Grandmaster David Smith
 | David Ray Smith started karate under Grand Master Hill in 1971, at the age of 12 years. Although young Smith was clumsy at first, he rapidly grew to love the art of karate. He continued his training in a very large and demanding class. The Bremerton school was considered the best karate school around. They called it the school of hard knocks. |
Grand Master Smith has always been considered one of the most spirited and talented students that Grand Master Hill had ever produced. "he is more like Master Nakachi than any of my Black Belts", said Grand Master Hill.
During Grand Master Smith's training, he competed in many tournaments, winning over 150 awards. Grand Master Smith received his Shodan (1st degree Black Belt) September 11, 1976 at 17 years of age.
In 1980 Grand Master Smith began teaching his own karate class at the Port Orchard National Guard Armory. This is where he began to create a kata called "spirit Force One".
Grand Master Smith continued to teach and compete for Butokukan for over 18 years. Then in 1994 he decided to branch off Butokukan because of too many politics in the system.
The System is now called Spirit Force Karate (Chikara-ki) means "Smith's Way". Grand Master Smith's kata, Spirit Force One , has earned he and his students many awards throughout the Northwest, and was the inspiration for his system's name. Grand Master Smith won Grand Champion Kata at the 1994 Bremerton Open, and has continued to compete.
Grand Master Smith's idea of Spirit Force is to give each individual the opportunity to become Black Belts as well as Master's in our system. With the Spirit of the Eagle, we can soar beyond our dreams, and with the Force of the Lion, we can accomplish all of our goals.
