Its the beginning of Day 4 here at WorldSkills, Calgary and its been an truly amazing experience up till now.  Don’t think of it as a Trade Show or even as something like an Olympics - it really is a world of its own.

The Calgary Stampede Park is a huge, spread out venue and everyday its been jam packed with students who have come from all over to find out more about skills and see how the best in the world showcase skills in hairdressing, welding, landscape construction, jewellery making and etc.  It gets so crowded that its hard to get from skill area, or even an event hall, to another.  The students have all got their Skill Passports with them which have questions about the Skill Competition and also the ‘Try a Skill’ at Skill City.  They also grab stamps in their passport along the way.

Skill City where the students can Try a Skill has been packed every single day with young people have had a go at welding, painting and hairdressing just to name a few opportunities on offer.  The lines to get in have been amazing! With the enthusiasm shown it seems like lots of young people are getting engaged in skills by having their hands on experience.

Try a Skill is a great place to go either before or after they go and see the real thing.  Something like 900 competitors, from 51 countries, competing to win gold, silver or bronze in their skill area.  The competitors are all focused, disciplined and working hard - except for meal brakes where you see them relaxing and taking advantage of getting to know others like themselves but from different cultures.  It must be amazing to have the opportunity to get to know so many people from different parts of the world.

Who will win?  We don’t find out until tomorrow evening - so stay tuned!