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MARTIAL ARTIST: SCOTT AIMS FOR OLYMPIC BERTH IN KARATE
Jesuit grad is the top American medal hopeful for debut sport in Tokyo
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TOM SCOTT’S NINE INTERNATIONAL TITLES HAVE SPANNED THE GLOBE.
Year Tournament Country 2012 Pan American Championships Nicaragua 2014 Pan American Championships Peru 2015 Pan American Championships Canada 2015 Karate1 Premier League Brazil 2016 Karate1 Premier League France 2017 Karate1 Premier League UAE 2018 Pan American Championships Chile 2019 PKF Senior Championships Panama 2019 Karate1 Series A Canada
Tom Scott is the top-ranked American athlete in karate, which will debut as an Olympic sport this summer in Tokyo. (PHOTOS: COURTESY TOM SCOTT)
By Todd Jorgenson
People Newspapers
Having karate as an Olympic sport for the first time this summer in Tokyo gives Tom Scott a golden opportunity.
The Jesuit graduate has ranked among the top international athletes in the kumite discipline for years. In June, he will learn whether he has a chance to make history as the top American medal hopeful.
“We’ve always pictured ourselves as Olympic-level athletes,” Scott said. “Karate has always been one of the little brother sports out there. It’s just something we’re happy to have a shot at it.”
Scott will head to a qualification tournament in Paris June 11-13. He competes in the 75-kilogram weight class, for which 10 athletes will make the Tokyo field. The top four in the world rankings in each class earn automatic bids. So does the top performer from Japan, the host nation.
The top three finishers in the June tournament and two wildcard invites will round out the field. Scott ranks No. 6 in the world, putting him in favorable shape.
“You want to make it, but thinking about that isn’t going to help,” he said. “You just have to focus on the basics and execute your fundamentals.”
Scott started karate when he was 8. By the time he was 14, he was a member of the U.S. Junior National team and had to miss the first week of his freshman year at Jesuit because of a tournament in Chile.
After graduation, Scott earned a degree from TCU, but the demands of college caused him to reduce his travel schedule and contemplate his future.
“You have to do karate because you love it,” Scott said. “A lot of kids we lose because they want to play sports that can get you into college. For me, the choice was clear. I could have been second or third-string on the football team or travel the world to all these different events.”
Scott, 31, earned gold at the Pan American Games in 2015 and 2019. In 2019, his schedule included events in France, Dubai, Austria, Panama, Morocco, Turkey, China, Canada, Japan, Spain, Russia, and Chile.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, which not only interrupted his training but delayed the Olympics a year.
“It was really stressful,” Scott said. “I fell back in love with my sport during the last year by really enjoying it more rather than just grinding because of the Olympics.”
Since high school, Scott has taught at the Academy of Classical Karate in Plano, operated by his longtime coach, Brody Burns.
Karate won’t be part of the Olympic program in 2024 in Paris, and its status for 2028 in Los Angeles remains undetermined.
However, Scott isn’t sweating his first — and possibly last — chance.
“The Olympics is not an end for me,” Scott said. “I can make a living doing what I love, and still compete, and enjoy the sport for as long as I’m healthy.”
Dobbs Caps Ursuline Soccer Legacy With Scoring Milestone
By Todd Jorgenson
People Newspapers
“For her to be the first player to score 100 goals, really says something with all of the talent that’s come
Kylie Dobbs was aware of the through the school,” said Ursuline milestone when she took the field head coach Darrin Hedges. “Our enon March 5, but she had more im- tire team took her getting to 100 as portant accomplishments on which a personal goal. We knew we would to focus. succeed as Kylie succeeded.”
Nobody in the storied history Dobbs finished her senior season of the Ursuline soccer program — with 49 goals in just 20 games. But which includes 28 state titles and the last four will forever be the most numerous Division I college sign- memorable. ees — had ever scored 100 goals in “For my team, I wanted to score. a Bears uniform. Heading into this Then I just wanted to push for anseason’s TAPPS 6A championship other, and another. After the first game against Houston St. Agnes, one, they started rolling in,” she said. Dobbs had 99. “As the season went on, [100] start-
The senior’s historic first-half goal ed getting within reach. It wouldn’t was the game-winner, and she later have happened if the team hadn’t readded three more for good measure, ally pushed and helped me get there.” PCP_June2021-1x10Banne_Final.pdf 1 5/6/2021 2:44:39 PMfinishing her career with 103. Ur- Hedges, a local coaching veteran suline’s state title cemented Dobbs’ who just wrapped up his second seastatus in Bears lore. son at Ursuline, said Dobbs is one of
Kylie Dobbs scored 103 goals in four seasons for Ursuline, including 49
during her senior year. (PHOTO: CHRIS MCGATHEY)
the most gifted offensive players he’s ever coached.
“She can score several different ways,” Hedges said. “She can score with speed and has got a rocket of a left foot — whatever it takes to put the ball in the back of the net.”
After the season, Dobbs signed late in the recruiting cycle to play collegiate soccer at the University of Missouri, which will enable her to pursue journalism and eventually sports broadcasting.
“It all worked out by staying patient,” she said. “I wanted to play somewhere that I would be happy at the school even without soccer. It was meant to happen.”
Dobbs’ historic year earned her numerous accolades, including TAPPS first-team all-state recognition, and a nomination for United Soccer Coaches All-American status.
“The environment of Ursuline soccer doesn’t compare to anything else. It’s a pride thing. You want to work hard for all the girls ahead of you, or behind you, or next to you,” Dobbs said. “I’m happy that I could leave my mark on something that has meant so much to me.”
