Central Texas Combatives Training Group

History of CTCTG
& Its Legacy at Fort Worth Combatives

The Central Texas Combatives Training Group (CTCTG) was founded as a collaborative martial arts and combatives community focused on practical self-defense, cross-discipline training, and structured skill development. Built on principles of real application rather than random memorization, CTCTG brought together instructors and practitioners from various systems—including grappling arts, traditional martial arts, weapons awareness, and reality-based combatives—to build a learning environment rooted in cooperative pressure testing, foundational fundamentals, and shared standards of instruction.

Fort Worth Combatives became a valued member of the CTCTG family early in its evolution, serving as the group’s Fort Worth branch and hosting seminars, workshops, and regular classes rooted in combatives fundamentals. This affiliation helped shape the academy’s core training philosophy: prioritize structured progressions, movement economy, awareness under stress, and decision-making that works outside of scripted drills.

CTCTG was officially formed in 2009 when two soldiers, both "training junkies", met over a cup of coffee. Outside of their military training, both had spent substantial time and money traveling all over the country seeking the best additional training possible. They also both wanted to hone the skills they had learned at seminars through routine training at home. So they decided to start a training group, who's essential tasks at that point was:

To bring the highest quality training possible to Central Texas (so they don't have to travel).
And to build a local group of highly skilled training partners.

Once they had identified what we needed to do, they set out to make it happen. "If you build it, they will come" was the operating model for their first events. They proceeded to announce gatherings on various discussion boards and were truly overwhelmed by the outpouring of response. They knew they were not the only people out there interested in the idea of local self defense training opportunities, they where surprised in the about of truly skilled and dedicated people there where in Central Texas.

At first the main group met twice a week with the occasional weekend events. Since both founders had a huge amount of previous training and experience conducting groups, there were plenty of material to go around. No one was considered an instructor, or guru, instead everyone contributed what they knew. Central Texas Combatives Training Group described itself as "an informal group of military, law enforcement, and self-reliant citizens who seek to improve their personal defense skills.” The group found that an individual, training with just his local group, could develop a very high degree of fighting competence. Further, with the proper diagnostic tools an individual could make the best decisions about his training.

CTCTG’s Influence on Our Training Culture

Through the CTCTG network, Fort Worth Combatives expanded beyond its earliest traditional offerings to include complementary systems. The group also hosted community seminars, extended training weekends, and cross-region workshops that helped unify training standards while giving students meaningful opportunities to measure progress and test skills in varied contexts.

Where That Legacy Continues Today

CTCTG affiliation and specific meetup events are still a part of our regular schedule today, and the training philosophy it embodies still lives in how we teach and structure our classes. If you’re here researching CTCTG or combatives lineage, here are the current training paths at Fort Worth Combatives that best carry forward that intent:

Check out our current Schedule