About the Owner

Derek has been involved in some form of athletics his whole life. During his early school days in Monroe, LA he ran track and played football. Once into college, he shifted directions from traditional sports towards the martial arts where he trains to this day. At the beginning, Derek trained in Karate, Kempo, and Kung Fu. After a time he came to find his own path studying with Sifu Debs Laird, a student of James Demile and Paul Vunak, studying Jun Fan Gung Fu / JKD concepts and Filipino Kali. His training with Sifu Debs ended around the time he graduated from college, whereupon he moved to Tulsa, OK to train at Gibson's Martial Arts Academy under the late Sifu Terry Gibson, whom he had met during the course of studying with Sifu Laird.

Once in Oklahoma, Derek was plugged into one of the highest caliber martial arts facilities in the nation. Kali, Silat, Muay Thai, Jun Fan, and ground fighting were core curriculum for everyone. In addition to Sifu Terry and his instruction, Derek trained with many visiting martial arts luminaries such as Ajarn Chai Sirisute, Guru Herman Suwanda, and Guro Dan Inosanto as well as all of the other excellent instructors at the academy and from abroad including Cathy Gibson, Marc McFann, Darian Whittaker, and Harley Elmore to name just a few.

Several years later after moving to California to work at UCLA Derek would find himself training directly with Guro Dan Inosanto at the Inosanto Academy of Martial Arts. The instruction and challenges there were without peer. Unfortunately, just a couple of years later, his fortunes headed north and he went to work in San Francisco bay area during the dot-com revolution. This occupied the next few years and training became an informal affair between friends and acquaintances.

Finally, several years later and finding himself in Austin, TX Derek decided that the time had come to have a place of his own and spread the love in his own way.

Derek has always pursued the best in his training through self-exploration and advocates this amongst his students as well. Trying to always fight the mental and physical rust, he has traveled to the homelands of Silat and Muay Thai to experience these arts in their own native cultures. If fortune truly does favor the bold, Derek will also soon be traveling to the Philippines for firsthand Kali experience.

Never believing in the dominance of any one art or discipline Derek seeks out new training and experiences to this day, folding in learning as it becomes available and appropriate. He also continues to fight regularly in the Dog Brothers' 'Gathering of the Pack' for new insights into fighting, aggression, and reality.