It’s hard to learn the game of tennis as a beginner. Having proper footwork, holding the racket with the right grip and trying to keep the ball somewhere between the net and the white lines all take time to learn. Most people can pick up the game easily enough, but Nick Taylor has had to do more than most.

Born with Arthrogryposis, a congenital disease that restricts muscular development and affects joints in the body, Taylor is confined to a wheelchair. Despite this handicap, Taylor has gone on to be a three-time gold medalist in Paralympic wheelchair tennis quad doubles.

He is currently the volunteer director of operations for the Wichita State Men’s Tennis team, and was the featured speaker at the WSU Distinguished Speaker Breakfast for the Alumni Association Tuesday morning at the Marcus Wecome Center.

Since the men’s quad doubles event was added to the wheelchair tennis Paralympic program in 2004, only two men have won gold in the event: Nick Taylor and his partner David Wagner. The pair won the quad doubles wheelchair tennis gold medal in the 2012 London Paralympic games.

Taylor’s accomplishments include over 100 tournament titles, four U.S. Open doubles titles, 14 straight World Cup Team and three gold medals.

Taylor began playing tennis in high school. All contact sports were out due to his condition, but Taylor said tennis worked with his wheelchair. Since he couldn’t find people to hit him balls all the time, he developed a way to pick the ball up with his feet and flip it up on to the racket.

When he began practicing, Taylor said he would bounce a tennis ball off his grandparents’ garage door every day. He would hit the tennis ball in the rain and snow, and even played handball until his hands blistered.

When Randy Snow, a three-time Paralympian and member of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, put on a wheelchair tennis clinic in Wichita, Taylor saw it as a sign . It was the moment that jumpstarted Taylor’s career in wheelchair tennis.

Though he is the Vice President of Wichita-based Wheelchair Sports INC., Taylor said he doesn’t see himself as a trailblazer in the sport of wheelchair tennis.

The former Shocker alumn holds three degrees from WSU: a bachelor in each Management Information Systems and Sports Information, and a master’s degree in sports management. He also teaches sports administration at Wichita State.

Taylor cited determination is what has gotten him where he needs to be. He said success means preparing to fail but not preparing to accept failure.

“My hitting a ball against a garage door has lead to three gold medals,” Taylor said. He challenges others to see their own garage door and visualize what their gold medal might be.