Steven Smith

Steven began his martial arts training at the tender age of 4. His parents had taken him along to pick up his older brothers who were members of the local Judo school. After watching the lesson a couple of times he began to pester his dad to let him join.
At the time his father was in the army and they were based in Germany. They were posted to Blandford in England where Steven continued his Judo training until the ripe old age of 8.
The next posting was up north to Catterick Garrison and unfortunately they didn't have a local Judo school. This didn't stop the young man who nagged his mum to buy him "the karate kid" and any other martial arts videos that he could get his hands on.
At the age of 11 the family moved to Catterick Village where Steven met a young man called Mark Trickett. He was 15 and was a blackbelt in Taekwondo. This interested Steven and so he started training again. The flamboyant style of Taekwondo suited his outgoing personality and he started to progress up the belts. He double graded his first  grading (to be expected when you consider the private tuition Mark was able to provide) and continued to train at the club until he was 14 and the club closed.
At this point he took a break for training spending most of his time revising for exams (or chasing girls?). He tried various styles including Karate, WushuKwan and boxing.
It was then in 1997 aged 21 that his friend Gareth told him about a "short old bald man" who was "rock hard" and teaching in the newly built sports pavilion.
He went down to the centre and after getting his butt kicked by most people in the room decided that this was the club for him. Arthur opened his eyes to a more reality based martial art and introduced him to the ideals and teaching that he strives to perfect to this day. He passed his blackbelt and instructors certifications at the end of 1999 and has been teaching ever since.

Steven continues to train hard and was the driving force behind the childrens syllabus. He now holds qualifications in various styles,  belts in Taekwondo and Judo. He is a 3rd Dan Blackbelt in Shinpo Bujitsu, 4th dan Blackbelt in Brithai (awarded by the British National Martial Arts association)
1st Dan Blackbelt in Nunchaku, Level 2 Instructor in Underwood Systems Defendo and creator of "Kid Smart" childrens self defense program.

Stevens proudest achievement of the past few years was to be awarded Instructor status by Sifu Jerry Poteet (an original student of Bruce Lee) in Jeet Kune Do.

"being awarded instructor Level in Jkd is a real honour. I feel that it is the final piece of the puzzle and is credit to how close Arthur got to the "structure" of Jeet Kune Do when he first began The Progressive Martial Arts Club."
Steven Smith 2006 (just after passing the course)


" I have trained in various styles but am the martial artist and man i am today thanks to the people who i have trained with. I would like to express my thanks to all those who have helped and continue to help me on my journey.
Special thanks to my Sensie Arthur Coates, my training partner and friend Gareth Mann and to all my friends and family that have supported me"
Steven Smith 2005