Stephen Spivey is a worldwide leading authority in self defense. At an early age, he was wired for reality-based self defense. He started his training in the adversarial streets of New Orleans. As fighting was common place in his neighborhood, his mother enrolled him in a local martial arts studio and, as they say...

Jason Garner has been in love with the martial arts since he was a kid. That passion has never faded. He has a tenacious approach in spreading the MaxDefense ethos to everyone he comes in contact with.

Jason's martial arts experience is diverse. He started studying under Stephen Spivey in 1993. He has studied, American Karate, Jujitsu, Krav Maga, with his finishing point being American Combat System and MaxDefense.

A leader in the highest sense of the word, Jason is there to make sure your self defense experience is the best that it can be!

Faith plays an important part in Ryan's life. He is very active and loves athletics. Some of the activities he enjoys are surfing, skating, playing drums for his church, and sailing. Ryan has his concealed weapon license and likes to go to the shooting range with his wife Melissa. He goes to the gym daily, working out is a must.

Being very outgoing, helping others comes naturally, it is a rewarding experience in itself. So to be able to help others protect themselves and their family is a blessing for Ryan.

Scott began taking American Karate in 1987 at the age of 21 in Conyers, Georgia.  In just weeks after starting karate, Scott fell in love with the sparring and self defense. He started traveling around Atlanta to work out and learn from some of the best in the city.  Traveling around the city during the week and fighting the tournament circuit every weekend, Scott developed and became a well respected competitor in tournament fighting.  His proudest moment was taking 1st Place in “The Battle of Atlanta” tournament in 1989.

Training under Stephen Spivey since 2003 David has become a valuable cog in MaxDefense. David is always there to go through the sometimes punishing job as an "Oppman."

Along with training in MaxDefense and American Combat System, David has trained in Thai boxing, Jujitsu, Shootfighting, and American Karate.

Jarred has put in hundreds of hours training in American Combat System and is a senior instructor. Faithful to the core he is always there to lend a helping hand in anyway he can. He is the senior Oppman with Maxdefense and is a very knowledgeable instructor.

We are pleased to have Walter GIOIELLI of the Rough Program join Maxdefense as our European Director. Walter's martial art experience began at the age of 8 and he has not stopped training to better himself as an elite martial artist. He resides in Italy where he is S.O. Infantryman in the Italian Army. His experiences in the Army have brought him to Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan, among others.

Through these experiences Walt's mission became very clear. He wanted to educate people on the ever increasingly violent world and the predators that walk among us. In Walt's own words, "Reading a news-paper, watching TV or talking to other people make us realize that we’re not in a bell glass or within a boundary wall; we think that events always happen to others and never to ourselves or to our families. That is just not true. Frequently laws don’t protect us and justice seems to be somewhere else so we have to fight to preserve what we care about. The World is turning violent and knowing self-defense is the only way to not become prey."

We are proud to have another "brother in arms" join MaxDefense in our mission to educate people in safety and self defense! Please stop and visit Walter along with his staff at www.roughprogram.com