National Rugby League welcomes home Skillaroos

WorldSkills Australia (WSA) together with the National Rugby League (NRL) welcomed home the 2013 Team Australia Skillaroos on Friday September 20^th, to celebrate their incredible success at the recent 42^nd WorldSkills International Competition held in Leipzig, Germany.

Andrew Ryan, Australian Apprenticeship Ambassador and former Australian Rugby League legend hosted the event held at Rugby League Central in Moore Park Sydney.

The Team Australia Skillaroos, made up of 31 of the country’s most talented skill and trade professionals, have returned home from competing against 1,000 of the world’s skill and trade champions from over 60 countries. The Skillaroos represented 29 skill categories at the international event, in areas such as Fashion Technology, Car Painting, Web Design, Electrical Installations and Landscape Gardening.

This year, the team took home a total of 19 medals including; one gold, two silver, one bronze and 15 Medallions of Excellence, securing Australia’s ranking as the 13^th most highly skilled nation in the world.

Andrew Ryan kicked off the proceedings by congratulating the Skillaroos on their remarkable achievements, hard work and commitment.

Also in attendance, was Parliamentary Secretary of Tertiary Education and Skills,  Mark Speakman MP. “Whenever you represent Australia in any activity whether its sport or intellectually or here with WorldSkills it’s a great honour.

“What I think is important about this is that we recognise not just our traditional sports which is what everyone thinks about when they talk about world competitions but the enormous skill potential we have here in Australia and the great opportunity it has for young people to see the world, represent their country and promote their skills” Mr Speakman said at the event.

WSA would like to take this opportunity to thank Andrew Ryan and the NRL for hosting this event. WSA looks forward to working with the NRL in the future to continue to promote the benefits and opportunities available through a vocational education and training pathway.