The school was founded in March 1997, by chief instructor, Paul Marston Sensei. Growing from a modest 2 one hour classes a week in the local community hall to the present seven day a week dedicated centre.

With over 35 years of martial arts experience Paul Sensei continues to practice, travel and constantly review the syllabi taught at the Academy. Paul's personal journey has encompassed karate, judo, aikido, jujitsu, grappling, many traditional weapons arts, kung fu, modern combative systems such as Krav Maga and Budojitsu, as well as Philipino and Indonesian systems.

He has trained with many of the worlds finest Masters, including Rigan Machado, John Will, Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, Randy Couture, Dan Inosanto, Maurice Smith, Raymond Floro, Shihans Sugano, Tanemura, Hanley and others. Sensei believes the martial arts are a way of life, with numerous benefits and refuses to compromise on standards; there are no "instant” black belts at Sozokan Academy.

Sensei’s personal interests are practical street combatives, knife skills and women’s self-defence all of which he considers essential present day life skills. He holds the positions of WA Martial Arts Instructors Association Convenor, State President of the International Budo Federation and founder of the Edged Weapons Research Group.

He is also on the committee of the Confederation of Brazilian Jiujutsu, a consultant to the governments Combat Sports Commission, a contributing writer to martial arts magazines and forums and the resident  "expert" on the "Talking Martial Arts" radio show on 90.5 Sports FM.