The following is a review of a BF SAVATE seminar in NJ, written by
Rolando Garcia, of BAD FACTORY, NYC.

-----

Just wanted to post a mini-review of the awesome savate seminar
Armando gave a couple of weekends ago here in NJ.

Saturday was basically a six-hour (yep, you read that right) savate-
fest. He covered:

- footwork management: purposeful, rhythmic, natural footwork that
can fit into your stand-up game. Introduced very simple drills to
develop logical footwork that can be executed by anybody.

- tool development drills: expanding on the footwork theme, these
drills develop the tool as well as proper distance management when
executing them. The difference between a successful 5-strike combo
and a failed one is often distance. And these drills allow the
student to take advantage of the constantly changing ranges, and
adjusting their tools around them.

- manchete: a strike unique to savate, Armando emphasized it less as
a strike, but more of a set-up for power shots with decalage
footwork. Showed uses for fighting against the ropes or cornering
someone in the turn-buckle.

- close-range savate: showed proper head-placement, arm placement for
applications on the mat (boxe francaise) and off (lutte). Even showed
nasty head-butt set-ups that can be easily hidden during a ring
match.

After the seminar, Armando surprised us by saying "several of you are
ready to test", and he proceeded to put several of us through the
paces of a savate test!! This, after 5 hours of savate training! We
all did well, but talk about sadism!! LOL!!

All in all, a fantastic seminar literally changed some beginners into
savateurs on the spot.

Oh yeah, that was all Saturday stuff.

What does he cover on Sunday? Well, he's an assistant wrestling coach
in NC now, so he covered...

...stand-up wrestling set-ups! 2 and 1/2 hours of scrambling,
knockouts, tie-ups, 2 on 1's, sprawling, takedown setups, hip shock,
barrel rolls, drilling criteria, structure, collar&elbow, underhooks,
etc. He knew I was prepping for NAGA, so he gave this mini-seminar
(for free!).

AND, just when you thought he was done...by special request he does a
mini ginastica seminar! Tigre, cachorrao, some foot slappy thingy
whose name I forgot, great stuff!

Everything is sore! My toes are sore from the fouettes I threw, my
hip flexors are sore from the decalage/deplacement work, my back is
aching from all the punching, my lower back and butt are sore from
all the level changes....GREAT TRAINING WEEKEND I SAY!!!!







---------