Meet the real-life Pokémon professors, the unsung heroes of competitive monster-battling

They offer advice, referee card games and manage players' tantrums - we caught up with some of the volunteer profs who keep the competitive game going at this year's world championships

Professors may be the most revered characters in the fictional world of Pokemon (apart from perhaps the Gym Leaders). In Pokemon Red and Blue, Professor Oak greets the player in a pixelated lab coat, and later provides trainers with their first battle partner; since then, each successive generation of games has introduced another professor to aid and guide trainers through their journeys. If you've ever played a Pokemon game, they are often the first people that you meet, apart from your in-game mom.

But you may not know that there are also real-world Pokemon professors - volunteers who help organise the game's competitive communities around the world. Instead of lab coats, they can be seen at events wearing red Pikachu-mascot shirts labelled staff", paired with black trousers and shoes.