Sensei Smith studied Okinawan Shorin Ryu karate with O'Sensei Nakazato Shugoro, 10th Dan Shorin Ryu, the founder of Shorinkan, since the mid 1960s while stationed in Okinawa during the Vietnam war, and thereafter while living on the island with his Okinawan wife. At that time he trained five to six hours per day, six days per week, during daytime and in the evenings. His daily “lunch-time” trainings allowed many one-on-one sessions with the master, who then would share bunkai and deeper aspects of kata concepts. After moving back to the USA, Sensei Smith (and his students) visit the honbu dojo annually for training, which since O'Sensei's passing in 2016 is led by his son Nakazato Minoru, 10th Dan Shorin Ryu Shorinkan.
Sensei Smith teaches Kobayashi Ryu karate as, in his words, “it was intended to be,” in a no-nonsense, traditional approach. With this combat version of karate he trained members of the Navy SEALs and of the Virginia Beach police SWAT team. On the other hand he developed successful sports applications based on traditional moves, and his dojo produced many champion karateka over the years. From 1973 to 1978, he served as head coach for the U.S. karate team, competing internationally, including in the world championships of 1975 in California and of 1977 in Tokyo. However, sports-karate is never confused with "the real thing", with karate-jutsu for self-defense purposes, at Sensei Smith's dojo.
His dedication, contributions, and successes were recognized in 1976 with the “Distinguished Service Award—Man of the Year” and induction into the USA Karate Hall of Fame. His way of approaching the art sets an example of how to combine—not to be confused with “to integrate”—classic Okinawan karate with sports karate.