Sidekick Variants

One of the most misunderstood kicks in the martial arts/kickboxing realm is the sidekick. Part of the reason for this is that when the sidekick is employed arbitrarily, the kick is easy to evade or counter. Part of the reason for this is that people have a tendency to use the sidekick as a finishing move. Now, that is not an incorrect application of the sidewkick when the time is right for such a move. If the opponent, for example, is not very mobile, has a square stance and is moving forward, the finishing sidekick will work fine. (In the 'old days' of karate, people wer not big on footwork so the finishing move sidekick works somewhat ok)

For more practical sidekick application, the sidekick is often used as a 'popping' stop hit motion with the intention of setting up another kick. Here is an example of how that might work:

If an opponent jabs, a downward sidekick to the knee will stop his momentum. The sidekick then 'pops' up off the knee and converts into a round kick to the high line of the opponent. There are other examples of how the side kick can be employed, but that is probably the most basic drill one can work to get down the basics of the stop hitting variant.