As a state, Iowa is a barren wasteland in regards to quality schools of the styles you want. The only oasis, fortunately, is Iowa City, whose major university brings a cultural diversity observable in the arts. That said, many of these arts are taught temporarily. Silat, Kali, Jun Fan, Muay Thai, and more have all come and gone along with the ever fluctuating student body. I’ve jumped aboard when and where possible. A boxing club pops up—I sign up. An Arnis instructor moved away shortly after I began with him. For the single year he was there, I latch onto a kickboxing instructor who trained with Balicki and Inosanto. But they all eventually left the city, as did I after a decade.
The good news is that there are a few mainstays and they are ideal. The first is Bruce Heppner-Elgin, a really great guy once certified under Inosanto. Bruce teaches JKD, Kali, and grappling (including CSW) twice a week out of a gym—and he’s cheap! To contact him, call 319-321-3447 or try
filmmakerbruce@hotmail.com.
Another guy with incredible material is Leland Belding, who is ranked high under Hock Hochheim and teaches both Pacific Archipelago Combatives and well-organized hand-to-hand levels. He can be reached at 319-351-6628 or
mbelding@mecresults.com.
Teaching the same stuff, especially the Filipino material, is Darren Bogner just a half hour up the road. Call him at 319-851-4224 or email
CDBogner@NetIns.net.
Closer is Kojokan, formerly Jade Tiger Dojo, where Dan Coglan (319-665-8107) did some kickboxing and stickfighting arts but has changed his focus towards Aikido and swordfighting.
45 minutes west is Cedar Valley Defensive Arts, doing TKD, Hapkido, Self-Defense and Arnis (on Mondays). I know nothing of them except their website is
http://cvd-arts.com/xoops/
An hour east is the informal Midwest Martial Arts Group, where different instructors teach at the same time in a church’s rec hall. On Tuesday and Thursday, Ric Velando (563-289–3548) does Modern Arnis while Gary Schroeder (563-570–2998) works MMA, in particular Muay Thai and Jiu-Jitsu.
Personally, I loved what Dean Lessei taught but didn’t care for the man. Grappling used to be his strength but he now spotlights competitive kickboxing. And the distance to his school is more like 100 minutes, not 45 minutes.
There is also guy who taught privates in Kenpo and Kali out of his basement in Iowa City. He called his ‘school’ Fighting Arts Associates, but I’ll only give out his name in a PM because he doesn’t advertise.
Hope that helps,
Matt