The Fouette By Salem Assli © 2002
Savate's powerful Round kick
"The fouette is savate's kick for all seasons, because it can be used with any technique and from any angle."
Among all the various kicks of savate of French boxing, the fouette is the most popular and widely known. Anyone who has received a fouette to the solar plexus, liver or stomach will never question its efficiency.
But where does its power come from? Many people have asked me the difference between a savate and a Thai boxing round kick? I've often heard martial arts great and seminar favourite Dan Inosanto answer, "Thai boxing is like striking with a baseball bat, and savate will be like striking with a hammer."
This is a perfect explanation, because in Muay Thai the practitioners are bare footed, so they to use the shin, which is the most powerful part of their legs, for striking.
But savate evolved in the streets of Paris, where people wear boots or leather shoes with hard soles and hard tips. Because the shoe is a dangerous weapon, it didn't matter if the opponent had steel abs: if the fouette hit its target, he would drop and ask for oxygen.
The fouette is a kick, which can be delivered with the front or rear leg in a low, medium, or high line. To deliver a proper fouette, the body must be upright and the support leg straight for the medium and high line kicks. In a low line the support leg should be bent, mainly t o avoid getting into hands range.
At the moment of delivery, the guard position changes and the body takes the characteristic position of all fouettes, called in French 'Groupe-fouette.' In this position, the thigh is adducted (raised) against the hip and body. The knee faces the target and the foot is extended. The hips are in profile to the opponent's body and the support foot is turned between 90 and 180 degrees. The support foot must be absolutely flat on the floor. From this position, the body pivots toward the target and the kick is thrown vigorously toward the target. Both hands should stay up in a protection position.
This is necessary to strike again with the same kick, to switch angles, or to deliver another type of kick with the same leg. After you deliver the kick, return to the primary fighting stance. Never let the kicking leg fall easily forward to avoid a counter kick from the opponent.
The fouette can be used for attack, defence, and counter. The fouette can strike at all angles and all levels, against an opponent who escapes to the left or to the right, forward or backward. This kick is also used a great deal in combinations because the fouette can be delivered with power and finesse.
Its principle advantage is its great speed, especially while using the front leg since there is no rotation of the body.
In general, the fouette with the front leg is less powerful, but much faster than the kick delivered with the rear leg. It is then necessary when using the front leg to go for a sensitive target such as the inside of the leg, liver, stomach or solar plexus.
Being delivered with a snapping action does not make the fouette a kick without power. Like many Thai, the fouette uses the rotation of the body plus hip motion, but is done in a more subtle way.
Again the shoe protecting the foot becomes a formidable weapon. As with all other kicks, proper distance must be maintained for any kick to be effective. If the fouette is delivered too close, the leg cannot fully extend and efficiency and effectiveness is limited.
The opportunities to deliver the fouette are numerous.
Here are a few of the examples.
Low Line: Here the fouette is most often delivered with power, exclusively using the instep of the shoe and trying to cut the opponent's leg at his knee level, to the thigh, or to sweep one or both legs.
A fouette to the calves can cramp the muscle so badly it often makes the opponent unable to stand on his kicked leg. When you deliver a low fouette to the knee level or the calf, the support leg must be bent. The support leg acts like a spring to give better balance and make it most difficult for the opponent to reach you with his fists.
Medium Line: Most of the blows in medium lines should be 'en finesse' and fast, using mostly the point of the shoe in a snapping motion. It is critical to be well covered while delivering the fouette.
While in a matched stance, for example, the fouette with the front leg and the point of the shoe to the pit of the stomach is effective when the opponent moves forward. The fouette to the sternum is also effective while using the tip of the shoe right between the opponent's guard.
The same technique can be useful from an unmatched stance but applied with the rear leg. The fouette can act like a knife and stab between the opponent's elbow and hip bone. By applying the fouette with the foot in flexion, the savateur can reach behind the arms and attack the ribs or kidneys.
High Lines: The fouette strikes the lateral and anterior sides of the face and neck. Many knockouts occur with the point of the shoe to the temple. The savateur uses the foot in flexion to strike behind the gloves, which cover the opponent's guard (i.e., stab through their guard).
As a feint: The fouette can be used for a feint instead of a hand combination, or another foot technique.
For instance;
A feint of fouette high and deliver fouette low A feint of fouette low rear leg and crochet gauche( left hook) A feint of high fouette rear leg and low chasse (sidekick) with the same leg
The basic parries against the opponent's medium fouette are;
Parry in opposition: By using the opposite hand to your opponent's kick, you can stop The kick in motion by catching the tip of his shoe inside your open glove. The free hand must be held up to protect the face.
Parry in protection: Using the hand opposite the kick, catch the inside tip of the shoe with an open glove. The hand that catches the kick should not be against the body, but about six inches away to hold absorb the blow.
Block parry: The arms protect the body. The fouette are held at a slight angle to divert the blow's power.
Deflection or scoop parry: This parry is done with the opposite hand from the opponent's kick. The scoop can be interior or exterior. The scoop must be energetic and powerful and followed up with a counter before the opponent has the time to recover.
These are the basic parries allowed for competition. All other parries are forbidden and their use is allowed only for street defence. It is forbidden to block kick with the knees and shins, except when immediately countering. For example, after a parry of a medium fouette with the leg raised, counter immediately with a low fouette to the opponent's support leg.
Here are some examples of combinations called 'enchainment' in French, when using the fouette.
Using the same leg: A fouette followed by a lateral chasse in any of the three lines: low fouette bas followed by a high fouette; low foutte followed by a latera reverse kick to the face.
With the other leg: Fouette followed by fouette in any of the three lines; lead leg fouette followed by a spinning reverse kick; fouette medium lead leg followed by a sweeping coup de pied bas.
Followed by hands: Low fouette front leg followed by a jab-cross; low fouette rear leg followed by left and right hooks; fouette medium front leg followed by a cross to the body.
Here are some examples against an opponent's fouette;
Against a low fouette: Step to the side and deliver a low chasse to the thigh or body.
Against a medium fouette: Blocked parry with a step to the side to absorb the blow and delivery a jab-cross to the body.
Against a high fouette: Deliver a low fouette to the support leg after a blocked parry or evasion.
The fouette is most commonly used in competition or actual combat because of their power. Also, they offer a better chance of scoring without a great deal of risk.
Two hundred years ago, some schools only taught the fouette in medium line, calling it the 'coup de pied de flanc.' Some others taught the fouette to the chest, calling it the ' coup de pied de poitrine.' Still others taught the fouette high.
Today, it is obvious that the higher the leg is raised, the better the chance of losing your balance. It is all a matter of timing: all levels of fouette are efficient provided you know how to make them work.
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