Fueling Success: Luke Emeny's Journey through Heavy Vehicle Tech to Team Canada

Welcome to the first episode of the Team Canada Podcast Series!
 In this episode, we sit down with Team Canada competitor Luke Emeny, who will be representing Canada in Heavy Vehicle Technology. Luke shares his Skills journey, from training and preparation to the moment he secured his spot on Team Canada. We talk about his excitement for competing on the world stage in Shanghai, China in 2026, and what he’s most looking forward to.

This is just the beginning of Luke’s story—we’ll be catching up with him again after the competition to hear all about his experience. Stay tuned as we continue to share the incredible and inspiring journeys of all 12 of Alberta’s Team Canada competitors.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Welcome to Skills and Girls. Albertus 2020's podcast on T.O. series then and now. In the series, we'll set out Alberta's eighth and the competitors as they prepare for the ultimate hours. Then we'll reach down afterwards and five 2016 and all the thousands and once in the lifetime experience. Come on to great later today and help bring Alberta's brightest talent to the global stage. Visit skillalberta.com to learn more and see how you can be part of their journey. I'm Danny and I'll be your host. Let's dive in to today's episode. Today's Team Canada special guest is heavy vehicle technology competitor Luke Emony. Hey Luke, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 1:07

I'm doing awesome. Thank you for having me on the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Of course. Let's jump right into it. Do you mind telling us about your skill story from the beginning all the way to being on Team Canada?

