Chassé / Thrusting Kick
Chassé
A direct, piston-like kick in savate delivered forward or sideways with the heel or sole, which drives and pushes the opponent back rather than whipping into them like fouetté.
Quick Facts
Definition
Chassé is a direct, piston-like savate kick whose essence is a linear extension of the leg forward, to the side, or slightly backward, unlike the arcing fouetté, which approaches the target from the side. It is performed by drawing the knee toward the body and then snapping the leg sharply out toward the target, with contact usually made by the heel or the whole sole of the savate boot. Depending on direction, it is classified as chassé avant (forward), chassé côté (sideways), and chassé bas (low, to the opponent's knee or shin, often used as a defensive stop-kick against an advancing opponent). Because of its straight-line trajectory, chassé is quicker to deploy than fouetté but less powerful, so it is often combined with hand strikes in sequences called combinaisons. Chassé bas is also one of the few kicks traditionally used in French boxing to halt an opponent's advance without opening up one's own guard.
Related Terms
Traditional French martial art combining Western boxing with precise kicking delivered in padded boots.
Fouetté / Whip KickFouettéA whipping, circular kick in savate that strikes the opponent from the side with the point of the boot, similar to a karate mawashi-geri but with a more pronounced whipping arm motion.