Berwick landscape gardener Rohan Blythe and teammate Simon Buchanan are off to Japan to compete in the Workskills Competition.By Matt Trotman
BERWICK landscape gardener Rohan Blythe won’t need any extra training sessions to prepare to take on the world. He does all his training at work.
Rohan, 21, has been selected in the 39th Australian Worldskills Team, which will travel to Shizuoka, Japan, in November next year to compete in the International Worldskills Competition against 45 member countries and in front of an expected crowd of 200,000.
Worldskills is an international competition, held every two years, in which the best young tradespeople from around the world gather to compete in the skills of their various vocations.
Rohan won selection and the trip to Japan after performing well at the national competition this year at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre.
“We won our category at the national titles so I knew I was in the team after that,” he said. “It was a great experience. It was good to see what other states had to offer so I can’t wait to get to Japan for the International event.”
Rohan will team up with another Victorian, Simon Buchanan. He said he was looking forward to the challenge of competing against the world’s best.
“I’m really excited, I definitely can’t wait to go,” he said. “I will be able to learn so much from seeing designs from all around the world.”
Rohan said there was no need for any extra training. “Most of my training is done at work, most of the things I need to know I already do on a regular basis,” he said. “I might read some books on Japanese styles but other than that there is not much else I can do.”
Rohan recently finished his apprenticeship and now works for a business in the local area. His ultimate aim is to start his own company.
“Eventually I would like to run my own landscaping business, but right now I’m pretty happy just working away and learning the craft,” he said.