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Okay, yeah. It's kind of a funny story, actually, for heavy duty mechanics. My instructors reached out to me and they were like, hey, you got to do this skills thing. I'm like, no, I'm okay. Or whatever. I wasn't super interested in doing it, not because I didn't want to compete. Like I would, I was excited for that part of it. I just didn't want to miss a week of school because the provincial skills competition here in Alberta was happening my second or third week of school in my hardest semester. So I was just really stressed out about that. I didn't really want to go. And I was really on the fence, and I'd been told by some people, yeah, man, you've got to do it. And I've been told by others, oh, you can wait until next year. But I had thought, you know, I don't really have time. Like I can't do it next year. Everyone thought I could, but the age limit is 21. This year, you had to be born on or before January 1st, 2000. So I wouldn't have made it the next year because I was born in 2004. I was really on the fence about it and decided not to do it. And then my one instructor, who's actually my trainer now, a good friend of mine too, Scott Baylor, he was just like, nope, you're going, buddy. So he signed me up, and I was like, okay, it's gonna be fun. I wasn't super nervous for it because I didn't know what to expect in the provincial fields competition. I just thought in my head, I was just doing it for fun. I'd heard about it. I've had some buddies that did it, and they didn't have the chance to podium. So I was just like, oh, like this this is serious stuff. Like there's you know, there's really strong mechanics that go to these things. And like when I started school, our boss and our school program was getting there. He had told us about it and was like, yeah, funny you guys want to try that out. It's something you could do. So like I've heard about it and I've been interested in it for a really long time because I thought, like, oh, like that would be so cool to win that. I was keen to go into it, but I didn't know what to expect. The nights leading up to the competition were actually very stressful for me. As soon as I walked into the conference center in Emmetton, I was like, wow, this is a big deal. It's not a small thing by any means. Like, there is loads of people, and there is so many different skills that I didn't even know people competed for. It was really cool the way they had everything set up. If I wasn't competing, I could have walked around all day watching everybody do their thing. Like it was it was actually a pretty cool setup they had, three different areas in the conference center for the different types of trades. Seeing that made me nervous because I was like, wow, this is big. I'm gonna be watched a little more closely than I thought I was. Going into it, I was just like, well, there's not much. This was the night before the competition, after like our orientation. I was like, well, there's not really much more I can do. I'm just gonna go in with a loaded gun and try to find the outcome out. I was ready for it, I think, but the morning of the competition was a bit of a rough one. I was just stressed out. I was like, what am I doing? I have no idea who's gonna be there or whatever. I was super nervous, and then you take Bobby Haraba as like the leader for the heavy-duty mechanic skills competition section. So, you know, when you walk into the fenced-off area for the mechanics, Bobby greets you and gives you a bag of swag, and he sends you into the tent, and it's like all your competitors are in there, like go talk to them, go meet them, like go stay what's up, and then like as soon as you walk into that tent and see everyone, you can see in their eyes that they're in the exact same place you are. Like, what am I doing here? You you laugh about it, really. You know, it's that was super cool, like meeting everyone, and everyone was super friendly, and just like talking to all those guys that were in the tent with me, just like they're my buddies, like in between our different competitions was cool. That took the stress off. Once you meet everyone and realize, oh no, these are just normal people, they're not no rocket scientists or anything like that. We're all mechanics, we're all here to do the same thing. That was really cool. So, yeah, that was my first experience of the actual competition day, and the competition went pretty well. There was like three stations at the provincial competition that I never had a chance to do in school, and I know a lot of my competitors did. Um, but I kind of had like an okay idea of how to do those tasks, just from like my own personal experience. There were a couple things that I thought I did really well at. There were a couple things I thought I did pretty bad at. But at the end of the day, after the competition, me and all my peers were kind of talking and we're like, well, how do you guys think we all did? Like, we had no idea. It seemed like a completely even playing field. We were all best buddies by the end because we were put under like distress together, and then you go and talk, like you're not allowed to talk about the stations, but it was definitely cool at the end trying to figure out where we all were at and just laughing about it. It was a good time later that evening at the provincial competition. The award ceremony is at the end of the day compared to the national competition where their awards ceremony is the following day. Um, I was just like, okay, maybe I'll get third. Maybe I'm on the podium. Because my last station I actually felt really good about. So I was like, oh well, my confidence is a little higher now than it has been the other days. And so we waited and like all the other trades went up. I think we're number 49. I don't remember if they did it alphabetically or if if we were just trade 49, but 49 is pretty far down the road. So we had to wait a bit, and the stress is just building up because you're anxious to see, like, oh, how'd I they called uh third place, and I was like, oh, dang it, like I didn't make it up there. And I was like, maybe second, like there's a sliver of a chance. And they called second, and I looked over at my instructor Scott, and I was like, Well, I had fun doing it. And then when they called first place, they're like, Ant from Northwestern Polytechnic, and that's the school I go to, and I'm the only person in the competition from that school, and I stood up and looked at my trainer Scott, and I was like, What? They made a mistake, or something. Man, that was cool. I don't think I've ever been so excited about something in my life. It's a lot different than getting first at like an eighth-grade track meet or something like that. It's like it feels oh man, it feels insane when you're standing up there in front of like however many competitors and trainers and businesses and all that that's sitting in the conference center watching you. It's pretty surreal. That got me hooked on the skills thing. Once we were done with our photos and we all shook hands on the podium there, they like asked me as soon as I got down from the stairs. They're like, Do you want to compete for Team Alberta in the national competition? I said yes before they even finished asking me. I was just like, Yeah, sign me up, I'm going. Anyways, I had after that a couple weeks to prepare. So, kind of the stuff that I felt I didn't know so well at the provincial competition. We touched up on those couple weeks. I was a lot more nervous for the national competition because well, that's just a lot more people to compete against than the provincial competition. But the national competition was a lot of fun. Like going to Regina with the crew, you make a lot of friends really fast in this in the skills scene. Like everyone you sit down next to, you can start a conversation with them about well, anything. It doesn't have to be about skills, it's probably the easiest thing to talk about. But like there's just you make friends really fast. That was fun about nationals at Provincials. I felt like I was a team with just my trainer, but once you're on Team Alberta instead of team your school, it actually feels like a team, like you're all rolling up to do the same thing. Nationals was hard. Everyone in my trade thought that it was really hard. There was a couple stations that really got me, and I was not feeling very good about them, but I tried really hard to make up for it in the remaining four stations. I have six tasks to do over the course of two days. So we do three tasks a day, two hours for each task, lunch break in the middle, that type of thing. A couple things didn't go so well, but the rest of it I felt I did really well. I brought everything I had to try and make it. I wasn't confident after the first day, but the second day was a super good day at Nationals. Felt like I got all the easy stuff on the second day, or maybe I was just feeling better. But it's also your first day in your first competition, you're so nervous about it. Almost everybody, no matter what they're doing, says that it was really challenging. It definitely takes a couple hours in there with the judges and all this to like get back into the groove and let your mind settle a little bit. Nationals was cool and with skills, it felt really cool because they'd like, you know, like the talking to us in the like the banquet hall at the hotel, and we had some sports trainers come in, mental trainers that actually train with Olympic athletes. I did a couple more interviews there. It just felt like I was a big part of the community, and that was really cool. After nationals at that awards ceremony, I really wasn't sure about it because everyone else sounded as equally frustrated as me. We kind of had an idea who was gonna like we we kind of like the same thing. We were all talking, we're all buddies, like learning about other people's provinces and how it works, and you know, like how they're how the schooling works, how long they have to go to school before they're in their trade. You know, just same thing as a provincial competition, like everyone's super friendly. We were all talking and we're like, what do we think again? Like that's kind of that happened both times. We sort of like try to figure out with each other how we did. Everyone's super honest. It's not like it's a competition where you gotta win. Um you're there to have fun, and that's sweet if you win with all those guys. So we had a bit of an idea, and the end result kind of turned out that way too. It was actually three guys, all from Finning, who made it up there. Brad Olsen from the North Coast Territories. He he got first place, he finished the program that I'm in three years ago, and he's super smart. Everyone at the college that I go to is talking about him. He was a valedictorian through the college that year, and he's a super good guy. We were like, okay, there's no surprise there. Like, he's awesome, like he's one of the best I've seen, and it's an apprenticeship competition. Austin from Saskatchewan, another fanning internal, got second place, and I managed to get third place in the competition. I was very close to the other two. But the reason that I'm Team Canada now is because uh I was the only one young enough to go. Part of me feels like I wish that Brad or Austin could have got the chance to go because it is an unbelievable opportunity. But the other part of me is also really happy that I'm the one that ended up pulling the straw to go to nationals because every night at the national competition, I would think about like, wow, man, it would be crazy to compete in world skills. Like to go to Shanghai for like the trade Olympics. I'm like, oh no, that's unbelievable. I'll never make it. That can't be me. But somehow it is, and I'm still trying to get over that. Telling my friends, it's like I've known this now for four months, or not four months, about three months. And it's still just like I'm continuing life, going to work every day, doing my thing, and then all of a sudden it's like, oh yeah, I have to train to go to China in a year, but it's it's pretty unbelievable. Like, that's that's all I can say. And going up on the podium at nationals in front of all the different provinces and territories, that's gotta be one of the coolest feelings. I thought provincials was super exciting, but that's just way more fun. You get to hold your flag and see all the other provinces and territories. We all sit in our own groups, and it's pretty fun. It's pretty fun. And Alberta definitely cheered the loudest. That was sweet.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Yeah, I do have to agree there. I think we definitely cheer the loudest. What a cool journey. And thinking like you might have not like you you could have gone down the road of like not doing it and you wouldn't get to experience all this.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

