Savate is a French martial art that uses the hands and feet as weapons to attack an opponent. Savate combines western boxing with graceful kicking techniques to take out an opponent. Its main focus is on striking the opponent and it is a full contact style. Unlike other styles such as Muay Thai, Silat, and Yaw-Yan. Savate only uses the feet to strike an enemy and does not use the knees or shins. The word Savate means Old Shoe in French and is one of the only kickboxing styles that the user has to wear shoes habitually.
Savate was created by Michael Casseux and he opened the first establishment for Savate in 1825. Casseux opened it for practicing and promoting a regulated version of Chausson and Savate. This disallowed head butting, eye gouging and grappling and only focus on striking. However, this did not change the sports reputation of originally being a street fighting technique at the time.
In competitive and competition Savate, there are only four types of kicks and only four types of punches a Savate user are allowed to use. For kicks there's the Fouette, a roundhouse kick where the toes connect to the opponent, the Chasse, a front piston action kick, the Revers, a frontal or lateral kick making contact with the sole of the shoe, and finally Coup de pied bas, a low kick or sweep to the shin making contact with the inner edge of the shoe. For punches there's the Direct bras avant, a jab with the leading hand, the Direct bras arriere, a cross with the rear hand, the Crochet, a hook where the arm is bent and can be performed with either hand, and finally the Uppercut with either hand can perform.
Savate didn't start as a sport. It started as a form of self defense street fighting in the streets of Paris and Marseille. This type of Savate was known as Savate de rue and had the additions of knee and elbow strikes along with locks, sweeps, throws, headbutting and takedowns. Savate de rue translates to Savate defense in France.
