Competitive edge

I heard about a European luxury vinyl tile fitter of the year competition being held at the floorskills training centre in Solihull and although I knew I had very little chance of taking the title I decided to enter for what I believed would be a great experience.
To enter the competition we had to complete a written exam and asked to send in photographs of completed installs.
One afternoon in March I noticed a notification from floorskills and much to my surprise I had made the semi finals, (a few celebratory beers may have been consumed that day)
Walking into floorskills on the day of the semi finals was incredibly nerve racking , the other guys that had got through are of the highest standard around!
So after a brief from Matthew Bourne we were all set to task
We were asked to prepare bays and install LVT 12” x 3” herringbone both with a border and also installed directly to the perimeter walls! The bays included obstacles which added a degree of difficulty to the installation and thought process!
We also had to complete the application of a Dpm and smoothing compound.
The judges were brilliant throughout and offered reassurance when things were not going to plan
“Go and get a cuppa and have a breather” was often said
By the second day I was starting to feel less nervous and just treating it as an install for an incredibly fussy customer.
2 very hard days later and it was all over, now all we had to do was wait for the phone call to say how we had got on,
A couple of days after my phone rang and unfortunately I hadn’t made it to the finals. It was a mixed emotion of “damn it” and “I’m glad I haven’t got to go through that again”
The finals were held at the Floorskills open day and the standard was phenomenal from every competitor, the visitors to the open day voted and Steve Sidney won with an incredible install!
The whole experience was amazing and I would definitely enter again.