Game designer joins UK competition team
AN talented young 3D game art designer based in Runcorn has been picked to represent Team UK at the WorldSkills Finals in Abu Dhabi.
Daniel McCabe, 18, from Cheshire, who works for Codemasters in Runcorn and trains at West Cheshire College, has been honing his skills around the clock since he struck gold at the EuroSkills Finals in Gothenburg last December.
Daniel underwent an intensive final four-day selection process in Manchester last month after conquering two years of regional and national heats and Europeand finals. He will now join up with the nation’s best to compete against the world elite.
A WorldSkills UK spokesman said the contenders will now undergo a rigorous regime of Olympic-style training in preparation for the competition.
Their skills will range from aircraft maintenance and mechanical engineering through to restaurant service and cyber security. Daniel said: “I am shocked. “If you ask anyone that has been at the competition with me, they will tell you I wanted this more than anything.
“I don’t know where I would be ● if I didn’t enter competitions, but I know I wouldn’t be in as good a job and as good a place in life.
“These competitions have improved my life and career immensely.”
Dr Neil Bentley, WorldSkills UK chief executive, said: “This is a critical moment for the future of these inspirational young people – and our economy.
“The WorldSkills Finals in Abu Dhabi are more important than international sporting fixtures spurring on competitors to achieve the highest international standards to inspire more and more young people to get into apprenticeships and technical careers, getting them off to the best start in work and life.
“Our ability to produce the right number of skilled, motivated, young people is vital for productivity, competitiveness and economic growth.
“Skills top the agenda of so many organisations – governments across the UK and the CBI (Confederation Of British Industry) through to the trade unions and education sector.
“Team UK represents the very future success of our economy and what they represent will help determine whether we thrive or fail post Brexit.”
WorldSkills UK is an independent organisation aiming to boost the prestige of skills learned through courses such as apprenticeships.