At Abdel-Kwan, boys and girls kick hard

‘Discrimination? At a martial arts club in Hillesluis? It doesn’t get more multicultural than this!’ When Abdel Maghnouj received an invitation for Fist Against Discrimination, he hesitated. What discrimination could be fought at his taekwondo school? About 350 Rotterdammers from various backgrounds train there. They see the club as a community center, the people as a second family. 

Discrimination

Still, Maghnouj took part in Fist Against Discrimination. Like coaches from 9 other martial arts clubs in Rotterdam. ‘I quickly learned that discrimination is not only about skin color or origin,’ says Maghnouj. 

‘You can also discriminate based on gender or age. Sometimes it’s in small words: kicking like a girl, lifting like an old person. You don’t use those words to hurt, but they exclude people. I’m now more aware of that.’

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Posters and a sign

For Maghnouj, the workshops of Fist Against Discrimination are over. At Abdel-Kwan, you can still see traces of the project everywhere. 

At the entrance of the taekwondo school, posters hang. On the window next to the door of the sports hall, a sign says: this club makes a fist against discrimination.

Taekwondo

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art. The 3 syllables (tae-kwon-do) stand for: the style of fist and foot. 

Maghnouj became national taekwondo champion in Morocco in 1997. In 1998, he moved to Rotterdam to study. With his brother, he then founded Abdel-Kwan. During the day, Maghnouj is a math teacher. It is fitting that students greet him as ‘teacher’. 

Men’s sport?

Many people associate ‘martial arts’ with masculinity. At the training in Hillesluis, that image turns out to be wrong: more girls than boys train in the 14+ group. ’70% of Abdel-Kwan members are women,’ says Maghnouj. ‘Mostly young people train here. In training, everything is mixed; girls and boys spar together.’

‘Discipline is important in taekwondo,’ continues Maghnouj. With a grin: ‘If you don’t improve yourself by training, you’ll feel it!’

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Kicking like a girl

One of the things Maghnouj no longer says: don’t kick like a girl! ‘In martial arts, you quickly think of strength, masculinity. If someone doesn’t kick well, it’s normal to say: “don’t kick like a girl!” Nobody is surprised by that.’

‘Why did I say that? To encourage people, I thought. But it’s strange to say, because there are many girls here who are super good! In Fist Against Discrimination, we were shown a mirror about such words. Now I use other words to encourage. With “keep kicking,” I say exactly the same and exclude no one.’

Positive encouragement

Dina and Hajar have been doing taekwondo for 8 years. They became friends at Abdel-Kwan. ‘There is the prejudice that martial arts are for boys,’ says Hajar. ‘But you can see for yourself that boys and girls mix here. Many people also think of aggression with martial arts. Well, I always leave with a big smile after training. No matter how grumpy I sometimes come in, haha!’

Dina recognizes that. ‘Hajar is always the happiest at training and we all notice that.’ Hajar: ‘Thank you! Dina is younger than me, but she is stronger.’

Positive encouragement seems successful at Abdel-Kwan. 

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Fist Against Discrimination

For Fist Against Discrimination, the municipality of Rotterdam collaborated with the NIVM. That stands for Dutch Institute for Martial Arts and Society. The NIVM is an organization that helps martial arts clubs throughout the Netherlands with social issues. 

The goal of Fist Against Discrimination: to let young people enjoy sports without prejudice. The NIVM offers workshops for coaches of martial arts schools. Maghnouj participated with his taekwondo school Abdel-Kwan in the Rotterdam project. 

More information

If you want to know what the municipality of Rotterdam does against racism and discrimination, go to the page rotterdam.nl/tegen-racisme-en-discriminatie.