I can't believe I almost didn't do it because with the way it went, look at what I'd be missing out on. It's the opportunity of a lifetime. Like, I I don't know anyone else. I've never met anyone else who's like being able to do this, never even heard of it before this year. So it's like, wow.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Can't believe I almost didn't do it.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

It's such a rare opportunity to go to world skills because you have to be the eligible age at the competition. You don't even learn you're on Team Canada till after all the medals are given out. So, how did that feel to hear your name for heavy vehicle tech?

SPEAKER_02 14:24

Oh, I didn't believe it. I knew Austin was young. I was like, did they make a mistake? I was asking people, like, this doesn't make sense. Like, it should be Austin or whatever. But he was, I guess he was like a year just over a year too old. But I didn't believe it. It's just one of those things that's like, how do I keep getting these places? But it was pretty cool. That was like getting our Canada scarfs or whatever, I haven't hanging up right over there. That was super awesome. And then I walked up there and I saw my roommate up there. He did aviation technology, I forget what skills call it, but he was an aircraft mechanic. And I saw him up there, I'm like, oh hey, Ben, how are you doing? Oh, and he was like, Wow, you're up here too. And I'm like, Yeah, I guess. So and you know, we were just laughing about it. It's that was that was awesome. Like seeing, and you see when I do Team Canada announcements, it's on the billboard, it's just you, and it's like, you know, you're you're Canada's mechanic. That's the craziest part. I am Canada's heavy-duty mechanic to go to China and do this. It's like Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

What? Why me? I know it's wild.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

It's pretty unbelievable. I know a lot of people train for skills and they know everything about it. I didn't like I knew what skills was, but I had no idea about the way everything works. I was just kind of thrown into the fire that way. So I feel like I kept on not realizing what was happening, is that I kept on like making it up levels in in my skills journey. But so far it's been awesome. And my expert, he's a super fun guy. I'm really excited to train with him in the following months.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Oh, yeah. Who's your expert again?

