The WorldSkills competition occurs every two years and is the biggest vocational education and skills excellence event in the world. This year’s competition takes place from 11-16 August in Brazil, and will see over 1,000 young apprentices and learners come together from over 60 countries and regions to compete in skills ranging from car painting to cooking. The UK has entered a team of 41 competitors.
Representing your nation on the world stage is no easy feat. It takes hard work, determination and a high level of skill. Members of Team UK for WorldSkills São Paulo 2015: Rebecca Wilson, 22, who will compete in Car Painting, Ryan Jones, 20, who will compete in Autobody Repair and Elijah Sumner, 20, who will compete in Automotive Technology, have displayed all of these attributes.
Bill Jones, cluster leader for the Automotive Sector said, ‘I want to offer my congratulations to Rebecca, Ryan and Elijah who have worked so hard to prove they have the skills to take on the best in the world. The UK has got high hopes for the WorldSkills Competition as all of the competitors in the team have been training hard over the past 12 months in their relative skills in order to perform at what will be a challenging competition.
‘Rebecca and Ryan have had intensive training both in the UK and abroad. There are many sponsors who have helped in their training and these include 3M, Glasurit Automotive Coatings and SATA, all of whom are also WorldSkills sponsors in São Paulo.’
Representing
Representing the UK in Car Painting is Rebecca Wilson from Northern Ireland. Rebecca who trained at Riverpark Training and works at CM Accident Repair Centre was supported in her preparation for the competition by her training manager Adrian Statham who works at EMTEC, part of Central College Nottingham.
Ryan Jones, from Leicester, will be competing in Autobody Repair. Ryan who trained at Leicester College and works at Just Car Clinic was supported in his preparation for the Competition by his training manager, Frazer Minskip who works at EMTEC, part of Central College Nottingham.
Both Ryan and Rebecca have used Central College Nottingham and Riverpark Training, Northern Ireland as training bases. They were fortunate enough to be invited to compete as part of the Nordic Championships in Denmark earlier this year where they both represented themselves and their employers with high quality work.
Ryan has been able to train with the equipment that he will use in the WorldSkills Competition thanks to the assistance of Car-o-Liner which has been part of the development of Team UK competitors in Autobody Repair for the past five WorldSkills Competitions.
The competitors won’t know what their competition project is until they arrive in São Paulo, but examples of the tasks that Rebecca may be asked to complete in the Car Painting competition include: refinishing panels using a variety of methods, colour match and texture match to given standards, repairing damaged paintwork within a given boundary, and layout and paint a complex design.
Rebecca said, ‘Being selected for WorldSkills São Paulo 2015 is an incredible honour and is something I’ve been working towards personally for over two years. I have spent every spare minute training for the competition and I am determined to give it my all.’
She continued, ‘WorldSkills has really helped my career and helped me progress my career. My employer CM Accident Repair Centre was highly impressed with the WorldSkills Competition and the training I have been doing to prepare for it.’
Intensive
During the WorldSkills Competition, competitors will compete for 20 intensive hours over four days and have to be both mentally and physically fit in order to sustain a high degree of performance.
Bill Jones added, ‘To prepare our competitors we have partnered with Loughborough University which trains Olympic athletes, to work with the competitors on lifestyle choices, diet, stamina and the psychological aspects of performance.’
Also competing in Automobile Technology will be Elijah Sumner from Wales. Elijah, an apprentice who trains at Provq and who works at Halfords Autocentre was supported in his preparation for the competition by his training manager, John Dawson who works for Jaguar Land Rover.
Participating in WorldSkills enables the UK to share best practise on vocational teaching, raising standards and expertise in further education, skills and apprenticeships on a global scale.
The UK’s entry into WorldSkills is managed by Find a Future.
See our September issue of bodyshop magazine for a full round-up of the competition.
