Not your typical Anglican Priest, Dave Smith has a black belt in Hapkido and is a 6th degree black belt in Pankration earning him the title ‘Fighting Father Dave’.
Since 1990 Dave has been the Parish Priest at Dulwich Hill in Sydney.
He has also fought for NSW super-welterweight kickboxing title turned pro boxer to raise funds for their Youth Centre and been awarded Citizen of the Year for work with young people
Dave founded ‘Fighting Fathers Ministries’, with the goal of offering an alternate culture to young people, based on values of courage, integrity and teamwork.
His Community Service record includes Father Dave’s Fight Club since 1991 and Trinity’s Youth Centre since 1994. Turning boys into men.
In 2003 he was awarded the Centenary medal 2003 for ‘contribution to the sport of boxing’ .
In 2004 his book, “Sex, the Ring & the Eucharist” was published and in November of the same year it became ‘book of the week’ on ABC National Radio.
2005 Saw Dave nominated for ‘Australian of the Year’
Father Dave has featured many times on Television news and current affairs programs eg. Current Affair, Good Morning Aust., Foreign Correspondent, etc. and is still appearing on Lonely Planet re-runs and on their DVD, as a local attraction in Sydney.
He has featured in over 100 newspaper and magazine articles and done more radio spots than he can remember.
He was the subject of one short film, “The Good Fight”,which was screened at various film festivals.
A passionate speaker with a wealth of knowledge, he is committed to ‘Building Bridges with Boxing Gloves’, – using the fight game to get teenage boys out of trouble with drugs, the courts, etc.
Dave is happily married to Ange with three children.