Marion Holland – 18/12/02
New Zealand National SkillEX Competition Successful competitors in New Zealand’s regional competitions took part in the New Zealand National SkillEX competition held in November 2002 in Auckland. The Youth Skills Canterbury team of fourteen contestants achieved outstanding results – five gold medals, two silver and two bronze and a Diploma of Excellence.
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| The Youth Skills Canterbury Team 2002 (Click here for a larger version) |
Awards won by Cantabrians The five gold medals were won in Floristry, Electric Welding, Bricklaying, Auto Body Repair and Ladies and Men’s Hairdressing. Two silver medals were won for Furniture and Floristry, and two bronze medals for Joinery and Ladies and Men’s Hairdressing and a Diploma of Excellence for Automotive Technology.
Youth Skills Canterbury, affiliated to Youth Skills New Zealand, selected a team of thirty Canterbury representatives, including competitors, who were winners at the regional competition in March 2002, national skills experts, judges and support people to attend and compete in Auckland in SkillEX 2002. The14 contestants represented their trades in the following areas; Fitting, Turning, Ladies and Men’s Hairdressing, Electric Welding, Automotive Technology, Carpentry, Joinery, Furniture Making, Bricklaying, Floristry, Auto Body Repair and Fabrication Light.
These contestants, joined fellow trade trainees from eight regions around New Zealand, all under 21 years, to face stiff competition in Auckland and were committed to achieving their goal of winning gold medals and representing New Zealand at the 37th World Skills Competition in St. Gallen, Switzerland, in 2003. Our Canterbury coordinators, employers and trade tutors volunteered to work with these contestants to ensure they were well prepared for the task ahead.
The results of the Canterbury team reflected the commitment of the contestants for the competition in their quest to wear the silver fern for New Zealand in St. Gallen. After three days of intense competition the difference in some trades between first and last place was less than 10%, which shows how fiercely the contestants had to compete.
Gold medallists
- Rachael Grant – Ladies & Men’s Hairdressing – also Best of Region
- Brenda Ritchie – Floristry
- Tim Valentine – Bricklaying
- Hayden Wilkins – Electric Welding
- Graydon Viljoen – Auto Body Repair
Silver medallists
- Kirsten Herriott – Floristry
- David Johnston – Furniture
Bronze medallists
- Marc Wendelken – Joinery
- Louise Duke – Ladies and Men’s Hairdressing
Diploma of Excellence
- Joel Craw – Automotive Technology
Bricklaying Bricklaying is one of the oldest handcrafts, it is the assembling of bricks, blocks and stone in various patterns and designs. Good bricklayers are highly skilled craftspeople; they need a broad knowledge of how different materials perform in different conditions. Bricklayers must ensure they can read building plans and estimate cost of materials and labour.
The Bricklaying Skill section encompasses all the practical skills apprentices learn during their 6000 – 8000 hours of trade training. These skills include plan reading, fitting out and measuring, building vertical and horizontal brick and block structures, building arches and curved walls, arranging bricks in various patterns for strength and design and cutting bricks and blocks.
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| Tim Valentine and his winning work |
Auto Body Repair Auto Body Repair is a trade that combines skill, an element of design and physical hard work. With the number of different tools used in this trade, knowledge of when and how to use the many implements is vital.
The Auto Body Repair trade skill section combines the key skills of realignment of damage, sectional repair, shape correction, three welding techniques – mig, oxy and spot – and the obvious skill, good finishing, to ready the chassis for painting.
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| The vehicle on which Graydon Viljoen had to work |
Floristry Floristry is a very visual trade skill that shows the best of Mother Nature, using cuttings from different exotic and native flowers and plants and involves using colour, textures and embellishments.
The assembling of flower arrangements for different occasions needs talent and a special eye and colour co-ordination for the intricate detailing necessary.
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| Brenda Ritchie watering one of her flower arrangements |
World Skills Competitions serve as an international audit in 42 occupations in 30 countries The World Skills Competitions began as a means of upgrading training standards in Europe after World War 2. Now they act as an international audit in some 42 industrial and service occupations in over 30 countries and are held biannually. New Zealand was admitted to membership in October 1985.
The Youth Skills World Competition with all contestants less than 22 years of age is to the trades as the Olympic games are to athletics and the America’s Cup is to yachting.
Tradespeople vital for our way of life Without the tradesmen and tradeswomen we would not have the luxuries of cars, aircraft, houses, plumbing, ships, yachts, bridges, computers and electrical products that we all now take for granted. The excellence of the boats used by Team New Zealand could not have been achieved without highly skilled tradespeople.
Sponsors’ financial commitment urgently needed The greatest need after talent and commitment to win The Race is the financial commitment of sponsors. Youth Skills Canterbury is a voluntary organisation in need of sponsorship to help their representatives to attend the World Skills Competition in St. Gallen, Switzerland, in June 2003 to challenge the trade skills of Canterbury’s best young talent and show the world that our trade skills are among the best in the world.
New Zealanders’ success at Youth Skills World Competition in 2001 At the Youth Skills World Competition in Seoul, Korea in 2001, New Zealand obtained 7 Diplomas of Excellence, which included three 4th places. This included the Bricklaying contestant who missed out on the Gold medal by 3 points and the Commercial Wiring contestant missing the Bronze medal by 2 points. The Fabrication Light contestant also achieved 4th place. Canterbury’s two New Zealand representatives were Scott Baker (Automotive Technology) and Steve Allan (Automotive Refinishing). Scott, together with Steve who achieved a Diploma of Excellence, helped to raise New Zealand to 14th in the World placing, a great achievement.
The New Zealand team also included three national skill experts from Canterbury, Phil Agnew (Joinery) Max Milesi (Furniture) and Andy Trumper (Auto Body Repair).
Urgent need for sponsors to help NZ’s skilled people attend World Skills 2003 It is expected that the cost of sending the Canterbury representatives to the prestigious World Skills event in St. Gallen, including contestants, national skill experts and observers will be approximately $60,000. With the success of the Canterbury team comes the need for sponsors to embrace the Youth
Skills Canterbury organisation and the Youth Skills concept enabling young trade trainees to have the opportunity to compete to world standards, ultimately gaining confidence and self-esteem and increasing their trade skills.
Youth Skills Canterbury, by encouraging young trade trainees to enter SkillEX, contributes to the skill excellence of the trades in Canterbury and New Zealand. This is a win win situation for all involved.
Youth Skills New Zealand team for World Skills 2003 Youth Skills New Zealand recently announced the team to attend the World Skills 2003 and Canterbury have 2 contestants, 3 national skill experts and 1 observer named to travel to St Gallen, Switzerland.
Contestants Graydon Viljoen – Raxworthy Auto Body Repairs Ltd Tim Valentine – Simon Thelning Bricklaying
National Skill Experts Phil Agnew – Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology Andrew Trumper – Southern Institute of Technology Max Milesi – Furniture I.T.O
Observer Martin Tier – Martin Tier Bricklaying
Sponsorship requests and fundraising for these Canterbury representatives are planned as $60 000 needs to be raised.
Major Sponsors Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology CPIT Foundation Southern Institute of Technology Adams Print Canterbury Development Board Fitzgerald Arms
For information regarding Youth Skills Canterbury please contact: Marion Holland Team Administrator Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology PO Box 540 Coventry Street Christchurch Phone 03 940 98403 Fax 03 940 8648 Email: hollandm@cpit.ac.nz
The Youth Skills Canterbury website www.canterburyskillex.org.nz
