Jim Craig, owner and Shihan (Head Instructor) at Westside Martial Arts has been training in Okinawan Shorin-ryu karate since 1974.  Since 1992, Mr. Craig has dedicated himself to teaching children and adults the invaluable self-defense principles contained within the Shorin-Ryu tradition. 

Mr. Craig currently holds the rank of Yondan (4^th degree blackbelt).

"The birth of my daughter was the turning point for my making a commitment to helping the community to cope with the violence we see around us. I firmly believe in non-violence, and karate is the perfect vehicle for dealing with potentially violent situations. In karate, there is NO first strike. The use of karate is an absolute last ditch effort to protect oneself after all other avenues of conflict resolution have been tried. Karate is not about learning to control violent people through the use of violence. That's insanity! Karate is about learning to do the best you can to control yourself to prevent violence and if one should ever HAVE to defend themselves physically, they can do so quickly and efficiently."