The bracket needs a hundred pairs of hands.

01 · Roles we are filling

02 · Training and certification week

Officials arrive five days before the bracket opens. Certification covers blade handling and sealing, lane discipline, cut confirmation, drop-zone procedure, the whistle protocol and basic first response. Nobody handles a blade before certification, and certification is not a formality — a proportion of candidates are reassigned to non-blade roles each year.

03 · What volunteers get

• Meals and water on every shift, and championship kit to keep
• Transport from the partner hotels to the field and back
• A free heat in the open bracket, and a free finals-day broadcast pass
• Certification that carries to future editions and to partner federation events
• Named credit in the championship program

04 · Clubs and groups

Kite clubs can volunteer as a block and run a lane together. Groups of six or more get a named lane for the week and a slot at the repair bench, and can rotate so that every member both officiates and flies. Clubs coming from abroad receive visa facilitation letters on the same terms as competitors.

05 · How to apply

Applications are open now and close eight weeks before the first bell. Certification places are limited and filled in application order, so blade-handling roles go early. Tell us which role you want, which languages you speak, and whether you are applying as an individual or with a club.