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>>> SEAN McGOWAN REPORTS
Skillaroos set to take on world’s best
While the nation’s sporting elite are busy preparing themselves for gold at the
Beijing 2008 Olympics, another group of young elites were also in competition
at last month’s ARBS Exhibition in Melbourne, writes Sean McGowan.
Visitors to last month’s ARBS Exhibition are sure to have
come across the WorldSkills Australia exhibition, which
featured Australia’s best young refrigeration apprentices
and trainees, who were all competing for the WorldSkills
Australia national title in refrigeration.
After two days of competition, in front of thousands
of industry professionals, the national winner Nash
Mason, apprentice to Hasties M&H Air Conditioning in
Newcastle, is now set to compete on the world stage at
the WorldSkills International competition to be held in
Calgary, Canada next year.
The Skills Olympics
Established in 1981, WorldSkills Australia is a national,
not-for-profit organisation that provides Australians aged
23 years and under with the opportunity to gain new
skills, compete against peers in their chosen trade and
fast track their skills and career development.
Through a program of competitions aligned to National
Training Packages, WorldSkills Australia works to ensure
today’s young people have the skills and abilities to
compete with the rapidly changing global marketplace.
The organisation is a member of WorldSkills International
– a global network of nearly 50 countries who participate
in trade and skills competitions. Australian competitions
operate on a two year cycle, with regional competitions
flowing into national competitions, with the winners
advancing to the international competition.
This July, Sydney will host the three-day WorldSkills
Australia National Competition, which is expected to
attract over 500 competitors across 50 different trade
and skill categories, along with some 60,000 visitors
willing them on to success.
Categories range from automotive mechanics and
cookery, through to electrical installation, meat retailing
and welding.
“The WorldSkills competitions show the rest of the
country what remarkable talent we have here and prove
that the future of skills and trades is worth investing in,”
says WorldSkills Australia CEO Mark Callaghan.
“In 20 years of international competition, WorldSkills
Australia has consistently ranked in the top 10
performing countries in the world. Today, we are ranked
fifth in the world and are the best performing English
speaking nation, thanks to some of our brightest young
people, educators, and support from industries in skills
and trades.”
One of Australia’s more successful categories is
refrigeration, which boasts four international gold
medallists, proof that training and on-the-job experience
www.hvacrnation.com.au
Stephanie Bugg and Renee Ellen , former WorldSkills Gold Medalists
received in Australia’s HVAC&R industry is second to
none.
Refrigeration is also one of the few categories where
national competition is held outside of the WorldSkills
National Competition, with the bi-annual ARBS
exhibition proving the perfect venue for the event to be
showcased to the rest of the industry.
Given the large amount of space the WorldSkills
Australia competition demands at ARBS however, it
wouldn’t be possible without the excellent support the
category receives from the industry, with Refrigerant
Reclaim Australia one of the category’s major financial
supporters.
The past winner
Stephanie Bugg is one of WorldSkills Australia’s most
impressive success stories.
The 2001 international gold medal winner in the
refrigeration category, Stephanie not only epitomises the
high level of expertise of our young industry members.
Her interest in refrigeration goes back a long way, to the
age of seven when her father Lloyd Bugg, a well-known
refrigeration mechanic, introduced Stephanie to the
principles of eutectic refrigeration when the family lived
on a property without power.
From her early teens, Stephanie’s path seemed set,
following in the footsteps of her father, who soon signed
her on as an apprentice in his own business.
“Since then, the attraction of the industry has only grown
on me,” she explains.
“Being able to show up at a job with half a million dollars
worth of stock in a freezer that is starting to defrost or
working on an operating theatre in a hospital that has
failed while they are operating shows the amount of
trust and responsibility that can be entrusted to me. It is
a great feeling to know that my job, and this industry, is
so important to everyday life and that I am a part of that.”
Stephanie’s involvement with WorldSkills began in 1998,
when she was approached by the regional chairman in
Toowoomba, Barbara Wuersching. At first reluctant to
compete and sceptical about being watched and judged
by so many people, Stephanie was eventually persuaded
to compete in the regional competition.
“Once I heard about the competition, and was able to
get over my initial nerves, I was attracted to how it would
give me a chance to develop and improve my skills and
challenge myself among other refrigeration mechanics
from the region, with the possibility at the time to
compete nationally and internationally,” says Bugg,
admitting that she never contemplated the chance of
her competing internationally.
June 2008 HVAC&R Nation 11
The podium finish left to right: David Restuccia, Nash Mason and Leigh Coffill
After winning through to the national competition,
Stephanie was chosen to represent Australia in
the refrigeration category at the 2001 WorldSkills
International Competition, held in Seoul, South Korea.
