These daily recaps were submitted to us by TeamUSA Team Leader, Mark Claypool.

Opening Ceremonies
After a 90 minute bus ride we finally arrived at the Granship Arena for the opening ceremonies. We marched in behind flag bearer Chance Hendrix (Car Painting contestant) and into a packed arena with polite applause if not enthusiastic from the Japanese in the crowd. A number of speeches were given by various dignitaries but the highlight of the evening was a rare appearance by the Crown Prince. A special entertainment session followed featuring a wonderful group that played traditional Japanese instruments and drums. A 90 minute ride back to the hotel got us back in at about 9:30 p.m., a little later than we would have liked given the fact that we had to get up early the next day for the first day of the competition.

Day One
All were quietly confident this morning and strongly behind each other. Upon arrival at the competition venue they were off to their respective areas to begin their competitions. There were about 50,000 spectators today, mostly school kids, all in traditional Japanese uniforms. It was very crowded.

Welding: Chance Polo was firm and steady all day. He was experiencing some difficulties with his equipment and it was swapped out, but there still seems to be an issue or two they are dealing with. We hope that will be ironed out on day 2. Chance is also coming down with something and had a sore throat that got worse and worse as the day went on. Team Leader Mark Claypool enlisted the help of the team's assigned Japanese guides and hopped in their car to hit a local 7/11 store to get cough and throat drops which were then brought to Chance around mid-afternoon. Chance's expert says he's doing just fine.

Hairdressing: Elisa Graybill got off to a bit of a rough start this morning with her men's contemporary event. She was having difficulty with the colors that were given to her. In the afternoon, however, she nailed her men's classic event. Tonight she was practicing in her room with the Jamaican competitor. Great to see the cultural exchange that goes on here.

Refrigeration: Doug Lavin was doing very well until a judge misinformed him about the markings on the pressure gauge that is used to test the refrigeration lines. Doug intended to test the line up to 145 pounds, however one of the judges told him the markings on the gauge were in 10ths when it sound have been hundredths. Can you say "lost in translation"? When Doug reached the mark on the gauge that he believed to be 145 pounds, it was actually 1,450 pounds! Then ... BOOM! The line blew up and sounded like a quarter stick of dynamite, sending school girls screaming for the exit! What a sight, not to mention sound! The judge was very apologetic and Doug was given extra time to fix things. Doug was pretty shaken for a while but rallied in the last hour or two. He missed out a bit of time for the project and didn't finish some things, but the quality of his work was much better than most other competitors.

Plumbing: David Moreno's steel-toed boots arrived in time for him to compete, but they are a size and a half too small so he's pretty uncomfortable all day long. He's a very deliberate worker, taking time to make sure things are done right. While it might appear that others are way ahead of him, we have found out that they are making many mistakes along the way. Time is not a factor in the various stages so we believe that David's approach will serve him well in the end.

Car Painting: Chance Hendrix needed a full body paint suit in order to be able to paint today, and he got 7 of them! However, Chance is 6' 3" and paint suits in Japan are made for people who average maybe 5' 6". Well, Chance will be the first to paint in capri pants! He's off to a strong start, in spite of equipment malfunction that dumped paint all over the floor. It set him back about 30 minutes and he'll have to rally in the a.m. on day two to catch up, something he's confident he can accomplish.

Auto Body: Phillip Lord feels he's right on schedule, but the scope of the overall project would be very difficult for the most accomplished technician to complete in the time allotted. That holds true for all competitors so it won't work against him. He's gotten his Lexus set up on the Celette bench system and is in the process of measuring the frame, then will pull it back into alignment. He's calm, cool and collected after day one.

Day Two
Everyone was at the bus early this a.m. and ready to reload and get after it. We thought we saw a lot of people yesterday but that was nothing compared to today. You'll see pictures of the crowds in the huge batch of photos I sent earlier. In addition, the Crown Price of Japan was a visitor today so security was very tight, making it very difficult to get from one place to the other. There are a total of 15 buildings being used for this competition.

At these events, the third day is always the toughest psychologically. You know you are half way through the contest but there's still half of the contest to go. It's a day where lapses in concentration happen frequently. I've tried to prepare them for this the best I can, the rest is up to them.