SPEAKER_02 16:04

Marco Bisson from Quebec.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Oh, it's gonna be so fun to train with an expert too. Like, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

Yeah, no, it's gonna be pretty good. He's an awesome guy, he's pretty funny. I like him.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Yay! Oh, I'm so excited to hear all about your training journey and and yeah, just going to Shanghai next year. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

Yeah, I mean, that's the part I'm most excited for, really. Yeah, like we've already got stuff up in the air. We're going to Ottawa at the end of October for another meeting. I get to see so much cool stuff just because of skills. I'll go to Quebec for about a week to train with Marco in his town. So far, that's what we have planned. I want to go, I know it's not near, but I want to go to the Great Wall of China. Oh, that'd be so fun. The city of Shanghai is amazing. It's unbelievable what they've got there. But I have been fortunate enough to do a fair amount of traveling so far. My dad works for uh Westjet, he's an avionics technician. So luckily for that, flying was quite cheap growing up, so we got to do some fun vacations all over the place. But I never Asia, never been to Asia. So I'm very excited for that.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Yeah, that'll be exciting, like a whole new space and culture and everything. Like that'll be fun.

SPEAKER_02 17:19

And I've always wanted to go.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Huh. So besides the Great Wall of China, hopefully, if you can go see that, is there anything else you're really excited to see?

SPEAKER_02 17:29

I want to see like this the city itself, because it's like an unbelievable, like cyberpunk city. Like all the like the lighting on the buildings that they synced together to build like these designs, and I mean the size of it. Like, I'm from Edmonton. I think Edmonton's a big city when I'm downtown in Edmonton. It's pretty tiny compared to a place like that. I'd really like to explore the countryside if that was possible. Yeah, that's so cool. I'm so excited for the food. I'm not like a big seafood guy, which I know is big, but I'm a big noodles and chicken guy.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

I'm so excited to hear about your experience.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

You know, Marco was talking to me about working for finning. I'm a finning mechanic, and we do only caterpillar equipment. Caterpillar is American equipment. So he's like, you're gonna see some different stuff. Caterpillar, komatsu, hitachi, sanny, XCMG, like John Deere. There's gonna be Volvo gear, it's probably gonna be international trucks. There's gonna be everything made all over the world. It's gonna be domestic stuff to China, it's gonna be imported stuff from all over the world. It's gonna be a lot of stuff. So I have very little experience working with that stuff. So the actual like the wrenching isn't bad, it's all pretty much the same. Like it's just nuts and bolts. That's what I like to tell myself before the competition. It's just a big piece of metal, Luke. Don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

But uh, it's um it's the software that allows you to find the information you need to do the work on the machine. That is hard to do going from site to site because they're all different. Every single one is different. Some of them are quite intuitive, and I've got no problem figuring them out, but others can be challenging, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Yeah, you'll just really have to see what they've done in the past, I guess, for competition and like what you need to really hone your skills on for a bit so you can feel confident for the competition too.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

Yeah, no, exactly. And you know, me and Marco are working hard on that. One of my biggest things for the world skills competition is to try not to worry so much.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:43

Like the nerves is just what like kills your brain power.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

It's true, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

Much harder to think straight when you're nervous. And I think probably everybody feels that way. Because like as soon as like the second day starts, you know, you go in there feeling good. It's like, all right, sweet. It's my last day. I can't wait. As much as like competing is a good time, it is super stressful. And like everyone's just like, okay, let's get it, let's get her done. Let's make it to the end. The nerves, gotta calm the nerves this time for the world skills competition for sure.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Yeah. How do you normally calm your nerves?

