9. The art of foot execution
Kick Is the movement of a leg from its knee down to the end of its foot to strike the target. If the movement is vertical from below, it calls the straight kick.
If the movement slants to the left or right, It calls the sideways kick.
If the movement is curving up and striking horizontally or downward, it is called the round kick, which can be executed in several ways up on the height from the ground: the low round kick, the middle round kick, or the high round kick.
If the fighter raises his bending leg and suddenly flicks his shin or foot tip to the target, it is called the flicking kick.
Legs are the longest appendage in the body which provide the widest range strike. Plus, the tibia (shin bone) is a large, strong bone which can inflict severe damage on the opponent.
For good practice, delivery of a kick should be spontaneous with voluntarily of muscles from arms, shoulders, hips, trunk, and thighs. This will make the kick more powerful and devastating.
The targets of a kick can be any parts of the opponent’s body, depending upon how to execution:
The low round kick alms at the opponent’s knee folds.
The middle round kick alms at the thighs, waist, abdomen, chest, or arms of the opponent.
The high round kick aims at the opponent’s chin and neck.
Hooking kick is the kick that launches and then bends the foot before striking the shin down to the target swiftly. The strike can be from straight direction, or diverted to other targets such as temple, neck, or chest by driving the foot tip or shin suddenly.
Turn-over kick, usually called Ma Dit Ka Lok in Thai (literally means the ouse kicking coconut shell), is done by acrobatically turning over to strike the target with the heel, foot tip, or shin. The strike comes curvedly-downward along the direction ai turning over. This kick is best executed when the opponent is off-guard or off-balance.
Spinning back kick, as in Chorakhe Fat Hang and Kwang Llao Lang (page xx), Xa kick with the heel coming from sudden a turn around to the opponent, targeting the neck, chin, chest, and abdomen.
Drill kick is the uppercut of the foot ng upward to hit the opponent’s jaw bridge with the foot knuckle.
Jump kick uses the momentum of jumping forward to launch a kick in one step (or two steps if shuffing the feet), targeting the face, chin, neck, chest. abdomen, or rib cage of the opponent. The fighter can spring from either foot or both feet.
Pecking foot-thrust is the forward foot-thrust with toe curling to strike the opponent with the foot knuckles and heels. The landing target may be above or below the opponent’s thigh or waist. Before launching the strike, the fighter stands upright to bluff the opponent, not too stiU but moving around slightly to be ready on both feet consciously. The pecking foot-thrust can be used as a tactical offense to put the opponent off-balance before attacking with other techniques, or as a counterattack when the opponent makes a rush move and opens gaps. For example, if the opponent delivers the low round kick, use the peeking foot-thrust to counterattack at his kicking thigh, groin, or chest. Even when the opponent is well guarded, the peeking foot-thmst can be used to poke at the opponent’s abdomen or groin, making him off-guard to parry it and opening the gap around the upper part of his body.
Sideways foot-thrust can be used as offensive tactic by thrusting with a foot targeting the upper part of the opponent’s body such as chin, chest or abdomen, leaving him no chance to fight back after being pushed far behind. This can also be used as a defensive tactic like the pecking foot-thrust. Different from the pecking foot-thrust, the sideways foot thrust requires a sideways twist of the body before delivery. The bent leg suddenly flicks forward to hit the target with its heel while the body weight is transferred to the standing leg.