Savate is a French martial art in which both hands and feet are used as weapons, while combining elements of western boxing with graceful kicking techniques. Unlike some systems, such as Muay Thai, which allow the use of knees or shins, only foot kicks are allowed in Savate.

Basic Tenents

Savate, also known as French Boxing or French Kickboxing is a martial art, which employs both the hands and feet as weapons and contains elements of boxing and graceful kicking techniques. Unlike Muay Thai, the kicking is done using the whole foot, not with the shins or knees. Save distinguishes itself from the 'harder' standup styles like Muay Thai by employing a more elusive of offense and defense. Savate uses glove colors to indicate a fighter's level of proficiency (unlike arts such as karate, which assign new belts at each promotion, moving to a higher color rank in savate doesn't necessarily mean a change in the color of one's actual gloves; a fighter may continue using the same pair of gloves through multiple promotions). Novices begin at no color. Promotion tests allow the fighter to graduate successively to blue, green, red, white and yellow. Silver gloves are the highest regular rank, and golden gloves are honor ranks awarded to save pioneers.

History

The history of Savate isn't totally clear, so this is a brief history of what is known of it. The public first recognized it in 1820, and it was concentrated upon the different methods and styles of foot fighting from various provinces in France, which were combined with open handed defensive blows. Michael Casseux is attributed in part for the creation of Savate. He would study the techniques of street fighters and hoodlums for hours on end. what once began as a bunch of techniques for hoodlums to street fight with, now became a systematic way of fighting for the rich and noble. interest in Savate also began to spread throughout Europe, Russia and even the United States. Lecour, Casseux's best student, dreamed of perfecting the art of Savate. When Lecour was to fight a well-known boxer, he decided to include the hand techniques from English boxing, he combined English boxing with French Savate. This resulted in French boxing, or Boxe Francaise Savate. since then, French Boxing took off, and has been seen around the world.

Techniques

In competitive or competition savate which includes Assault, pre-Combat, and Combat types, there are only four kinds of kicks allowed along with four kinds of punches allowed:

Kicks

fouett� (literally "whip", roundhouse kick making contact with the instep), high (figure), medium (median) or low (bas)
chass� (side or front piston-action kick), high (figure), medium (median) or low (bas)
revers (frontal or lateral "reverse" or hooking kick making contact with the sole of the shoe), high (figure), medium (median), or low (bas)
coup de pied bas ("low kick", a front or sweep kick to the shin making contact with the inner edge of the shoe, performed with a characteristic backwards lean) low only

Punches

direct bras avant (jab, lead hand)
direct bras arri�re (cross, rear hand)
crochet (hook, bent arm with either hand)
uppercut (either hand)

Savate didn't begin as a sport, but as a form of self-defense fought on the streets of Paris and Marseille. This type of Savate was known as Savate de Rue. In addition to kicks and punches, training in Savate de Rue (savate Defense) includes knee, shin and elbow strikes along with locks, sweeps, throws, head-butts, and takedowns. the concept is that whole body is a weapon. It is a reality-based fighting system.

Kicks:

fouett� (literally "whip", roundhouse kick making contact with the toe), high (figure), medium (median) or low (bas)
chass� (side or front piston-action kick), high (figure), medium (median) or low (bas)
chass� italien (aimed at the opponent's inner thigh, with the toe pointed at the opponent's groin. Contrast the chass� bas lateral, which targets the front of the thigh.)
revers (frontal or lateral "reverse" or hooking kick making contact with the sole of the shoe), high (figure), medium (median), or low (bas)
coup de pied bas ("low kick", a front or sweep kick to the shin making contact with the inner edge of the shoe, performed with a characteristic backwards lean) low only, designed to break the shin bone.
coup de pied bas de frappe (coup de pied bas which is used to strike the opponent's lead leg)[4].

Punches:

direct bras avant (jab, lead hand)
direct bras arri�re (cross, rear hand)
crochet (hook, bent arm with either hand)
uppercut (either hand)

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savate#See_also http://www.kombatarts.com/Classes/Savate/index.html

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