SPEAKER_02 20:20

I should probably have an answer for you, but I really don't. It's just like breathing, and I don't really have a good method. I just remind myself like it's just a competition, no big deal. But it's for the world skills competition. I'm definitely gonna have to come up with something else because that's gonna be big.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

Because it's on a bigger scale, too. And I mean, there's way more than 45 competition areas, it goes all the way to hotel service and tiling. There's so many different other competition areas across the world that we don't have. So the scale of it, yeah, you know, trades, yeah. So you'll see trades that you don't even think existed beyond like no.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

I mean, that's how it was at provincials, too. You walk over to the baking section and it's like, am I like am I in an episode of like Hell's Kitchen or something like that? Where's where's Gordon Ramsey? I had no idea that they did that stuff with these.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Yeah, if you thought Provincials was like, whoa, like, where did all these traits and tech come from? Like, it's a whole other scale at world skills. There's stuff you wouldn't even think would be a competition. They are like it's interesting for sure.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

Yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

Yeah, and I feel like it being on that scale pushes the nerves a little bit more.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

Yeah, that's that's the thing. But you know, I'm gonna try to remember what I've told myself every other competition and just you know, take it. Don't worry about it. Either way, I've made it to world scales. I'm gonna do my absolute best. I will give it everything I have to try to make it happen. But whatever the outcome is, it won't bother me if I don't do so well and I made it there. Yeah, competing against the rest of the world is a pretty big playing field. So I'm grateful just to be there.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

Just making it to world skills is incredible, and you should be so proud of yourself. A lot of people never get to that point, and it is a rare opportunity. So congratulations for making it there. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

Thank you. I appreciate that. I still try to kind of comprehend it.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

It's like what I feel like you won't until you're in the depths of training, or like you actually get to Shanghai and you're like, oh, like I'm actually like competing against the world with heavy vehicle tech. That's wild.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

Exactly. And you feel good about it. It's like, oh, I'm a year away. You know, it's six months. No, I'm still six months away. And then a month in the competition, oh I'm still a month away. Nerves might creep in at that point. Then it's like you fly to Shanghai, it's like, oh, I'm two days away. And then you don't sleep those two nights, it's just the way it goes. And then you get on the floor, you work your butt off, and that night you catch up on your sleep for sure.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

Like you're gonna learn things that you probably would never have learned if you just stayed in Canada.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

I know, and that's that's what I'm super excited for. Like, how do they how do they do this across the world?

SPEAKER_01 23:14

Exactly. So I know you talked about your mentors a little bit, but do you mind giving us more of an idea of how they helped guide you through all of skills and now like Team Canada stuff?

SPEAKER_02 23:25

Yeah. Um, so Scott is like my main trainer. He's gonna be my my day one skills trainer. He's the one who sort of told me to do it. Um, and so pretty much uh we talked to Scott. I I talked to Scott and I was just like, well, what like what do they what do I have to do to succeed? And it's pretty much like follow, follow a procedure, work safely, and read the instructions carefully. And like the rest, you know how to do. Like, you know, turn in wrenches and whatever. Um I didn't really have any preparation for the provincial competition. Like we went over a couple things that I hadn't learned yet in school, none of which were at the competition, but good to know them anyhow. I got I got unlucky like that both times actually, with uh the provincial and the national competition. Um but yeah, like after the provincial competition, we were a little more serious about like taking a lunch break to go over a certain topic, or you know, I'd stay after school for a couple few hours and we'd go over something. Um just like jobs that seemed like skills tasks. Because like it's it's pretty specific. It well, it's not specific, but it's like all the skills tasks make sense because I mean at the provincial and the natural composition, you have two hours to complete them and 15 minutes in between each station, or uh half an hour between each station. So the job, like it has to be a little, but like it has to be a two-hour job, and there's not like so you know it's you know it's more or less like I don't want to say surface level, but you know the jobs are like your typical like baseline mechanic jobs, like you should know how to do this type thing. Um, so we went over like pretty much everything we could think about with that. Um, we just practiced a couple things uh in the shop at school. Um we got we got to the point where I could confidently say I've got no more questions, I think I've done what I can do. Um, going into the national competition anyway. The provincial competition, it was more like, okay, you're going, oh fun, sweet. But uh after that, I started training a little harder just to make sure uh that I was touched up on everything. So that was super awesome. Evan Scott helped me, and like, you know, he was great. Like he'd stay after class when you know he wants to go home to his family, and he'd help me, he'd answer every single question I had till I, you know, could go home confident I knew what I was doing. He'd, you know, get on the ground and try to show me something under a truck. And he was awesome. I definitely wouldn't be here without Scott. And he's great at keeping track of all the emails that I don't see. So he's uh he's he's definitely super helpful. Him and Robert Young helped me out a lot too, another instructor from uh Northwestern Polytechnic.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

