Kali Arnis International was founded by Grandmaster Vicente Sanchez.
Grandmaster Sanchez is one of a handful of Modern Arnis practitioners worldwide to be promoted to Lakan Walo (8th degree black belt). He is a senior master of Lightning Scientific Arnis International. He is also a member of the Modern Arnis Senior Masters Council, and a founding member of the World Kali-Eskrima-Arnis Grandmasters Council (headquartered in Manila).
During his 50+ years tenure in the Filipino martial arts, Sanchez has mastered four major arnis systems.
The following are the systems he mastered and that make up Kali Arnis International:
- Cinco Teros – under Antonio Javier
- Kasilagan – under Johnny Panuringan
- Modern Arnis – under Remy A. Presas
- Tersia, Serrada, Cadenilla y Espada y Daga – under Benjamin Luna Lema (Lightning Scientific Arnis Intl – LSAI)
Training in Kali Arnis International begins with Modern Arnis as the first step in his training progression. After a student masters Modern Arnis, he then progresses to Lightning Scientific Arnis, and then to Cinco Teros and Kasilagan.
As a side note, Sanchez and Presas met through Roland Dantes on the film set of “Pacific Connection” (alternate title: “The Stickfighter”). The two became fast friends, as they were both very impressed with each other’s martial skills. Presas was so impressed of Sanchez’ skill that he insisted upon including Sanchez’ Cinco Teros in the pages of “The Practical Art of Eskrima”.
(information on this page was taken from Wikipedia.org)
Kali Arnis International is one of the organizations our system is affiliated with and that I am also an instructor for, personally certified by GM Sanchez himself.
Grandmaster Sanchez is also the official grandmaster of our NYC kali organization, Lightning Scientific Kali Federation.
If you live in NYC and are looking to study kali, arnis, eskrima then check out our Filipino Martial Arts curriculum here.
