American Arnis Assn.
A blend of Filipino Martial Arts with  Okinawan, Japanese, and Chinese Martial arts.

American Arnis is derived from blending the Filipino martial arts, with martial arts from all over the world. It was brought about when Lawrence Sloan, a 1st Degree Black Belt in Okinawan Goju Ryu karate moved from Iowa to California in 1976.
In California, he met Remy A. Presas, the father of Modern Arnis. Together with Dan Rideau (Chinese Sanshou which is the precursor to Sanda) and Jim Power (Shotokan), they studied Modern Arnis with the Professor for the next three years, attending almost every seminar the Professor put on in California. Sloan also brought the Professor to Iowa in 1986 and introduced him to Master Bobby Barongan at a seminar.

Late in 1979, Sloan moved back to his home state of Iowa, where he immediately looked for a school to teach this new blend of martial arts. He began teaching in a school in Des Moines, Iowa, where he first met Angelito (Bobby) Barongan. Angelito (Bobby), owned a Kempo school in Des Moines, and because of his Filipino heritage also taught Filipino martial arts. The two immediately hit it off and have been close friends for over 40 years. Sloan and Barongan formed the Midwest Martial Arts group that did demonstrations for schools and other groups of people. Sloan was introduced to Sifu Jose Mendoza who taught WuShu Kung Fu in Des Moines.Through his relationship with Bobby Barongan, he was introduced to many of Des Moines' finest martial arts instructors.
Sloan then when on to start his own school in Ankeny, Iowa, "The Academy of Self Defense". Teaching basic traditional martial arts mixed with the Filipino arts and putting on Self Defense and Defensive Tactics classes for law enforcement and security companies.

In 1983, Sloan joined a midwest security agency as Sales and Marketing Director and Training Director for the agency, and during that time trained all officers in self defense and impact weapons (side-handle baton and straight baton). Sloan put on training for several Des Moines area suburb police departments. He left the security company in 1987 to start the Iowa Security Training Academy (ISTA) where he secured federal and state funding to train and certify security officers, effectively creating a new level of performance that security users could expect better longevity and performance. In Sloan's ISTA, the officers received Basic Security training, Industrial Fire Brigade, First Aid and CPR, and effective communications in written, oral, and radio communications as well as baton training and defensive tactics and control techniques.  During that time, he was offered a position by G. Gordon Liddy's to run the security training academy in Miami, FL.

All during these time periods, Sloan continued teaching in his own school(s). In 1983 he was promoted to his 3rd Degree in American Arnis Assn, and in 1985, he was recognized by the USKA (United States Karate Association) under Robert Trias as the System Head (5th Degree) of the American Arnis Association and while serving in the years since, Professor Sloan has been involved with many different martial arts schools and been active in the UKKS (Unified Kempo Karate Systems by supporting and putting on seminars at the UKKS annual gatherings.

Most recently, Professor Sloan was honored to be awarded the title of "Kyoshi" and ranked to his 7th degree by Soke Angelito (Bobby) Barongan, the head of the UKKS, owner of the Barongan Kempo system, and a three time inductee into the Black Belt Hall of Fame, the Kempo Hall of Fame and the American Kempo Hall of Fame.