Cory Smith
Coach
Cory Smith began his martial arts journey in 1993 with Guro/Sifu Mike Keller and was introduced to martial arts legends such as Larry Hartsell, Dan Inosanto, Ted Lucaylucay, Herman Suwanda, Erik Paulson, Burton Richardson, David Gould, Aleksei Tchigirunsky.
He joined the
Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do Grappling Association instructor program in 1994 and continued training with Larry Hartsell until his passing in 2007. As a certified full instructor under Larry Hartsell, Cory continues to teach with the same principles that Larry Hartsell instilled upon him; keeping focus on what works, training honestly to reach ones goals and to assist in the continued growth of the Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do Grappling Association.
In 2005 with the blessing and encouragement of Larry Hartsell, long time training partner Tim McFatridge and Cory Smith founded the
Jeet Kune Do Kali Association to serve as a vehicle to connect, experiment and share with other like minded JKD/Kali practioners in a zero politics environment.
Cory continues to explore all that the combative arts has to offer. Introduced to Lameco Eskrima by Larry Hartsell, Cory continues to explore this system through the students of its founder, Edgar Sulite. In 2006, he was accepted by the Lameco SOG (original back yard group of Edgar Sulite) as "part of the family". Additionally, in 2011 he received his coaching certification under the legendary Erik Paulson in Combat Submission Wrestling.
He also holds the rank of purple belt in Brazilian Jui-Jitsu under Mike Gunnlaugsson. Additionally, Cory is one of the few civilians invited to participate in the Modern Army Combatives program and currently holds a level one instructors certificate.