Oh, that's awesome. Well, shout out to them because I mean having supporters and mentors like that, yeah, it's just like amazing.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

No, and like when we're staying like in Regina for the national competition, it was just like my favorite part of the day was like having dinner with Scott, Rob, um, and Carrie and Jeff. Like Carrie and Jeff are from Kidding, but Scott and Rob are from the college. That was like my favorite part of the day. It was like debrief with them, like go over everything we talked about. Um so that was that was super good. And I'm I'm very thankful for Marco because without him, I wouldn't have a skills expert. Um, and he he seems awesome. Like I'm really excited to train with Marco.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

Yeah, oh, it's gonna be so good. You're gonna learn so many things.

SPEAKER_02 27:10

Oh no, I can't wait. I'm also really excited to go to Quebec. I've never been there. Oh no, he lives in like a small town in northern Quebec. I think if I remember correctly. So it's like I I love like small towns. And he's just like uh he's like he farms, so hopefully it's you know, if we did some training out at the farm or something like that, that'd be super fun.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Yeah. Oh, that'll be so nice.

SPEAKER_02 27:35

No, it'll be pretty cool. And then he talked to me about going out of Canada a couple times, and you know, like all the planning that he's doing, it's it's not something I can do. I suck at that. I suck at uh I suck at the planning and like note taking and keeping track of expenses. Like I've never I've never been good at that stuff, so I'm I'm really happy that I've got Scott and Marco and um some fanning internals to help me out with that.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

Yeah, that's so good.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

You have all the skills people.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

Yeah, you got some amazing supporters with yes, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 28:12

No, I'm really I'm really happy about that. I definitely would not be walking this road if it was just me.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

Yeah, because they're amazing. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

Yeah, they're awesome.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

Do you have any advice for future skills competitors who are looking to compete in heavy vehicle tech?

SPEAKER_02 28:28

Any advice for heavy vehicle tech specifically?

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Or honestly, just as a competitor as well.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

Just just as a competitor. I don't have anything specific for heavy vehicle tech besides make sure you're good at reading. There's lots of there's lots of manuals. But as competitors, like just do it. If you're unsure about it, just do it. If you don't think you should, just go do it anyways. Like, I almost missed the opportunity to go to China and see some things that not a lot of people get a chance to see in their lives, just because I didn't want to do it. I thought, oh, that'd be too stressful. Oh, I don't care. I don't even like I thought I thought so hard about it, and in the end it was like, oh, I'd rather just like be at school for that week. Nope. Like that was the coolest month of my life, like the provincial competition, and then I had two weeks and then the national competition. Like that was that was unbelievable. So if you're thinking maybe you'll do it, drop that thought and think, I can't wait to do it, because you gotta go give it a try. Yeah, you never know what can happen. I in no world did I ever see myself making it past the provincial level, and all of a sudden I've got a year to train to go to Shanghai and compete against the rest of the world. So it's pretty unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

Yeah, if you got that opportunity, why not?

SPEAKER_02 29:50

Why not?

SPEAKER_01 29:51

Yeah. Um, I missed this question, but I really want to talk about it with you. Um, because we talked about it in the interview I did with you. Um Um, can you tell us about a challenging moment you had to overcome during the competitions and how you overcame it?

SPEAKER_02 30:06

Yeah, so the hardest thing is when you just get stuck. Like when you don't know what to look for, when you don't know what to do, when you don't know the next step, that's the hardest part because when skills, as long as you're doing something productive, you feel like you're getting points, you feel like you're making like some headway. But when you just get stuck, like I did on my first station in Nationals, that was the most challenging part because everything shuts down. Like you get so discouraged, um, you start to get nervous, you start like you just start to try to figure things out with like there's no plan to it anymore. There's just like nerves. That was the most challenging part of the competition for me. Was like getting stuck on the first station, and then I felt like that like destroyed my confidence for the rest of the day. Um, so it's very important not to let that happen. But yeah, that was that was probably the biggest challenge to overcome that. I mean, as simple as it sounds, you just move on. Like it's like, okay, that one maybe didn't go so hot, you did what you could, and always do what you can. Never give up, like always do what you can because it's like some of the best advice I've ever gotten was the the kiss method or keep keep it simple, stupid. Um, that was probably the best advice I've ever been given. And it's just it's true. Like, if you're stuck, go back to square one and just work through it slowly with like a methodological process, and you will figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

I have not heard of that method before.