Part of my strategy to help prepare them for the third day on this trip included food. While the food here in the evenings has been quite fine, the team is growing tired of chicken, port and seafood. I told them on the morning of day two that we were going to go out to dinner together at the end of the day. This met with less than enthusiastic responses, they really didn't want more Japanese food. Then I told them we were going to McDonalds which was met by cheers. And McDonalds it was tonight. It was a little slice of home in a place far from it.

I'm hoping this will give them that little extra push to get through the 3rd day. The 4th and final day isn't as bad because you operate on adrenaline to bring it home.

Welding: Chance Polo did really well today. He told us that he got into the "zone" and his welds were laying down like "butter". You know things are going really well when several judges from other countries watch your every move in an attempt to make you nervous and get you off your game. If he keeps this up we should see some really good results in the end!

Hairdressing: Elisa Graybill did two projects today, Ladies Consumer Day and Long Hair Up. We think she did pretty well. She's feeling pretty good about how things are going. Her instructor says that Elisa is always good natured and takes things in stride. That's good, because the WorldSkills event can throw a lot at you at even given time. So far so good.

Refrigeration: Doug Lavin had a really good day today. He appears to be ahead of the other competitors on his project and his quality is very good. We are looking pretty good here.

Plumbing: David Moreno struggled today with his plumbing project. He was to bend pipe for a certain portion of his project. He said that what they are asking them to do isn't the way they do it in the USA and he only had a week to practice it. He's behind most other competitors on his project and will have to buckle down and play catch up tomorrow.

Car Painting: Chance Hendrix, our car painting contestant, is spraying a waterborne paint at this competition, something he has had the opportunity to practice with in the past and that practice appears to have paid off at least with the limited work in the booth he has done so far. He'll be in the spray booth first thing in the morning on day three to knock out several of the things that need to be done.

Chance is really an interesting character. He says he really hates competing at these type of events during the competition itself. "It's worth it afterwards," he says, "but I really hate it while it is going on." He tends to be his own worst critic and can be hard on himself. Fact is, however, he does very well in these competitions so whatever he's doing during the competition.

Auto Body: Phillip Lord is knocking things off the list one-by-one and is doing good, solid quality work. Most of his work today was on the right frame rail and upper apron assembly. "There's still a lot to do," said Phillip. "I'll really need to manage my time well to get it all done in time" To which I told him, "it's the same for everyone in the contest, just buckle down and do your best work, it's worked for you in the past."

Day Three
Chance Hendrix, Car Painting: Painted the hood and both fenders, tinted two paints to match (blue and gold). Prepped the hood for graphics that will go on it tomorrow. Will paint the bumper and hood graphics tomorrow. The left fender was put into primer and is ready to be spotted in tomorrow. Buffing final tomorrow. Chance felt he made up all the ground that he needed to today and should be able to finish the project without trouble.

Chance Pollo, Welding: The final welds were put on the vessel, he is within an hour of completion on that. He has to weld the stainless and aluminum project tomorrow. Should have no trouble finishing. All is looking very good.

Doug Lavin, Refrigeration: Successfully installed the Hitachi split a/c system today. Successfully completed the task one piping header project. He's ahead of schedule for the cooler. If all goes well with the electrical fault finding and the completion of the refrigerator project he feels he should be standing pretty good overall.

Phillip Lord, Auto Body: Fitted and welded the right frame rail. Finished the welds and fitted the upper apron. Successfully completed the air bag removal, replacement and diagnostic section. He then removed the left rear quarter panel and cut the new quarter panel for replacement. He should finish all of the big items tomorrow, leaving only the final finishing off of the welds at the very most but he hopes to get to that as well.

Elisa Graybill, Hairdressing: She finished the hair by night project, taking the previous consumer day project and converting it into a night look. In the afternoon she did a men's perm from a color photo. She feels that everything went very well today. Tomorrow all that is left is men's fashion color and cut and ladies fashion color and cut from a photo.

David Moreno, Plumbing: David had an issue with his boots earlier in the competition. He needed steel toed shoes and didn't bring his. He has size 15 feet and you simply cannot find anything that big in Japan. The UA was able to get him size 13 and he squeezed into them for two days. The experts met yesterday and let him wear his new SkillsUSA Timberlands. No one was happier about that than David. On the contest itself, David figures he has finished 75% of the cold water copper lines he's working on. He should finish that part on day four. He still has to run both hot and cold water tomorrow to test it. He says that most won't finish the overall project, including himself.