usual smash and bash.  It requires a lot of preparation.   Each stage requires a different approach and requires different skills sets.  A competing squad actually does so against itself; that it does better than the other is an indirect consequence.

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In my experience, beyond the bragging rights my team gets for winning, there are long terms benefits that I value more.  After training and preparing so hard, we are a better team internally: better players and closer friends.

 

Are you dreaming of bigger plans for KALIS? Say, like opening the tournament to international teams?

Dennis: Why not?  That would be something.  With legalization, it's quite possible.  But taking it to the next level is more or less the duty of the next champion.  I thing there is a certain beauty in that: allowing the event to grow and vary based on the vision of the organizer.

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Any big airsoft event that you like joining outside of the Philippines and why?

Dennis: Most of the other airsoft games elsewhere are almost the same but only on a grander scale.  What I would like to really do is get to play a big scenario game.  I would love to do a 3 day Long Range Patrol where you carry everything you need.  In that game you are forced to conduct a long march and try to locate and hit an objective.  It will be an op that will require extensive planning and training as well.  I've never heard of anyone running anything like that.

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