“I competed against 17 countries, held over four very
stressful and exhausting days,” she recalls.
The competition was made up of six separate tasks
– split air conditioning installation; refrigeration fault
finding; electrical fault finding; cabinet installation;
retrofitting of a HCFC system; and component
fabrication.
“We all sat down around a large table and were
introduced to each other and our fellow experts – it was
then that I appreciated the size of the competition. While
you are well briefed and trained before going overseas,
when you get there it really sinks in, and at that time
my only aim was to do Australia proud and give 110%
(effort).”
During the four days of competition, Stephanie was
introduced to a range of emotions, with the pressure of
having the past two gold medal winners of the category
also coming from Australia, ensuring that even more
attention was on Stephanie to perform.
“That, and the fact that I was the first female competitor
to compete at an international level in the refrigeration
category,” she quickly adds.
Following the competition, the medal presentation
proved a surreal experience for Stephanie.
“I didn’t even hear my name called out. Everyone in the
Australian team was yelling at me to go up on stage, and
at that point I still thought I might have got bronze. My
reaction to winning the gold medal was that of disbelief,
and the memory of having the medal placed around my
neck is something that I will never forget.”
12 HVAC&R Nation Since winning in South Korea, Stephanie has worked
for a number of different companies in Toowoomba,
broadening her knowledge and defining skills on
equipment and systems she had had very little
experience of previously.
She has also become a regional and national judge for
WorldSkills, as well as becoming regional convenor, and
was on hand at ARBS last month, judging this year’s
group of talented youngsters.
According to Stephanie, winning the award has ultimately
given her recognition and respect within the industry.
“There have been people throughout my career who
have been negative and judgemental but I think that
you get some degree of that no matter what your
gender or career path. The small amount of criticism I
have received has only made me strive to become better
and strong at what I love to do,” she says.
“I first became involved in WorldSkills when I was
asked by my head teacher at TAFE to organise a college
competition as part of my TAA2 assessment to become a
fulltime teacher,” John explained.
Since that time, his involvement with WorldSkills has
continued to grow; now being in the roles of category
convenor, designer and chief judge for the national
competition, as well as International chief expert for
WorldSkills International in the refrigeration category.
“A chief judge must be expert in the field of refrigeration
and air conditioning, and also be involved in organising
regional competitions, as well as designing both regional
and national competitions,” he explains.
“We are very fortunate in this category to have all past
competitors as judges,” he added. “These young people
have all competed internationally, and four are past gold
medal winners on the world stage.”
“Being a refrigeration mechanic for me is more than just
a job. It is a passion that I will continue to follow for many
years to come.”
Such is the level of respect and recognition of past
WorldSkills achievers, that these young judges are either
running their own businesses, or have been promoted to
prominent positions in their respective companies.
The international
chief expert
“There is a great sense of personal satisfaction in being
involved with WorldSkills. My highlights have been
to present at the gold medal presentation overseas,
knowing I’ve had some role to play in the achievement
of the last three medallists,” recalls John.
The satisfaction of watching talented young people
achieve their best is what attracted John Kuilart to
WorldSkills Australia back in 1993, and it seems his
passion for the program has never waned.
Having been involved in commercial refrigeration
contracting for over thirty years, as well as having
enjoyed a stint as a full time TAFE teacher in New South
Wales, John has not only seen the rise in prominence
of WorldSkills in Australia, but has also enjoyed seeing
four young Australians win gold internationally in the
refrigeration category.
June 2008
With Australia currently ranked fifth overall worldwide
and considered one of the leading nations in skills
excellence in refrigeration, the focus on our international
representatives at WorldSkills competitions continues
to grow.
Kuilart says other countries have become more
competitive in recent years by following the lead of
Australia and enhancing their skills base, but believes the
ongoing success of WorldSkills Australia, and in particular
www.hvacrnation.com.au
2008 National gold medalist Nash Mason in action
the refrigeration category, is a result of overwhelming
industry support.
“There is nothing this wonderful industry can’t do. For the
whole time I’ve been involved we get stronger and stronger
support from our industry sponsors – RRA, Heatcraft, Quirks,
Javac, Fluke, Teco, BOC, Cigwell, RACCA and LuVe.”
Nash Mason
www.hvacrnation.com.au
The WorldSkills Australia national competition will be
held at the Sydney Convention and Entertainment
Centre, Darling Harbour from July 11 to 13 2008.
The 40th WorldSkills International Competition will
follow in Calgary, Canada in September 2009.
For more information, visit www.worldskills.org.au s
“These companies have given great support to the
category, to enable us to be a leader in the world. But
we could do with some other industry bodies such as
ARC to finance some international training to enable our
international candidates to train and compete at other
events prior to the international competitions.”
June 2008 HVAC&R Nation 13