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Health & Fitness

Local Business Owner to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award

Hanshi Jim Smith of Yorktown Heights will be honored this May with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to Martial Arts.

Hanshi Jim Smith of Yorktown Heights will be honored this May with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to Martial Arts. This honor is being awarded by the New York Goju Association.

"It’s amazing to be respected in this way, to be honored for doing something I love," said Smith, a 10th degree black belt.

Involved in martial arts since the age of 5, Hanshi has many decades of training and teaching in the style of Okinawan Goju-Ryu and more recently, Goju-Te. He is also the Head Instructor and Owner of Jim Smith Karate in Yorktown Heights and has been in business in Westchester for 39 years. 

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Hanshi Smith has competed in numerous tournaments over the years, everywhere from Brooklyn to Spain. He is the coach of Team JSK as well as a director on the Board of many professional organizations. He has also developed his own style of karate called Goju-Te. It is the development of the Goju-Te system that awarded Hanshi recognition by, as well as a coveted red belt from, the World Wen Wu Council of Martial Arts in 2004. Hanshi is only one of 3 non-Asians in the country to be awarded the honor and title of Hanshi by this council. 

Congratulations on this achievement. 

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Lori Miley is the Program Director and Instructor at Jim Smith Karate in Yorktown Heights. 

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