Following in Dad's footsteps: Wollongong brickie Ethan Everett lays foundations for WorldSkills success

Wollongong brickie Ethan Everett was inspired to follow in his dad Troy’s footsteps and showcase his bricklaying skills on a world stage after his dad laid the foundations through his inspiring bedtime stories about travels to global competitions years earlier.

The 22-year-old is one of three Illawarra apprentices, trainees and young professionals in the national Skillaroos team set to compete in the WorldSkills’ 47th International Competition in Lyon, France in September and is showing promising signs of success after beating challengers from 19 countries at the Global Skills Challenge in Melbourne in May.

Two other national team members who performed well in Melbourne were Wollongong’s Hannah Gerritsen who received silver in hairdressing and Bomaderry’s Michael Bowen, who studies at TAFE NSW Wollongong, and won gold in industrial mechanics.

Troy said he never imagined Ethan would make the Australian team and be a part of something that was a significant part of his life.

He spent 25 years competing in and organising bricklaying competitions on a regional and international level, before this year taking on the team leader role with WorldSkills Australia for the Skillaroos national team.

“Now that my son has progressed through the regional and national comps and made selection for the Australian team, I’ve stepped right out of the international side,” he said.

“I’ve enjoyed coming back to working for WorldSkills Australia and to be able to share the experience with my son as well. We’re very close.”

He said he was enjoying getting to know the team, including the other two Illawarra members, and being a part of their journey.

“I never envisaged my son would make the Australian team and be a part of something that’s been a massive part of my life,” he said.

“It’s probably the biggest two parts of my life – family and WorldSkills – and they have a big overlap now.

“He’s seen my adventures around the world and I’ve done volunteer projects in Russia, India, Brazil, Bangladesh and Nepal, so his bedtime stories were, ‘What’s Dad done?’”

Ethan also grew up helping him build houses and other projects and, despite six months as an electrician, eventually decided to give bricklaying a go, not looking back from the moment he stepped on-site.

“During COVID, he said, ‘Dad, I think my next step is WorldSkills. I want to give it a go,’” he said.

“We set him up in our garage at home during COVID and he just honed his skills.

“He practised little things and picked up the tricks of the trade and that paid off when it came to the competitions then, where he’s produced quite outstanding work all the way through from winning regionals decisively and then nationals.”

Ethan has also had a few opportunities overseas to test his skills, which Troy described as “extremely tough”.

“Going to France and China – and he’s off to a Nordic competition in Denmark in a few weeks – it’s like laying bricks on a different planet,” he said.

“But it’s really good for adaptation skills and managing jetlag and being able to perform when you have to be able to turn it on.”

Ethan’s most recent competition was the Global Skills Challenge in Melbourne, which is a lead-up competition to the Worldskills competition in France and attracted strong international competitor numbers due to Australia being an attractive destination.

Troy said while no-one knew what the bricklaying design for WorldSkills would be, in Melbourne they came up with an ornate design that challenged as many skills as possible within four days, and “really put them through the wringer”.

“In this Global Skills Challenge, he blew them away,” he said.

“But the cherry on top was when he won Best in Nation – that’s the highest score out of the whole Australian team.

“We’ve never won that before in bricklaying, so that was nice.

“We’re not getting too carried away. It’s just another step in the right direction for the grand plan.”

He said Denmark would be the final training opportunity before France and was expected to include competitors from five or six of the top countries.

“That’s the last one where he’s going to be really tested in a competition environment,” he said.

“Then we’re going to come back and get him in the ‘brick gym’ as we call it and get him working in there for the final honing and polishing required to get him ready for Lyon in September.”

He said the brick gym was a corner in TAFE NSW Wollongong, set up like someone “preparing for a boxing fight” and is called so “because it’s all the hours which no-one sees that count when everyone does see it”.

“They like to share the opportunity around, so they only give you one go at the full pathway to the main event,” he said.

“It’s not like the Olympics, where you can come back every time.

“He’s making the most of it and it has taken a lot of time, effort and sacrifice, but we’re super proud and things are on track.

“You just never know what will happen in the international comp, but the signs are good.”

Admitting to being proud of all Ethan had achieved, he said with his face on the side of busses, in TV ads and social media posts with 2.5 million views now, it was hoped it would be a springboard for Ethan to become a WorldSkills ambassador and “lift the profile in a trade that often gets sold in the wrong light”.

“For Ethan, one of the ambassadorial things in the back of his mind is to help make it more attractive for young people to gravitate to rather than get talked out of by parents or thinking it’s not worth doing the hard work.”

Ethan has been supported by his main trainer Andrew Hosking from Gympy, Troy, being his Illawarra trainer and his boss at City Bricklaying, Ken Tugrul, who also went through WorldSkills.