A community fencing project breaks down barriers for Muslim girls

This story was produced by our colleagues at the BBC.

Fencing has always been an Olympic sport, but in the United Kingdom, it is often seen as elitist — an activity taught in private schools or expensive lessons, with few community clubs or grassroots investment. At the same time, Muslim women and girls in the U.K. face some of the highest barriers to accessing organized sports, despite many saying they would like to get more involved. A program in London is addressing both issues.

At Sandringham elementary school in east London, a group of girls, all around 9 years old, are decked out in fencing masks and protective gear. They are taking part in a program called Muslim Girls Fence, run by the London-based charity Maslaha and British Fencing.

“What we do here is learn fencing,” said Nimrat, one of around 10 students. “We do lunges, we parry and we also do some sparring.”

Several of the girls are wearing religious headscarves. Fencing accommodates this well because of the hooded masks fencers wear.

The girls are having fun. They talk about being excited to learn new skills and how fencing gives them confidence in other aspects of their lives.

“I love it,” says Kavya. “I think I’m going to be doing fencing footsteps wherever I go, just to practice.”

The girls are watched over by Coach Zohra Khanam as they do their exercises.

“I’m having them practice how to do a lunge and focus on their fencing footwork,” she says.

Khanam, a member of the local community, first learned about Muslim Girls Fence from a leaflet. Fencing is often perceived as a sport reserved for wealthy white Britons, and when Khanam tells people she fences, some initially think she builds or paints actual fences, she says.

“I love the fact that we’re able to break that sort of stereotype or preconceived idea about who is able to access these sports,” Khanam adds.

Muslim Girls Fence runs classes like this all around the country. The community project is funded from British charity funds such as Comic Relief and the National Lottery. Project manager Allia Fredericks said that with more support, it could reach many more Muslim girls around the U.K. Part of it comes down to challenging assumptions, she said.

“Big funding and government bodies often talk about Muslim women in quite a paternalistic way, like ‘They’re hard-to-reach communities,’” said Fredericks. “But no community is hard to reach. It’s just not given the resources [it needs].”

Georgina Usher, chief executive with British Fencing and a 10-time national fencing champion, agrees that more funding for projects like this would go a long way.

“We have managed to secure funding [for Muslim Girls Fence] from various sources, some of which is through Sport England and some through other sources. But it absolutely is extremely hard for organizations to access the kinds of seed funding they need to get these programs off the ground.”

So far, British Fencing has invested nearly $200,000 into community fencing projects and has helped those projects access an additional $400,000 from Sport England and elsewhere.

Such projects can be very costly to get up and running, Usher said. But that initial funding is critical for long-term success.

“When you go into a community, you need to adapt to the local community,” Usher said. “Part of the longer-term sustainability element of these projects is training up local people to be able to deliver those projects in local settings. So it takes time, and yes, there’s an upfront cost.”

Upfront investment in community sports projects such as Muslim Girls Fence pays dividends in the long term, Usher added — and may even produce some future Olympic fencers.