Olympians provide karate instruction at USA Elite Training Camp in Sewickley

The Pennsylvania Shotokan Karate Club welcomed two Olympians for the 19th annual USA Elite Training Camp in Sewickley June 18-20.

Brian Irr and Tom Scott, who will compete for the U.S. in the Tokyo Olympics, were featured instructors for the event, hosted by PSKC chief instructor Dustin Baldis.

Irr (+75 kg division) and Scott (-75 kg division) will represent Team USA in karate with Ariel Torres (Florida) and Sakura Kokomai (California) this August in Tokyo. Kokumai was a featured instructor at the USA Elite Training Camp in 2016.

Baldis said the USA Elite Training Camp has been recognized as a leader in the grassroots development for Olympic level karate practitioners. Participants range from novice to elite level athletes, and dozens have gone on to compete for the USA karate team.

These athletes have gone on to compete at prestigious events, such as the Pan American Championships, World Championships, Junior Pan American Championships, Junior World Championships, Pan Am Games, World Games, University World Championships and now the debut of karate in the Olympics. All events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee.

Other instructors at the event included John Fonseca, who along with Scott are the only two male athletes to ever win two gold medals at the Pan American Games. Scott won in 2015 and 2019 and Fonseca in 1999 and 2003. Irr also won a gold medal at the 2019 Pan American Games.

Baldis was part of the first karate team to compete at the Pan American Games in 1995. He competed again in 1999 and was the first in USA karate history to medal at the games as an athlete (1995) and again as a coach when he coached the 2011 Pan American Games team. Also instructing was Chad Eagan, who has coached several World medalist in Kata (forms).