Life in and out of combat clubs: the experiences of Iranian martial artists

Hossein Mansouri; Arman Allahveisi; George  Jennings

doi:10.18002/rama.v20i1.2501

Autores/as

Hossein Mansouri Department of Physical Education, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7982-7478
Arman Allahveisi Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, University of Kurdistan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9364-4715
George Jennings Cardiff School of Sport and Health Sciences, Cardiff Metropolitan University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3781-568X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18002/rama.v20i1.2501

Palabras clave:

Artes marciales, deportes de combate, kickboxing, muay thai, desarrollo del carácter, salud, bienestar, prevención de la violencia

Agencias Financiadoras:

The authors received no funding for this work

Resumen

Teniendo en cuenta el estilo de vida moderno, mecanizado y desarrollado en espacios interiores restringidos, la agresividad y los trastornos mentales entre jóvenes y adultos, y sus consecuencias negativas en Irán, es importante realizar estudios en profundidad sobre esta cuestión. El propósito de este artículo es comprender el significado que tienen los deportes de combate para deportistas iraníes y entender cómo dicho significado les impulsa a practicarlos. Siguiendo un enfoque de Análisis Fenomenológico Interpretativo (AFI), se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas a 17 practicantes de kickboxing y muay thai de la provincia de Kurdistán, al oeste de Irán. Del análisis de sus experiencias se extrajeron cuatro temas principales y 12 subtemas: (1) aumento de la capacidad existencial, (2) cultivo moral de la personalidad, (3) mejora de la propia salud y (4) mejora del propio estilo de vida. Los resultados sugieren que, para estos participantes, el kickboxing y el muay thai tienen un efecto positivo en muchas dimensiones de la existencia, a nivel mental, social y moral. Además, debido al potencial impacto positivo en el comportamiento individual, estos deportes también son muy eficaces para reducir problemas sociales como el hooliganismo, la destrucción y el vandalismo, el suicidio, el estilo de vida inadecuado, la pérdida de valores y la violencia.

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Biografía del autor/a

Hossein Mansouri, Department of Physical Education, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.

Hossein Mansouri (Iran) is an independent researcher in Iran. He earned his PhD in the field of Sport Management in 2022 from the University of Kurdistan. He has experience teaching various undergraduate, postgraduate, and Ph.D. courses that cover sport management and sport marketing. He also advisor masters and PhD students. His research interests include sports governance, organizational health, qualitative research, consumer behaviour, CSR, sports industry policy, social issues in sport and among others. He has published over eight research articles in JCR/SCOPUS-indexed journals and works as a reviewer in various international conferences and journals. E-mail: hoseinmansouri66@gmail.com

Arman Allahveisi, Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, University of Kurdistan

Arman Allahveisi (Iran) is a PhD student in sports management. He is an athlete and martial arts instructor, and his research interests are in the fields of sports management and martial arts. He has presented several papers in national and international conferences. E-mail: armanallahveisi@gmail.com

George Jennings, Cardiff School of Sport and Health Sciences, Cardiff Metropolitan University

George Jennings (UK) is Senior Lecturer in Sport Sociology at Cardiff Metropolitan University, Wales, UK, where he teaches qualitative research methods, research skills and social theory. George is Programme Director of the MA Sport, Ethics and Society course while also leading the MRes pathway in Critical Social Science for Sport, Education and Health. He is primarily interested in martial arts cultures, pedagogies and philosophies and the ways in which they have been reconstructed in modern society. George’s first book Reinventing the martial arts in the 21^st century (Peter Lang, 2023) follows ethnographic studies of Wing Chun, Taijiquan, Xilam and HEMA along with numerous collaborative projects over the last 20 years. E-mail: gbjennings@cardiffmet.ac.uk

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