Kickboxing champions are being raised in Sungurlu

In Sungurlu district of Çorum, the kickboxing course for girls, initiated for the first time this year after boys, is receiving great interest. Kickboxing trainer Fatih Dumlupınar stated, ‘Upon the intense demand of young girls, we started the course in our district for the first time this year, which was previously mostly aimed at male athletes. The increasing number of athletes day by day since the beginning surprised us. Until our facilities became insufficient to meet the demands of our athletes.’ Dumlupınar pointed out that throughout history and today, martial arts are preferred by both men and women for many reasons such as personal development, self-defense, hobby, being healthy individuals, having fun, creating a social environment, participating in championships as successful athletes in the future and representing our country worldwide. One of these sports is kickboxing. With the rapidly developing kickboxing sport nowadays, we have been making efforts to bring together everyone in our Sungurlu district who has been wanting to practice this sport for a long time.’ Highlighting that women are pushed into the background in society due to the extreme level of violence against women in today’s world, Dumlupınar said, ‘For years, women have been relegated to the background in society with the philosophy that women cannot do anything, and what a man does is not suitable for a woman. Since the establishment of the kickboxing federation in our country in 2004, thousands of women have been intensely working to practice this sport. Our duty as sports enthusiasts is to increase the function of women in society. We introduced this sport to our women in our district to enable them to protect themselves like men and to prevent negative situations that may occur in their daily lives. Our doubts such as whether there would be demand or if there would be continuity were completely dispelled by the demands and efforts of the female athletes who started this sport. We are experiencing the joy of forming a large group. This group is expanding day by day due to the demands of our women. Our efforts continue at full speed. Their success exceeding our expectations showed how groundless our doubts were. In the future, kickboxing will continue in our district with both the women who have already started this sport and those who will start anew.’ Dumlupınar also expressed that they are not only involved in sports but also in social activities to keep their athletes away from the hustle, stress, and troubles of life to some extent, and added, ‘We will continue our efforts with the means at our disposal. Women have great responsibilities in order to establish a healthy society. The formation of healthier generations in the future depends on our women raising themselves healthily. The way to achieve this primarily passes through sports. We invite our women in our district to practice this sport for both better self-defense and to raise healthy individuals in our society. With the start of the new season registrations, we invite both men and women who want to practice this sport in our district to work with us.’ Since the beginning of our course, when we asked our athletes why they want to practice this sport, the most important reason that emerged as a response was to protect themselves against negative situations that may arise from society and to establish themselves as a proven individual in society. During our course, we saw that these expectations were met. In the upcoming periods, we hope that these responses from our women will serve as an answer to the questions in the minds of everyone who wants to practice this sport. Another question in the minds of both our athletes and athlete parents is whether their child will experience an injury while practicing this sport, whether they will harm themselves. I would like to add that with the precautions we have taken, the doubts in the minds of both parents and everyone who wants to practice this sport are unfounded. As a result of these precautions, none of our athletes have suffered any harm over the past period. The majority of our athletes are students continuing their education. Their contribution to both personal development and educational life showed us that the negative thoughts in the minds of athlete parents are unfounded. I owe a debt of gratitude to Salim Kayıcı, the President of the Kickboxing Federation, who introduced this sport to our country. Additionally, I would like to respectfully mention our coach Aydın Fırat, who has made great efforts in the establishment of these opportunities in our district.