WorldSkills UK squad announced

Almost 100 young people were today (July 7) confirmed as UK squad members for next year’s WorldSkills competition in Brazil.

Following three days of gruelling tests in their different skill areas, 98 young people landed a spot on the squad, offering them the chance to go on to compete at WorldSkills in Sao Paulo next year.

The successful competitors will now undergo 11 months of training to bring them up to world class standard, before the final team for Brazil is picked.

Former Westminster Kingsway College cookery apprentice Danny Hoang, aged  20, was one of those who made it on to the squad.

Danny, who is now a chef at The Grove Hotel, in Watford, said: “When I heard I’d got through I just felt massive delight — this week was really, really hard, physically, mentally and technically but I’m really happy with the results.

“When I was standing waiting to hear the judges’ decision I was really nervous — I had a flashback of all my mistakes through the week so I wasn’t sure I’d get through.”

The best bit of the squad selection process, he added, was being able to gauge his own performance and see it improve throughout the week.

“It’s been good to be around people who are just as passionate in their own skill and are same-minded as well, “ he said.

“That’s probably one of the strongest supports you can have in a competition like this.”

Danny made it to selection stage last year, but didn’t get through to squad.

After two years’ involvement with the competition, Danny described his WorldSkills experience so far as “amazing and life-changing”.

Hairdressing competitor Eleni Constantinou, 21, who is an apprentice at her father’s salon, Tino Constantinou in Cardiff, said: “It’s like a complete and utter rollercoaster — at the beginning you think if ‘I do it I do it, if I don’t, I don’t’ but then it becomes such a big thing.

“Until you’re sat out there you’ll never know how much it means, you don’t realise until it gets closer — it’s the worst thing, but when you find out you’ve got in, it’s the best, so you get the best and worst in one day.”

The selection announcement came as a surprise for Mirella McGee, 20 and from Kent, an architectural stonemasonry apprentice at Canterbury Cathedral.

“I thought I didn’t get through — I was told only three would get through, and I heard three of the others’ names and ‘I thought oh never mind’ and then they said my name,” she said.

“I thought I’d really messed up on the last day and that was it my alarm didn’t go off in the morning so I missed the briefing and just everything went wrong… so I’d just accepted that I wasn’t going through.”

She added: “It means everything to get through — it’s the experience, I’ve proved to myself that I’m a bit better than I sometimes think, because I don’t often have much confidence in my work and I guess the training weeks and stuff have paid off because I wouldn’t have been able to do this when I started out — I’m really looking forward to carrying on with the training.”

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock congratulated the squad members.

“The World Skills Competition is an opportunity for the UK to showcase and celebrate our young apprentices on the global stage,” he said.

“It goes to show, that for every skill and every vocational area, we can and should celebrate excellence.

“The young people who have earned a place on Squad UK are ambassadors for our country and demonstrate how high quality apprenticeships can lead to successful careers.”

In the first week of October, 14 of the 37 skills will put forward competitors for EuroSkills, and squad members will also have a chance to show off and hone their skills at The Skills Show, which takes place from November, 13 to 15.

Click here to see some of the squad members in action during the selection process — see below for the full list of competitors.