From its inception in the 18th century when French sailors are said to have adopted a specialized fighting style comprised of very high kicks, savateor French boxinghas grown to include punching techniques as well. The skills of this punching and kick-fighting art and the fitness and confidence which come with its practice can be highly effective in self-defense today.
Savate: Martial Art of France examines the rules and techniques of French boxing by way of detailed, close-up photos and step-by-step instruction. A glossary listing French and English terms relating to this increasingly popular sport is included.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: A Really Good Overview On This Little Known French Martial Art Comment: I must confess that I have had this particular book in my library of martial arts book since it first came out in 1985 and only recently have I re-discovered it and took it off the shelf and gave it a much needed dusting off before embarking upon my next literary journey.
I found this book to be very informative and educational at the same time. For me, it was really fun comparing the various techniques to the ones I was more familiar with in my chosen arts of Karate and Tae Kwon Do. Although the delivery of a lot of the Savate techniques demonstrated in this book was very similar to the Oriental martial arts, there were some subtle, and in some cases not so subtle, differences.
If this book had any drawbacks, it would be the lack of detailed descriptions to explain some of the various techniques demonstrated throughout the book, and also a lack of larger photographs in some instances to really give you a good view of each technique. Other than that, I really enjoyed reading this book again and there were even a couple of interesting items I picked out to throw into my own repertoire of techniques.
Shawn Kovacich
Martial Artist/Author of the Achieving Kicking Excellence series.
