Techniques
Groveport Martial Arts Academy uses the Marsée family's style of Defense Dans La Rue. Defense Dans La Rue means "schools of street defense.” The various Defense (pronounced Defance) systems were developed in France during the late 1800's and early 1900's. During this time period France was over run with various street gangs that they called Apache (a-pash). It is estimated that both Paris and Marseilles France had over 30,000 gang members. These gang members made their "living" by gambling, extortion, and armed robbery. Most of them had at least a fundamental--but vicious--knowledge of Savate.
Savate is a French martial art that means boot. Not to be confused with Boxe Francais, which is a sport, Savate is a highly aggressive and functional self-defense that incorporates strong kicking, boxing, slapping and wrestling skills. It also has an effective weapons system utilizing the cane, knife, truncheon, staff and improvised weapons such as chairs, scarves, etc. In an effort to help the law-abiding citizens protect themselves from these street thugs, many of the legitimate Savate instructors began to develop systems of self-defense to combat the Savate of the Apache. As a general rule they all combine Savate, boxing, Ju-Jitsu and wrestling with street fighting tactics. The difference between Defense styles is more about emphasis than techniques.
The Marsee method places a heavier emphasis on street boxing and Ju-Jitsu then some other schools. We use the mechanics of boxing for the foundational framework that launches the closed fist, however we primarily use slaps, elbows, head-butts, strikes with the fingertips, and heel of the hand blows. Kicks are kept low and the knee is used frequently. In our adult classes about a quarter of the training time is spent on the use of modern weapon skills such as the knife, baton, cane, hand-load and improvised weapons. A great deal of time is also devoted to knife, club, and firearms defense. San Tora is our Ju-Jitsu method and the Butuhan system has been incorporated.
