Hello people, New on here (i think i've spoken to yoda many moons ago). Don't know if any of you are still following this thread, but just in case i thought i'd say hello. I am a red glove in Savate, originally trained with Ollie in cambridge (the guy who wrote the webpage someone linked you to earlier) but now train in Guildford with my mad next door neighbour Rossy. I'm a moniteur level instructor but don't teach at the minute as rossy does such a good job and i've had a baby not all that long ago, but may be moving to Kent sometime soon and will probably open one then with my husband who has just started instructor training. Anyway, there are other newby instructors on his course who will hopefully opening more clubs soon, including in London. So there should be somewhere not too far for you all to pop along to and give Savate a try and see what you think, new people are always welcome at the Spectrum (Guildford) Anything else you want to know, drop me a line and i'll ask someone who knows! Keri
A litlle info on savate, but a wealth of information on most MA's, sorted by country: http://users.rcn.com/sroberts.enteract/
The earliest reference to Savate itself comes from literature: a poem written in the 1600s describes a savateur as either an angel or a devil. In Basque folklore, a hero named Bassojuan uses zipota (Basque savate) against villains. The Basque art is similar to [the French fighting style] Savate it's called called Zipota (shoe) which also survives and contains some stick-fencing. It is a very rough sport, involving a lot of leaping kicks and throws even in competition. The use of the Basque walking stick, a light five foot shepherd's staff, is taught in an aligned discipline called Malika. Several practitioners have competed very successfully in Savate-Boxe Francaise and la canne de combat. Louie (Ancient Scottish & European Martial Arts)
Marquis of Queensbury boxing rules are used in Savate, so where as you cannot get punched in the back of the head you can get kicked in the back of the head. The hook kick is very whippy and usually kicks with the toe The shase frontal is simillar to the push kick in Thai but hits with impact from the heel. side kicks spinning kicks and jumping kicks are also used. Savate players tend to stand very tall with their weight dispersed slightly more to their rear foot, I think this is to allow the lead foot to shoot out quickly and be used like a jab, and fast combinations of kicks and punches are used. One of the things I like about Savate is their respect of range, they will not kick when inn punching range but will quickly change range with the use of a side step which also changes the angle the attack comes in from.
