Taekwon-do black-belt Nick Szakszon punched his ticket to worlds with a breakthrough performance at nationals.
The member of the Paladin Taekwon-do Club of St. Albert struck gold in the 4th degree pattern and open pattern divisions and was the silver medallist in the men’s heavyweight sparring and power breaking divisions at the Canadian championships two weeks ago in Brampton, Ont.
“It was the highlight of my career. Earning a spot on the world team is a very, very big deal,” Szakszon said. “I’ve tried twice prior but this is the first time I actually qualified for the world team.”
Nationals were his first major event after taking a break from competition because of family commitments.
“This is the first time in a number of years that I competed seriously so I’m pretty happy with myself,” said the Paul Kane High School alumnus.
Szakszon, 30, credits Paladin instructor Phil Mageau, his former training partner 10 years ago, for the medal podium finish at nationals.
“The past two years he made me alter both my performance and my career as a taekwon-do practitioner,” Szakszon said. “I’ve floated around a couple of clubs over the past several years until I found his club and it sort of revolutionized how I train. It’s a lot more of the technical aspect than just cardiovascular or fitness training. It focuses a lot more on the nitty-gritty, the why and the how, rather than just blow your brains out doing exercises.”
The ironworker with Local 720 medalled at nationals despite receiving a late invite to the competition.
“When I got word about the tournament I started to train very seriously. I went there to win and the stars just aligned for me,” he said.
Szakszon is among 50 juniors and adults from Canada going to worlds, Aug. 6 to 13 in Ottawa.
“It means a lot to me, not only am I able to represent my country internationally, but I’m also able to demonstrate the skills that I’ve gained a lot in my life doing what I love doing,” he said. “I’m also going to take my family there and my instructor is going to be there as well.”
Szakszon said he is the only person west of Thunder Bay who qualified for worlds.
“It’s going to be very nice to showcase that people out west are as skilled and as qualified as people out east,” he said. “Obviously I’m going there to win medals and perform the best that I can, but to represent my country and wear my country’s flag at an international event of this magnitude is going to be a huge, huge thing for me.”
He will go for the gold in 4th degree patterns and power breaking.
“Patterns are my forte. As for the power breaking, I sort of entered it just because it’s there and I ended up doing a lot better than I thought I would at it.”
Szakszon got hooked on taekwon-do 13 years ago.
“It’s an excellent martial art that has a rich history,” he said. “It’s also a very technically-minded martial art that allows me to focus both my mind and my body towards one goal.”
