Day 4, the last day of the competition, is all but over. We have one competitor still on the floor, "the cook" as we lovingly call him (from Ryde) and he will go through until about 7.30 this (Saturday) evening. The Manufacturing Team Challenge (Rod Arthur's son and two NSW lads) are having their rather complex project assessed. This takes about 6 hours and will be it for the day.
It was an amazing day as each competitor completed their project, or ran out of time as the case may be. The finishing times were staggered, so we were able to get around to cheer on most of the team as the clock wound down. Its hard to explain the emotional outpouring as the competitors embrace their families and supporters, as well as their Australian experts and judges who are located within each category. Bloody hard not to get a lump in the throat and there are many grown men shedding more than the occasional tear. Hugs all round. plenty of clapping, then running like mad to the next venue to repeat the dose all over again.
With so much at stake, the amount of political intrigue and down right, what's the appropriate word, skulduggery by the judges and experts that is, and subjective approaches to assessment and feedback is astounding, and to be truthful, expected. Without trying to put a downer on proceedings, its a real issue that needs to be fixed - and having seen many competitions over the years, it seems to be getting worse. The Korean competitors get $US50k for gold and 2 years exemption from the military if they win and some countries just don't know how to play fair.
The really sad part of all that is the young people, our competitors, get caught up in the middle and young Australians just cant comprehend that. Their 'fair go" attitude isn't shared around the world but glad to say it is by the majority, still.
Tomorrow, Sunday, is the closing ceremony and awards in the evening. I've got my ranking order and a few surprises I hope but the jobs, the attitudes, the behaviours and temperament, the commitment and passion from our "kids" is exemplary and you should all feel enormously proud for your support throughout the life-cycle of this competition round. Its already been rewarded with or without medals as the Australian team seems to be the talking point of the competition.
We are putting on a function for the team and supporters for a couple of hours tonight and as is usually the case, they hit the streets and we hit the sack.
Barry
4th September 2009
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
The 40th Worldskills International competition is being held for the second time in Canada, previously in 1999 and as you may have already heard, it was announced yesterday the 42nd competition will be held in Germany in 2013. The next event is to be hosted by the UK in 2011. I understand the German announcement, while meritorious, caught many of the other contenders off guard.
The Skillaroo team arrived in Calgary on 27 August after a long and exhausting trip. But all of them are young and this is their "thrill of a life time" so the jet lag was pretty much non-existent. The judges and experts being just that little bit older arrived much the worse for wear two days earlier. But they too have gotten over it, well almost.
The opening ceremony took place on Tuesday evening at the competition venue, the "Calgary Stampede Stadium". I've attached some pictures of the event and the venue, taken from the Calgary Tower, and as you can see it is an amazing complex and one that plays host to what is known throughout Canada and the Americas as the greatest show on Earth. Some one million visitors attend this event annually and as you know, Calgary was also put on the World stage when it hosted a previous Winter Olympics.
Calgary is a beautiful, clean and friendly city, relatively small compared to Quebec and Toronto and it is spectacularly located in close proximity to the magnificent Rocky Mountains. But I digress, back to the Opening Ceremony which was quite a sensational event. There was an endless array of musical, dance and theatrics from KISS look-alikes (we all thought they were the real thing) plus Native American dancers, the Canadian equivalent of the Crusty Daemons (bike free stylists to the Baby Boomers) plenty of music, fireworks and other entertainment. Everyone felt a bit sorry for the UK Worldskills 2011 project team who are out here to learn from the Canadians how to host such a massive logistical nightmare. The locals have set a new benchmark for Opening events which were bigger and better than any held previously.
The Australian Team, led by Justin Laidlaw (Car Painting from Hunter Institute) were the first competitors on stage and the crowd went berserk when the parade commenced. It was a very special moment for Justin as his partner and baby were present to witness him lead the parade. The opening ceremony was attended by local, provincial and national government ministers including the Prime Minister. Canada is facing the prospect of a fourth national election in the past five years so this was seen as an important event to give some new policy momentum to the skills debate and changes to the apprenticeship system. Canada is serious about growing trades and technology skills and employment. They have injected a vast sum of money into the Worldskills event as a way to encourage young people to look at vocational opportunities. About 50,000 school students will visit the competition over the next 3 days and the try-a-trade activities are also world class in terms of how they are run and managed as an integral part of the competition.
Today, Wednesday, was the first day of competition and the team looks fit and in the right frame of mind to commence the competition. The photos also show our team hard at work. In events such as this, the first hour or two is usually spent settling into the swing of things and most competitors’ burn off all that pent up emotional energy but there is little time to waste. No matter how much time goes into preparing for the competition, nothing can replicate in a training environment the real thing. Thousands of people watching their every move and you can tell it’s quite nerve racking but they are a talented bunch, well prepared and I’m sure the Skillaroo story will have a happy ending.
More later, time to go see how the competitors are faring.
