Taekwondo National Tournament

Offered to the men and women of Grand View University are 22 sports teams varied among both groups. Of the sports offered, individual athletes and teams have successfully made it to the next step of their season, nationals. Student athlete Taylor Gazzano proudly gives himself the title national qualifier. Along with qualifying, Gazzano is also a two-time All-American in his sport, Taekwondo.

Gazzano’s story is different as Taekwando is not offered at Grand View. Since age 8 Gazzano has trained and competed in over 100 taekwondo tournaments. “I traveled to places like Disney Land, and other states which was a great experience for me,” he said.

Prior to attending Grand View, Gazzano attended a community college in McHenry, Illinois where he fought on his hometown team and traveling teams. Interested in Team Phelps, Gazzano moved to Des Moines and enrolled as an education major. “I picked Grand View for no reason, but it ended up being fate because I fell in love with the school because of my choice to join the team,” he said.

Scott Phelps from Des Moines coaches Team Phelps. “I’ve been coaching for 40 years.” Every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday the team of 10 members can be found at Oakmoor Fitness Center training for their upcoming tournaments.

Taekwondo is a year round sport. Off season is not common for these athletes and every day of practice includes improving for future tournaments. The team works on kicking, agility, speed and technique.

On March 1, Des Moines held the State Qualifying tournament for nationals. “I expected to qualify, I qualify every year,” said Gazzano. Receiving two byes and winning against two of his teammates, Gazzano won in the heavyweight division. “He looked good and confident,” said Phelps. Three other teammates got the same opportunity as Gazzano, earning a spot to fight in the National Collegiate Taekwondo Association in Delaware. Leading up to nationals, the athletes began to taper down and practices became optional in preparation for the big day. “I just wanted to save my legs so we did exercises that benefitted us but didn’t wear us out,” said Gazzano.

This past weekend, four members including Gazzano traveled to Delaware with Phelps to compete for a spot on the World Championship team giving winners an automatic bye into Olympic trials.

Gazzano won his first two matches 10-2 and 19-9 leading him into finals. With two matches to go, he started feeling a strain of exhaustion during his break. “I had two more fights and felt so gassed,” he said. Gazzano says he stayed focused on all the work he had done leading up to this tournament which gave him confidence going into his last matches.

Losing to the eleventh ranked heavyweight in world 4-1, and the number one ranked heavyweight 14-4. Gazzano placed third in finals, leaving the tournament with a bronze medal. “I broke my hand in the first round of my last match and just held on as long as I could,” he said.

Next for Gazzano is the USA Taekwondo National Tournament which gives athletes another chance to possibly earn a spot at the olympic trials. “I’ve got one more shot to make it to Olympic Trials, I’ll have to do all I can do to make it that far,” said Gazzano.