SPEAKER_02 31:41

Yeah, no, that's what uh that's a that's a big thing in my trade. Everyone says kiss it.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Yeah, that's that's good to know. I feel like a lot of people will use that and be like, oh, this is so helpful.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

Yeah, I mean, I'm sure there's a better way to go about it than keep it simple, stupid. But uh definitely start at square one.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

That's what I thought helped me the most.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

For sure. Yeah, I feel like you just need to be like, nope, we're just gonna keep going and we'll make it really simple and we'll do this, and then the rest will just come easy again and we'll be confident again, and it's fine.

SPEAKER_02 32:14

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

Yeah. Um, and do you mind telling us one of your favorite moments so far at skills?

SPEAKER_02 32:22

My favorite moments so far at skills. There's been a lot of good ones. Probably like the half an hour after the competition for like both provincial and nationals when like everything's getting cleaned up, kind of like sponsors come in. Um, I know Finning was giving out some awards to uh like the competitors, like that half hour once like the sense of accomplishment that you have once you're done competing is unbelievable. Like that's the best feeling ever. Almost as good as like getting on the podium and getting an award. It's just like I'm I'm done. I did it. You know, that's that's it. Now it turns out there's nothing I can change now. Like that's probably that's probably my best memories is like the half an hour hour after the competition for both competitions.

unknown 33:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

Because then it's just like you can talk to the guys, you can talk about the stations, like you don't have to keep anything a secret anymore. You can you can just you can just chat with them.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Yeah. Yeah, you can like breathe again and be like, I did it, I got through it.

SPEAKER_02 33:25

No, exactly. And at that point, it doesn't feel like they're like like it doesn't feel like they're your competition at that point. It just feels like they competed with you at that point.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

Like it feels like you're all a team after the competition. More so than it does during.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Yeah, it's a really good feeling. And you're like, okay, all the training, like I I accomplished it, like it's all good, and now we just gotta see if we podium. And that's yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Yeah, no, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

Yeah, awesome. Well, we'll be back for a second episode next fall to talk about your full world skills experience, which I'm so excited about. Before then, what would you like to say to your future self?

SPEAKER_02 34:03

My future self, keep the ball rolling, don't slow down, don't get stressed. Just keep keep doing your keep doing your thing. No matter how it turns out, it's gonna be it's gonna be a fun time.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

Yeah, that's good. That's good. And last but not least, what is your favorite thing about your trade?

SPEAKER_02 34:21

My favorite thing about my trade, oh man. I think just like honestly, kind of the cool factor. Like there's there's loads to learn, which I love about it. Like, you just can't get bored learning about it. Because like you will never know everything about my trade and the amount of stuff that you see, but it's like definitely sort of the cool factor. Like, I get to work on stuff that people don't even get a chance to see up close most times. Like a truck with a tire that's 12 feet tall. That's the size of the house I'm sitting in right now. It's like not a lot of people get to see that roll up to a job site and they get to work on it. It's pretty, it's pretty awesome. I love big yellow machines, they're pretty fun.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Yeah, I mean it it's so cool to get in those machines and like fix them and like everything like that's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

Yeah, it's pretty fun.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today. And good luck at World Skills. We're so excited to hear all about it.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

Thank you. Yeah, I'm excited for our next interview in the year here.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

Yeah, and we can talk about your full experience next year and how it all went and how the training went. So that'll be super exciting.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

I feel like the training story is gonna be really good.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

Yeah, agreed. And thank you everyone for tuning in. We will see you in the next one. Thanks again for tuning in. We hope you enjoyed today's episode and gained some valuable insights from our amazing guests. If you'd like to learn more about Skills Canada Alberta and our wide range of programs, please sort of check out our website at skillsalberta.com. From bringing skills right through the classroom to taking part in our competition programming, there are countless ways to get involved. And don't forget to follow us on social media at Skills Alberta to stay up to date on our latest episodes and events. See you in the next one.