Lisburn Bricklayer Strikes Gold At WorldSkills 2011

Hailed as ‘the best bricklayer in the world’ after his recent Gold Medal triumph in the WorldSkills London 2011 competition, Philip Green reflects on the good time he had competing in his craft – and the hard work it took to get there. More than 150,000 spectators from across the world watched 1,000 young people from over 50 countries compete to be the best in the world in their trade at the WorldSkills 2011 event, which took place from 5–8 October at ExCeL in London. Speaking with Philip at his home in Lisburn, he described the journey there as “something you would never forget”. Self-employed at his family firm, DG Green and Sons, Philip was put forward for the competition by Alan Stewart, his tutor at Belfast Metropolitan College. In order to qualify for Team UK, Philip had to go through a lengthy process which saw him first compete and win gold at the Skillbuild NI National Competition before going through the UK selection process. The top twelve competitors were selected from an initial list of 450 people – and when those twelve were further reduced down to six, he travelled over to the UK to work with Mike Burdett, Bricklaying Tutor at York College, with the five other competitors. Four weeks later, he competed again, the six went down to three… and that’s what became Squad UK. Philip then travelled over to England twice a month, and in June, they selected the one person who would represent each trade at WorldSkills London 2011. From the end of end of July until the day before the competition started, it was solid training for the UK team. Philip explained: “Basically, for this last year, you could say, I didn’t do any work on site – if I wasn’t in college, I was in England. It’s a big commitment. I was very fortunate with Skillbuild NI – that would be Eric Ferguson, David Cooper and the team – as they supported me financially right through the whole thing, and then DEL put up a thousand pounds, which we could spend whatever way we wanted, so Alan and I bought tools. My parents and the family business, they supported me as well. “But that’s one thing the Northern Irish guys have above the rest of the UK – over in England, Scotland, Wales, they don’t have a regional Skillbuild. And us guys go wellequipped to every competition.” He recalls the lead-up to the event: “I trained week on, week off, and then the competition was held on the 5-8 October. They took us across on the Thursday before the event, to get us settled in – and it’s not just about the building, they made sure we had help to deal with the mental side of it, to make sure you were OK with pressure, and if you had any problems, just to talk. “Then on the Tuesday, that was the set-up day, you went to the ExCel Centre, you got to know where you were, and then you find out what your drawings are. “The opening ceremony was that night, you saw all the different countries coming in – there were 51 different countries – and everyone had their own chant, their own cheers.” Philip also revealed that he employed a surprising secret weapon to keep his mind focused: “The competition started on the Wednesday, and there would have been a few judges that would have been in your face from the start, you know, to try and distract you, but throughout my whole training, I had built up my own game plan. “I wore a cap, and the cap always worked for me, it kept me fully concentrated on me doing my thing, like a wall, nothing could distract me. “The first piece was the London Bridge, and it had L-O-N in it, and the towers at the side of it, and the second piece was supposed to represent a London skyscraper. With the last piece, basically every country puts in a third piece that they think should be put up, for instance, Mike put forward the London Underground, with a bulls-eye representing the London Underground sign, but it didn’t get selected. His came second to a suggestion of an opening door. “The accuracy you’re down to is absolutely phenomenal – for every 1mm you’re out, you lose a full mark, and it was out of a thousand marks. On the first day, on the dimensions, overall, I got 185 marks out of 200 marks, so I lost 15 marks, and that’s what they were working on, right through the competition. “There were 628 bricks to build with, that’s the most there’s ever been. The last piece wasn’t as hard as the first two pieces, but there was more brick in it, so you had to push more for speed, and a lot of countries didn’t have that. They were all busy working on the angles, too much on the details, while with other countries, their finish wouldn’t be that good, their cleanliness, but the UK’s always been very good for that, their visual look.” “Speaking to Mike after I got back, he was telling me that after the second day, I was leading. It was between me and Nicolai, the guy from Denmark, who also went on to win gold. But he couldn’t tell me – I was allowed half an hour with him in the mornings, and half an hour in the evenings, and you’re not allowed to talk about the test pieces once you’ve been given them. And then by Saturday, he definitely knew I’d done well, but he wasn’t allowed to say. “What happens is, when I’d finished the first piece – that was by Thursday afternoon – four different judges would mark the level and the dimensions, and another four would mark the plumbing and the alignment. They went round during the whole competition, so that’s how Mike was keeping up to date with the whole thing. “Any expert could walk round at any time, it was stuff like that you had to work against – some guy staring at you. And all the crowds of people looking at you. But that Saturday, everyone kept coming round to me, shaking hands with Mike because he was my training manager, saying that he had a very good competitor.” While his tutor, Alan Stewart, had told him that he wasn’t fighting against the competitors, but fighting against the marking scheme, Philip still encountered some underhand tactics: “The Dutch guy was in my face from the first day, I had to have a word with Mike, while on the third day – the crunch day, they call it, the day when you lose your medals – the Finnish guy came over and pulled up a chair, and put his feet up on my stack of bricks – and he just sat there and looked at me. In a way, it did slightly distract me, but it was near the end of the day and I was finishing off. But if he’d come round at one o’clock, I could have lost my medal just like that – it has that mental effect. It’s mind games, that’s the way they do it. “However, the Korean guys, they would always have been the best, number one in the world. The Korean bricklayer, Seong Hwa Jang, I got to know him, he was very friendly – he came fifth, but the difference between me and him was 52mm. “There were two gold and three bronze given out in the brickwork, and between the bronze and the gold there was something like 36 marks – me and Nicolai were so far ahead of the other lads, that’s why there weren’t any silver medals given out.” “If that Korean guy had gotten a gold medal, he would have gone back to a brand new house, a brand new car, and a full-time job teaching for life, that’s how seriously they take it. But in the closing ceremony, he shook my hand and bowed to me, and the Korean expert bowed to me.” “The closing ceremony was on the Sunday, and we got back on the Monday night, and it was a bit of a downer, because you’re up on a high – but what can you do, it’s over and done with. It’s because you’ve worked so long at it, to get that far. There’s a lot of work goes into it, it’s a full-on year, that’s what it took to get to that standard. It didn’t just all happen from last October – I had to do three regional competitions to actually get into the shortlisting process. “But I enjoyed it. People looked at me as if my head wasn’t right, but I practised and practised, you’ve no idea. There were pieces I could have practised twelve times. I was very fortunate, I had a great tutor down in Belfast, Alan Stewart – and Alan says, it’s like everything else, whatever you put in is what you get out of it. And we worked and worked and worked. He did as much as I did. “Since the competition, coming back, it’s got me work, it’s made me contacts, I’ve met a lot of people – I’ve made friends for life. There’s been young people from the college who have asked me, ‘would you do it all again – was it worth it?’ and to be honest, I would do it all over again, no problem. “From start to finish, it wouldn’t cost me a second thought, but during the whole thing, there were times when I would come home from training and I’d say, that’s it, I’ve had enough, because Alan was always in my face, putting pressure on me – in a good way, pushing me. He never let off, right through the whole thing, but when you look back now, you see now what he was doing for you. And now I can deal with pressure, no problem. “Once you get started, you never look back, and I’ve no regrets.”