But to qualify for the team that will leave our shores full of eastern promise, candidates have to first be successful in the domestic version of the skills Olympics . . . the National Skills Competition, which was formerly known as the National Apprenticeship Competition.

The overall team for the WorldSkills competition will be drawn from the cream of the winners of the National Skills Competitions of 2006 and 2007, and for any apprentice or student involved in a skills trade, it will represent the high point of their fledgling careers to date.

The competition itself is broken down into a number of categories, with awards available across 39 sub headings.

The main areas of competition include Precision Engineering, Fabrication Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Transport Engineering, Publicising and Communications Technology, Construction and Hotel, Catering and Tourism Services. Some of the participants will be apprentices, while others (especially in the communications technology and catering services sectors) will be third-level students, technicians and graduates.

The main criteria for competitors (obviously apart from ability and a commitment to excellence) is that they must not reach the age of 23 by the year in which the competition will take place (ie, that they will not turn 23 by the end of 2007). This is in keeping with the rules of the WorldSkills Competition, because all winners of the National Skills Competition will be considered as possible candidates for the team which will leave for Shizuoka in November.

The National Skills Competition will take place across a number of venues, including DIT, Cork Institute of Technology and IT Sligo, in March, with the winners being announced between March 20 and 23. A special awards ceremony will take place in the Mansion House on March 24, with the winners receiving the traditional silver medal which denotes first prize at the National Skills Competition. But, while for some the medal will represent the culmination of their efforts, for others a greater adventure will be yet to come in Japan . . .

and who knows? Perhaps some of this year's cohort will emulate the achievements of Sinead Lacey from Wexford in Restaurant Service, Alan Parr from Cavan in Refrigeration and Ross Wasson from Donegal in Automobile Technology (Ireland's gold medal winners from Helsinki), and perhaps the team can even top the performance of the Irish team in Montreal in 1995, which surprised everybody by finishing third overall out of a strong field.