Barbados along with five other countries will compete virtually in the WorldSkills Russia Nationals – Digital and Hybrid Eurasian Hairdressing Competition which takes place July 7 – 8, 2021.
The five (5) other countries competing in Hairdressing will include India, Belarus (two competitors) Uzbekistan, Russia and Kazakhstan.
The TVET Council, through WorldSkills Barbados, received an invitation from WorldSkills Russia for the WorldSkills Barbados Training Squad competitor Rachelle Jones and Expert in Hairdressing Arlette Knight-Olton to participate in the WorldSkills Russia National Competition which is being held virtually for the first time.
Barbados’ competitor is participating via ZOOM while using the facilities at 101 Style Salon located in St. Lawrence, Gap, Christ Church. The competition commenced on July 7 at 09:00 am Moscow time which is 02:00 am Barbados time.
Barbados’ five member delegation includes:
- Technical Delegate – Dario Walcott
- Team Leader – Sarah Gilkes-Daniel
- Communication Officer – Samantha Jones
- Expert – Arlette Knight-Olton
- Competitor – Rachelle Jones
Mr. Walcott explained: “Participation in the competition provides an opportunity for the Barbados competitor to compete with other international competitors in preparation for WorldSkills Shanghai 2022 and gain valuable competition experience. It also enables the Barbados expert to network with international experts to gain further insight into competition requirements.”
Speaking on the Hairdressing candidate’s preparation to date and the importance of competition experience, Mrs. Knight-Olton said: “Rachelle is steadily refining her technique in cutting, colouring and styling hair of different lengths.”
She added: “A WorldSkills competitor needs to be someone who can think on their feet, who can plan and manage what they want to do during competition.”
Russia joined WorldSkills in 2013 and has successfully competed in WorldSkills International competitions. At WorldSkills Kazan 2019 and WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017, Russia gained Silver medals in Hairdressing and at WorldSkills Sao Paulo 2015 they gained a medallion for excellence in Hairdressing.
The competition is therefore expected to be of a high standard and set a benchmark for the Barbados team to base its preparations.
The competition modules will focus on the following technical areas which are aligned to previous WorldSkills International Hairdressing Test Project Modules:
- Ladies haircut and coloring
- Ladies long hair up and coloring
- Men’s taper cut
- Lady chemical reformation and haircut.
For further information please visit the WorldSkills Barbados website.