Meet the Senseis
With over 480+ years of combined karate experience, our karate Senseis are ready to help you on your journey to black belt and beyond. Our program offers 15+ different instructors to choose from across our the Chicagoland area. Don’t limit yourself to training with only one Sensei when you can learn from
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FounderSensei Dipasquale, the founder and Chief Instructor of ISKC, holds the rank of Sichi-Dan (7th degree black belt). Mr. DiPasquale is highly regarded in the Martial Arts Community and serves in the following positions at the National and International level: Current President of the American Shotokan Karate Association, Former President of USA Karate, Executive Committee of The World Karate Federation, Vice President of Pan American Karate Federation and Regional Director of North America World Shotokan Karate-Do Association
Sensei DiPasquale was a member of the U.S. Karate Team for eight years and a Coach of the U.S.A. National Team for five years. He is a four time National Champion and won the U.S. team trial three times. He also won the title of State champion eight consecutive years.
Sensei DiPasquale’s first love is teaching others and developing community leaders, which in turn has lead to several International, National and State Champions.
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InstructorSensei Noia is a Yon Dan (4th Degree Black Belt) and has been training since 1987. He has been competing since he was 14 years old. He has competed both nationally and internationally, taking 3rd place in Kumite at the 1998 AASU World Championships. Mr. Noia was a member of the USA Team that placed second in the 2003 Shotokan World Championships. He is presently on the coaching staff for the ISKC Elite Kata Team.
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InstructorSensei Bajic began his karate training in 1987. He currently holds the belt rank of Go Dan (5th degree black belt). Sensei Bajic earned a Masters Degree in Sports Management from European University in Serbia. He was a member of the Serbian National Team for both kata & kumite (sparring). His accomplishments include: 13-time National Champion and 16 individual senior kumite medals from Balkan, Mediterranean, European & University World Championships. Bajic was also the gold medal winner at 2009 Shotokan World Championships held in Cancun Mexico. He also possesses a national coach license, a referee certificate and is the Head Coach for ISKC’s Kumite Competition Team.
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InstructorSensei Picchiotti began training in 1979. Currently she holds the rank of San-Dan (3rd degree black belt), and has the distinction of being ISKC’s first female black belt. From 1981-1985 she was the Illinois State Kumite Champion and has competed at various National and International Competitions. She has been teaching since 1982 and she was instrumental in the development of the Pre-Karate Program.
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InstructorSensei Lingl is a Ni Dan (2nd Degree Black Belt) and began training with ISKC in 2005. She started teaching in 2016. She is also a current member of the US National Karate Team taking a gold medal at the 2018 Junior Junior Pan American Championships in Brazil, a bronze medal in the 2019 Senior Pan American Games in Peru and a bronze medal in the 2021 Senior Pan American Championships in Uruguay. Lingl has also helped the Women’s Kumite Team take home Gold Medals from the Shotokan World Championships in 2019 in Portugal and 2022 in England.
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InstructorSensei Baker is a Ni Dan (Second Degree Black Belt) and began his training in 2009. He started teaching for ISKC in 2019. Sensei Baker earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Earth and Environmental Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He competes locally, nationally and internationally in both kata and kumite. Recently, Sensei Baker traveled to England in 2022 and Portugal in 2023 to compete on the United States Shotokan Karate Team.
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InstructorSensei Plocharczyk is a San Dan (3rd Degree Black Belt) and began training with ISKC in 1994. He has trained and taught with most of the ISKC senior instructors, both past and present. He began teaching for ISKC in 1998. In his competition days, he won two national championships in both Kata and Kumite. In addition to his career as a professional actor, Sensei Plocharczyk is also a college professor, and a fight choreographer, which has lead him to dabble in, and study several different martial arts.
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InstructorSensei LaTona began training with ISKC in 1998 and currently holds the rank of Yon Dan (4th Degree Black Belt). He has been teaching karate for over 15 years. His wife is also a Black Belt with ISKC and all three of his children trained with Illinois Shotokan growing up. He has competed locally and nationally in the Senior Adult Divisions, earning 7 medals in 7 National tournaments, most recently a 3rd place in kata in 2021. Sensei LaTona referees at ISKC Tournaments, is on the belt examination board, and has also served on the USA Karate Ethics Committee for the past 7 years.
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Instructor CoordinatorSensei Straza has been training in Shotokan Karate since 1990. He is a black belt in Shotokan and Tang Soo Do. He has been teaching for the ISKC since 1994 and was the 1995 and 1997 “Instructor of the Year”. Mr. Straza has competed extensively in individual and team kumite (sparring), winning 1st place in Team Kumite in the 1996, 1997 & 1998 USA-NKF National Championships. He also took 1st place in the individual kumite at the 1998 AAU World Championships.
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InstructorSensei Patel began his training with ISKC in 1994 and instructing at the age of 17. He enjoys teaching all aspects of karate, making his classes well rounded and balanced. Mr. Patel’s experience in teaching and training under many different instructors gives him knowledge of a wide variety of exercises and techniques.
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InstructorSensei Brown is a Ni Dan (2nd Degree Black Belt) and has been training with ISKC since 2002. Sensei Brown has competed locally and nationally since he was an orange belt. He is currently studying Exercise Science at Carthage College and hopes to apply his knowledge to help his karate students. Sensei Brown’s focus is to improve the students kata and kumite to ensure that their training is well-rounded. He enjoys teaching all age levels and ranks and encourages his students to be the best karate students they can be.
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InstructorSensei Frisvold is a 2nd Degree Black Belt has has been training with ISKC since 1998. He started teaching in 2003 and became a full time instructor in 2012. Mr. Frisvold has competed locally and nationally and has been a member of the United States kata and kumite team. He was a silver medalist at the Nationals and a bronze medalist at the 2009 World Shotokan Championship both in individual kumite and team kumite.
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InstructorSensei Clemens has been training with Illinois Shotokan Karate since 2010. He is a Black belt in both Shotokan and Goju Shorei. He has trained with many of Shotokan's more seasoned instructors allowing him to teach in a more traditional style keeping respect and discipline as core tenets of his classes. He lives by the phrase "work hard, play hard" and makes certain his classes are engaging having his students wanting more
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InstructorSensei Martin has been teaching for ISKC since 2007. She won 8 gold medals at Nationals. Sensei Martin is an international World Karate Federation official and is on the Referee Operations Committee for USA Karate. She enjoys teaching students of all levels and ages. Sensei Martin has had Sensei DiPasquale as her instructor for over 20 years and continues to learn from him and other instructors. She is the Vice President on the Executive Committee of the IL Shotokan Booster Club. Outside of karate she is an IT Technical Program Director.
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InstructorBio coming soon!