Plenty of brickies are very good at telling you how good they are if you ask them, and most would probably say they’re the fastest or the best. For young people under 21 years of age, WorldSkills  Australia competitions provide a means to support these claims.

Competitions are conducted in just about every trade and skill area with the bricklaying competitions being extremely popular, mainly because it is one of the most visual and physical events conducted. The competitions start at a regional level with winners then progressing to state skill development camps and they also get granted automatic entry into a national competition that takes place every two years. The competitions basically contain highly technical designs that need to be built in very tight timeframes (the regional competitions are 8 hours and the national competition is 18 hours over three days).

Projects are judged on their accuracy and appearance. Just about every millimetre of accuracy is checked and deductions made according to the scale of error. Competitors end up with a percentile mark and are ranked accordingly. The top three are awarded gold, silver and bronze medals and come under consideration to be selected in the Australian team, the ‘Skillaroos’ , and compete against young bricklayers from all over the world in the Skill Olympics.

Representing your country is a distinct honour that very few people experience. One of the most enjoyable moments is seeing the Australian competitors receive their team suits with the coat of arms embroidered on the chest. It is then that the enormity of the opportunity usually hits.

Australia has a great record in the international competitions and is considered to be in the top three nations (there are 50 member countries in WorldSkills competitions). Australia has medalled in the last two international competitions through the efforts of Nigel Croke  in Calgary, Canada in 2009 and Lester Tibbles  in London, UK in 2011. As part of their training these competitors took part in competitions and training in such countries as Ireland, Denmark, the United Kingdom and France.

Although the competitions serve to promote skills excellence, they are not just about winning and determining winners. Every young person who is willing to challenge themself and have a go learns from the experience. In the arena competitors frantically build projects in very difficult timeframes to the best standard they can but they also learn a lot about themselves - such as the level of their problem-solving skills, how well they handle pressure, how they react when they make a mistake and how well they can maintain focus and produce the goods when it counts. These skills and attributes are important in other parts of our life also, such as when running a business, competing at sport or even raising a family.

The ABBTF proudly support these competitions at all levels because they can see the importance of recognising and promoting good practice. The outcomes are not just recognition of the efforts of the competitors, but it is also a reflection of their employers who are usually the most influential factor in their skill development as a brickie. So you can see that the benefits in becoming involved in WorldSkills are many.

The 2012 national competition will be taking place in Homebush Sydney from the 30^th of August to the 1^st September 2012 and it is an event well worth a look, especially if you are thinking of competing in the regional competitions in 2013 or if you want to see the best young bricklayers from across Australia in action. After the competition, a competitor will be selected to represent Australia in the next international event in Leipzig, Germany next year.

More information can be obtained about WorldSkills through the following websites: www.worldskills.org.au and www.worldskills.org (the international organisation website) or by making enquiries with your local TAFE or training college. 

Troy Everett, A/Head Teacher, Civil Engineering, TAFE NSW, Illawarra Institute, Wollongong Campus. 

Had a call from Debbie Barratt in Hobart this week.  She’s justifiably proud of her sons’ Luke and Matt and the apprentices working for their family bricklaying company, who were competing in the Tasmanian Regional World Skills

Bricklaying Competition.  The Barratt boys and apprentices made up seven out of the eight competitors!

The competition was full-on and the winner is yet to be confirmed, but Paul Mackay from the bricklaying department at Skills Tasmania commented on the extremely high standard of bricklaying by all the competitors.

Rumour has it that the comp should be renamed the “Barratt Family Bricklaying Competition”!  Colin Barratt has been a great mentor and teacher to his three sons and apprentices.

View more images > TASSIE'S BRICKLAYING BARRATTS

Colin and Debbie’s oldest son, Ben, won a silver medal in last year’s WorldSkills National Competition in Brisbane in a very tightly contested event.  Obviously, quality bricklaying is in the family.

I’m always amazed at how well young apprentice bricklayers can perform under the extreme pressure of competition.  We get to see a lot of outstanding apprentice bricklayers in these events.  There is certainly an emerging group of quality people starting in the trade.

We wish them well for a rewarding future.

Geoff Noble, 

Head Office, ABBTF

It was all there at the Skills West Expo August 19 to 20, as bricklaying apprentices from around the state battled it out in the regional bricklaying World Skills competition at the Perth Convention Centre.

Some 20,000 people visited the expo to see WA’s best of the best fight it out in this prestigious international competition.

View Image Gallery>

Most young men that participated in the event are in the prime of their lives, full of energy, great physics and in training!  The competition is designed to test their bricklaying knowledge, competency and all round dogged determination.

All competitors where given a project to build in clay brick and masonry as per the drawing detail. Millimetres made the difference between glory and heart ache!

In the final stages of the competition, each apprentice had to build a brick pier as high as they could in just 25 minutes (not a tower of Piazza to be seen anywhere!).  Check out the pics in the WA Gallery.

The who’s who of the bricklaying trade training fraternity was on hand to give support to these young chargers as they battled it out over the 2 days.

Training providers, employers and industry representatives where all very impressed with the all-round performance of each individual and the event itself got a lot of praise from the likes of Dale Alcock who visited the group whilst competing.

The state results for this event (Bunbury inclusive) were as follows: Gold = Alan Ramsden; Silver = Rhyse Moroney; Bronze = Samuel Long.

Well done to all the boys as they now prepare for the national finals in Sydney 2012 and if successful they could represent Australia in Leipzig Germany.

Dean Pearson
WA Bricklaying World Skills steering committee chair WA