Grandmaster Vicente "Vic" R. Sanchez was a Filipino martial artist and the founder of Kali Arnis International.

Early life

GM Vic Sanchez was born on April 25, 1934.

FMA Styles

In his practice of Filipino martial arts for over 60 years, Sanchez mastered four major arnis systems: * Cinco Teros from

Pangasinan Pangasinan, officially the Province of Pangasinan ( pag, Luyag/Probinsia na Pangasinan, ; ilo, Probinsia ti Pangasinan; tl, Lalawigan ng Pangasinan), is a coastal province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region of Luzon. Its capit ...

- under Antonio Javier. According to Sanchez's teachers, this was the style of Arnis practiced by

Andres Bonifacio Andres or Andrés may refer to: *Andres, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Will County, Illinois, US *Andres, Pas-de-Calais, a commune in Pas-de-Calais, France *Andres (name) *Hurricane Andres * "Andres" (song), a 1994 song by L7 See also ...

. * Kasilagan (Kali Salag Ilag) - under Johnny Panuringan *

Modern Arnis Modern Arnis is the system of Filipino fighting arts founded by Remy Presas as a self-defense system. His goal was to create an injury-free training method as well as an effective self-defense system in order to preserve the older Arnis systems. ...

- under Remy A. Presas * Tersia Serrada, Cadenilla y Espada y Daga (Lightning Scientific Arnis International) - under Benjamin Luna Lema

Grandmasters

Vic Sanchez had been a long-time student and friend of

Remy Presas Remy Amador Presas (December 19, 1936 – August 28, 2001) was the founder of Modern Arnis, a popular Filipino people, Filipino martial art. Born in the Philippines, he moved to the United States in 1974, where he taught his art via seminars an ...

and Benjamin Luna Lema. Sanchez and Presas met through

Roland Dantes Rolando Pintoy Dantes (June 15, 1940 – March 16, 2009) was an actor, champion bodybuilder and Filipino martial artist who trained with Remy Presas for over 30 years. He was born on June 15, 1940 in the Philippines. He has also trained with ...

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". Sanchez was one of a handful of

practitioners worldwide to be promoted to Lakan Walo (8th degree black belt). He is also a member of the Modern Arnis Senior Masters Council, a founding member of the World Kali-Eskrima-Arnis Grandmasters Council (headquartered in Manila) as well as founder of Kali-Arnis International. Sanchez remained deeply loyal to his late friend and teacher, and continued to promote Modern Arnis making it the first step in his training progression. After a student masters Modern Arnis, he then progressed to Lightning Scientific Arnis and then to Cinco Teros and Kasilagan.

Awards

GM Vic Sanchez was conferred the ''Living Legend Award'' during the 1st Filipino Martial Arts Hall of Fame awarding ceremonies in 2012.

Death

GM Vic Sanchez passed away in June, 2017 after illness and hospitalization.

References

External links

Kali-Arnis International Facebook page

Cadenilla Eskrima Group
1934 births 2017 deaths Filipino eskrimadors {{Philippines-martialart-bio-stub