...at Shaolin will tell you that Damo did not originate martial practice at Shaolin, but that it was two of Bato's disciples who were the first to practice martial arts within the context of Shaolin, one having been mentioned and I will here slaughter their names, Seng Chou and Wei Wong, our story is they were former military men who gave up their lives of killing- one could kick a shuttle**** a hundred times or more around a well, or something like that. I'm sure someone has that reference handy so please help me out...(r.shaolin?)

Ji Guang, becoming Hui Ke, is also said to have been a former military man.
The story we have been taught is that Damo did contribute four forms, two martial of aspect, and two not: Yi Jin Jing (we call this a "sutra" and not a classic- there is no indication of this being a written work) the Xi Sui Jing (also referred to as a sutra) the Wu Xing Chuan, and also Lohan Shi Ba Sho which eventually gave rise to the Lohan systems and the "big" Lohan form, comprised of 108 movements. This form is considered to be very sacred and is rarely passed on in it's entirety. Lots of variants exist because of this.

I don't see why it is such a far cry to make the reasonable assumption that Damo was trained martially, considering where he came from...

So in the tradition we are learning, there can be said to be four major contributors to Shaolin gong fu- Batuo's two disciples sort of count as one, Damo, Hui Ke, and the abbot Fu Yu. I have not yet heard what specifically anyone except for Fu Yu and Damo contributed.