Professors stands out as the most revered characters within the fictional world of Pokémon (other than maybe the Gymnasium Leaders). In Pokémon Purple and Blue, Professor Oak greets the participant in a pixelated lab coat, and later gives trainers with their first battle accomplice; since then, every successive technology of video games has launched one other professor to help and information trainers by means of their journeys. In the event you’ve ever performed a Pokémon sport, they’re typically the primary folks that you simply meet, aside out of your in-game mother.
However you could not know that there are additionally real-world Pokémon professors – volunteers who assist organise the sport’s aggressive communities world wide. As a substitute of lab coats, they are often seen at occasions carrying crimson Pikachu-mascot shirts labelled “workers”, paired with black trousers and footwear.
I spoke with a number of of those profs on the 2026 Pokémon world championships in San Francisco, California. Not solely do they fortunately distribute their data about Pokémon, however additionally they function important workers on the event, working as referees and lecturers, in addition to occasion managers.
The official Pokémon web site describes the Pokémon Professor Program as a “world community of passionate and knowledgable followers” who volunteer their time to assist run official Pokémon occasions. There have been roughly 300 Pokémon professors current on the 2026 Pokémon world championships, in response to a consultant of the Pokémon Firm Worldwide. A professor’s obligations rely upon the sport they work with and their assigned function on the occasion. A Pokémon professor officiating a sport comparable to Pokémon Unite is perhaps hyper-focused on wrangling gamers and offering technical help, whereas a decide for a buying and selling card sport event would possibly present rivals with hands-on steering as they navigate their first dwell aggressive occasion.
Gemma Byard, a head decide answerable for making the ultimate name on any choices or questions that come up, grew to become a Pokémon professor after her son began competing within the buying and selling card sport. She says that she and the opposite professors assist make sure the integrity of the event, describing what goes into the day-to-day work at worlds – comparable to guaranteeing that occasion officers report the outcomes of competitions accurately.
“We’ve acquired to ensure that all the match slips have the proper outcomes on them and are signed by the gamers to make sure, you already know, that we get the precise outcomes,” Byard stated. “We now have to ensure that the venue is secure for everyone that’s round. We’re consistently searching for something which may be unsafe, or anyone that shouldn’t be within the venue. There’s quite a bit to consider on high of the rulings.”
Professors typically juggle a number of obligations on the competitors flooring and can journey the world over to workers an occasion such because the world championships. When requested about how the Pokémon Firm Worldwide compensates its professors, nonetheless, most individuals I spoke to declined to reveal particulars. One Pokémon professor stated that the European professors are compensated with goodies, comparable to a particular workers package with merchandise, whereas the professors at regional tournaments within the US are paid wages; the identical professor stated that the Pokémon Firm Worldwide helped with journey, room and board for the occasion. (When requested for an official assertion explaining how Pokémon professors are paid, a consultant from the Pokémon Firm Worldwide declined to remark.)
Evelyne de Groot travelled from the Netherlands to workers this yr’s championships. Like the opposite Pokémon professors I spoke to, de Groot labored her means as much as staffing worlds after organising native competitions in her house area. Earlier than we spoke, she was serving to usher gamers out of the Moscone Middle after the primary conference corridor closed for the night. This yr, she labored at a buying and selling card sport facet occasion known as Pokémon Sisterhood League, devoted to giving girls and non-binary folks an opportunity to compete and join.
For her, a great Pokémon professor should stability imposing the principles with giving rivals the instruments they should benefit from the sport itself. She in contrast the place to working in “customer support”.
“[Players] make friendships. You see them smile. You see them have a great time, however you’re a part of that,” de Groot stated. “In the event you’re not organising it correctly, when you don’t give them clear directions, then you definitely see some failure […] You’ll typically get questions. It’s essential ensure you’re knowledgable relating to that. In the event you don’t know what you’re doing, when you don’t know the way the cardboard sport works, then you’ll be able to’t assist them.”
De Groot’s expertise as a professor has been comparatively relaxed. Nevertheless, some professors should function referees and make contentious calls all through the competitors. For Byard, meaning she typically must cope with upset gamers. At one level throughout the event, she needed to handle a participant who was upset with a ruling that didn’t go his means.
“I acquired known as over to the desk, and I stated to him: ‘Look, I want you simply to maintain your voice down and be respectful, and we’ll discuss by means of what’s occurred.’ And he was like: ‘I don’t want to speak to you. I want to speak to the pinnacle decide,’” Byard stated, chuckling. “Properly, buddy, you’re speaking to the pinnacle decide. That’s the type of sass that we cope with quite a bit.”
A tough name can result in controversy. Earlier this yr, a ruling from a special decide at one other event made headlines when a aggressive Pokémon Go participant who goes by the identify Firestar73 was disqualified after profitable the ultimate on the Pokémon Orlando regional championships. Many, together with the competitor himself in an announcement, conceded that the choice was a “good-faith mistake”.
I requested Byard about what it’s prefer to make powerful calls on the event. She stated that the professors are sometimes seen as “the dangerous guys”. What does she want rivals and viewers understood concerning the function?
“What they don’t perceive is that they’re seeing an image, however we’re getting the complete story, and we’re making the selections based mostly upon that story,” she stated. “That may make an actual distinction. And we’re those placing ourselves on the market to proper a state of affairs that’s been damaged by gamers. We haven’t brought about any misery. We’re there simply to attempt to put it again collectively once more.”