Savate is, for want of a better way to explain it, French Kickboxing, known as Boxe Francais.
The punching system is pretty much the same as English boxing, which they refer to as Boxe Anglaise.
English boxing is basically London boxing, which we practice at STMA.
(New York boxing is different again from London boxing. In STMA at the higher levels we will look into NYB in more depth)
The kicks in savate are similar to the Oriental styles we practice already, but have a unique take, which makes savate a unique art, a true modern European Martial Art.
Bruce Lee referred to savate in great depth when he was developing Jun Fan Kickboxing, and many 2nd and 3rd gen JKD instructors in USA are seperately qualified savate instructors.
This is our primary area of interest in tapping savate - the different was the kicks can be learnt and performed.
The bai jong stance we already have is perfect for savate training.
The kick chamber is different in that the knee is raised high in groupe (chamber) before a frappe (strike).
The main way to kick is to turn side on with a thrust or round kick.
Staying front on in boxing stance to kick is secondary.
When making a savate kick you lean back and use your rear hand to augment the movement.
The thrust kick is called chasse and differs from karate kekome.
We will practice the chasse.
We will practice the savate footwork - marche.
The frontal chasse is like mygeri and is secondary
The round kick is called fouette.
It is similar to mawashigeri and is always done laterally with snap.
A new way of kicking is chasse bas - a low level thrust kick.
We already kick round to the thigh in low kix and thai.
In savate we now thrust kick the thigh.
The revers is the hook kick.
Revers frontal is an outside crescent kick to the head.
Pied bas is like sipat - a shin kick.
To summarise what savate methods we'll be developing:
Groupe high knee chamber
Marche footwork with body position and rear arm swing
Chasse median - body thrust
Chasse darret - interception
Chasse bas - thigh kick
Fouette round kick
Chasse frontal - front kick
Revers frontal - crescent kick
Pied bas - shin sipat
And of course we'll be bringing all this out in Savate sparring because at STMA if you see it taught, you see it fought.
After drilling and sparring KB Standard, by drilling and sparring low savate kix, the student finds his body and head kix take on the longer reach and he "just does" savate kicks at the levels of median and figure.
Chasse bas - thust leg
Fouette bas - round leg
chasse median - thrust body
fouette median - round body
fouette figure - round head
defence:
to defend the bas kix we raise the leg as in thai
to defend fouette median we use the parade bloque - similar to karate gedan barai and WC garn sao, but tailored to be used with a glove against a kick in kb.
Enchainments are ABCs - attack by combination.
They also refer to PIAs.
We are adding savate enchainments that all members will learn as a basis for their freeplay.
Members will need to know the savate terminology.
This will take time.
By the time you have repeated the drill enough times to remember the new names for the moves, you will have repeated it enough times to learnt it properly.
ABCs:
Set 1
Jab, pied bas, chas bas, revers, cross, fouette figure
jab, jab, lo cross, fouette - bas, r bas, figure
jab, cross, fou bas, r fou fig, chas bas, spin rev fig
jab, hook, r fou bas, rev, spin chas bas
jab, cross, chas bas, spin revers
set 2
jab, chas front, hi fouette, lo rear fouette
jab, cross, jab - r chas pied, chas bas, spin rev
jab, cross, hook, h fouett, lo rear fo bas, front chas
jab, f bas - fouette, C, J, dis chas
fou lo/hi, cross, jab, r fou bas, chas front
Set 3 def set:
against jab, cross - parry, slip
lo/hi hook, cross, fouette bas, spin revers
rear fouette - esquive, parade, fouette rear bas, f bas,
cross, fouette fig
rear chas front - soto uke, cross, fou bas, fig
lead fouette - esquive, r cut bas, jab, cross, fouette bas (guard)
lead chas front - ged bar, pied sweep, fou fig, pied
add abc:
against double jab - parry, slip
cross, spin revers, fouette, chas front
against jab, cross, jab, r fouette bas
parry, slip, slip, shield
loop
direct, fouette, direct
