Side Kick (Achieving Kicking Excellence, Vol. 10) Paperback – February 14, 2007

I have been practicing the martial arts since the age of 14. This year will mark the 40th year that I've studied one system of combat or another. Additionally, I have been a police officer for 31 years and my profession has occasionally offered me the opportunity to use the thingS that I've learned in the Dojo. I have an entire set of Shawn Kovacich's superb series on Achieving Kicking Excellence (Vol. 1- 10) and can truthfully say that I have seen no more thorough books on the art of kicking in the all my years in the martial arts. The kicks covered (one per volume) include the back kick, the heel kick, the axe kick, the crescent kick, the reverse crescent kick, the front kick, the hook kick, the hatchet kick, the round house kick, and the side kick.Each volume begins with an overview of the kick and instructions on how to make the best possible use of the kick. Chapter 1 delves into the anatomy of the kick and which muscles are used, and in what manner, to achieve the maximum possible efficiency in kicking.Chapter 2 outlines a stretching program and offers helpful tips in that area for the student. Chapter 3 deals with the basic principles of kicking movement. These include the striking implement, target areas, stability (a biggie!), balance, alignment, sequence of movement, accuracy. Strength, speed, timing and distance, impact, retraction, and visualization. Each area is explained in detail as it relates to developing your kicking ability.Chapter 4 deals exhaustively with the primary kick. It follows the kick from initiation through each phase of the kick to impact, recoil, and recovery. He troubleshoots the problems that many martial artists experience with the kick at each phase and offers corrective actions for each problem.Chapter 5 goes over pretty much every variation of the kick known to man and these are dissected with master Kovacich's usual thoroughness.Chapter 6 is one of the strongest parts of the book for me. In this chapter, Master Kovacich discusses training and practice methods. He details skill, strength, speed, and power training. Learning how to do the kick is only half the battle. Developing the kick through specific training methods and exercises is the other half and is usually overlooked by other authors.As if he hadn't already done enough in this area, Master Kovacich outlines further specific trouble areas for the student in chapter 7. Chapter 8 covers kicking applications for tournament and street.. Master Kovacich shows how the kick is set up and how delivery can be affected by your opponent's actions as well as your own.In chapter 9 you can see why Master Kovacich's kicks are so good and why you should pay attention to his advice. He is in the Guiness Book of World records for throwing more high kicks in an afternoon that I believe I have thrown in my life.If you desire to become a more powerful, competent kicker, then these books represent an important investment for you . I can tell you that, even after 40 years of fighting experience, there are things in these books that have made me re-think some of my training methods regarding kicking.Master Kovacich will be coming out with a new series of books dealing with the combat applications of each kick in the near future. As I'm sure these books will cover combat applications with the same thoroughness of this series, I eagerly await their publishing.

The tenth book of Shawn Kovacich's Achieving Kicking Excellence series features detailed instruction on the side kick and ten of its main variations. Bringing this initial series to a conclusion, these ten books are without a doubt the most detailed written work on kicking available. When completed, Kovacich's next volumes on applications and defending against kicks will make a kicking library like no other. However, I am getting ahead of myself, and must focus only on "Side Kick" right now and wait till Kovacich's future kicking series are complete before discussing those.This volume is similar with the first nine in its format and contents. Like the previous texts, this book contains short chapters on anatomy, warming up, stretching, skill training, strength training, speed training, and power training. These are very elementary chapters on these topics. If you are like me, you already have compete texts on these topics, if not numerous texts on each of these topics that contain much more information that Kovacich's short chapters. However, if you don't, Kovacich does offer enough to get you started, and my prompt you to learn even more on these subjects. Because his goal was to make a complete kicking resource, these chapters are a welcome addition just to make it known that these are important to kicking.The reason to purchase this book, just like the others in the series, is for the detailed instruction on the side kick and ten variations. The ten variations Kovacich includes are: Turning Side Kick, Step-Behind Side Kick, Hop/Slide Forward Side Kick, Hop/Slide Backward Side Kick, Front Leg Side Kick, Switch Side Kick, Off-Setting Side Kick, Step-Back Side Kick, Jumping Side Kick, and then the Step-Behind Side Kick with the left leg. (Kovacich primarily describes all the kicks with the right leg, and a person would just have to convert the instruction to the other leg, he does advocate training with both legs.The book contains hundreds of photographs and diagrams to help the reader with the side kick. Even though the photographs are black and white, I feel they are clear enough to get Kovacich's instruction through to the reader.Like the others in the series, this is not a book to sit and read cover to cover for enjoyment. It is a tool to be used to assist with your kick skills. I'd encourage the reader to read the book through one time to know what the book contains, but then after that to use the book as needed when training. First one should learn the primary kick and get that down, then you can start practicing the variations. The way Kovacich designed the book, you can just pick it up, turn to the chapter on the variation you are working on, and there it is with detailed descriptions to help you along.One thing I wish Kovacich would have included is a description of the side kick variation that includes a different coil. Kovacich describes the traditional coil position very well, but this is not the only way to perform this kick. My instructors in Korea teach that the beginning of the front kick, side kick and roundhouse kick all start with the raising of the knee in the same position. It is a bit different than Kovacich teaches here. It would have been nice for him to have included this variation. Otherwise, his instruction is right on for what he teaches.Kovacich includes the "notes" sections in this volume as he did with the first nine. I really enjoy these little notes. Kovacich imparts a lot of useful information with these and sometimes they are easy to just skim and miss the important details he included. I recommend the reader pay attention to these notes to get the full value from this book.When you look at martial art books that only have a page, or sometimes only a paragraph, describing a kick, it makes you wonder how there could be an entire book on just the side kick (as well as entire books on nine other kicks that this series entails), but when you read "Side Kick" you realize just how much goes into kicking and how the technical expertise Kovacich possesses is set forth in this book. I appreciate his detail and his passion for teaching.This is a great book for anyone who practices a kicking art. I highly recommend it, and the entire series, for all martial artists. They are great additions to any martial art library, and if you use them as intended, they will help improve your kicking and achieve kicking excellence.Reviewed by Alain Burrese, author of the DVD set Hapkido Cane.