Team Battle

This past year, the Kite Park League (KPL) celebrated its 10th birthday, a decade of pioneering and thriving at the forefront of progression and innovation within the competitive sphere of kiteboarding. For those who have been along for the journey as a competitor, organizer, sponsor or fan, the entire KPL would like to cordially thank you for your support because you are the true essence of our efforts. If you are just now being introduced to the KPL for the first time, welcome, and thanks for tuning in! We are confident you will be entertained.

Over the last 10 years, the industry, competitions, disciples, brands and riders have experienced quite a lot of change, and as a result, the KPL has done its best to acknowledge transitions but remain true to its roots. Unequivocally, and by design, the KPL was institutionalized in an effort to put the needs and desire of the riders above all else. Simply put, the KPL is “for the riders, by the riders”. In an effort to continually develop these principles, in 2022, the KPL introduced the Team Battle, an event catering to inclusivity, camaraderie and, most evidently, the progression of kiteboarding. For 2024, both the riders and the KPL made the unanimous decision to introduce the event to Taiba, Brazil, one of the greatest and most consistent kiting destinations on the planet. In conjunction with its debut in Brazil, the Team Battle sought to introduce a new format, which included not only park riding, but also the welcomed addition of freestyle amidst both wave kickers and flat-water conditions.

In brief, the Team Battle is a video-style contest that spans a one-week timeframe, and as the name implies, it is a team-oriented event that relies on the efforts of each and every rider. At the beginning of the event, each rider voted to decide four individual team captains, casting their ballot for who they believed could carry the role of group leader. After the poling was complete, the riders chose Noè Font, Ramiro Gallart, Alexander Lewis-Hughes and Ewan Jaspan as the four kingpins. From there, the four captains hand-selected a team from the pool of riders, who would ultimately make up the teams for this year’s Battle.

In theory, a week initially seems like plenty of time to make a short video, but in reality, no matter how great the conditions might be or how stacked teams might appear, this event challenges the stamina and endurance of the world’s best. While the videos themselves are feats of creative and athletic mastery, the work that goes into each and every shot is overwhelming. There could be completely separate videos that showed all the behind-the-scenes efforts that go into curating and capturing every moment in the Team Battle. Whether it is battling to land a trick, struggling to find the right camera angle, or perhaps confronting the fickle beast that is wind, the Team Battle tests the patience of even the most calming of demeanors.

The Team Battle is truly one of the most realistic and attainable approaches for showcasing the most progressive kiteboarding within a competitive setting, and the team videos do a fantastic job illustrating this reality. Ultimately, the KPL aims to deliver its riders and the industry the most authentic representation of competitive kiteboarding, and the Team Battle is the League’s most progressive model of this approach. The combination of teamwork, video portrayal and a seven-day timeframe garners a modus operandi that culminates with perhaps the Team Battle’s most consequential ingredient: judging.

The judging process for the Team Battle is unique in the sense that the riders themselves are responsible for shouldering the role of being both contestants and judges. The crux of the event is to showcase the best freestyle and park riding possible, and truthfully, one of the best ways to evaluate the technicality of the week’s riding is to utilize the riders whose savvy understanding of the infinite intricacies of freestyle and park makes for the most accurate results possible. Judging is an incredibly difficult role and a huge responsibility, and by implementing judging through peer assessment, the margin for error and potential dispute becomes largely irrefutable.