Shirzanan: Having the airplane thickets in advance prevents Iran women’s national Ping Pong team to go to the next level

......At the beginning I went out of breath during the exercises. But I got better by time. It is for 1 year now that I run two hours daily.” Zahra tells about her goal, “From the time I heard that an Iranian woman runner won medals in international races, I decided to practice harder to become a member of the women’s national track and field team. My only worry is that they don’t let me in because of my past. I have heard if they know about my past they will eliminate me from the team. We, Iranians, have a set of strange morals. We don’t give second chances, we don’t let anyone to recompense for the mistakes they made. Even my own family doesn’t want me back.”

Hengameh, Zahra’s friend, is a tall girl who has been recovered for 1 year. She plays badminton and she wishes to join the women’s national badminton team. But like Zahra, she is scared of her past. She says, “ being a woman makes any improvements harder. They don’t give the chance to make up for your mistakes. Drug addiction makes everything harder. One of our counselors in the Congre60 has told us that if a man becomes a drug addict it is hard to recover but he can make the best of it. For a women it is almost impossible.” Hengameh continues, “ I am clean now, but I need some support to stay clean. If they check my history everywhere I apply for a job, I will get rejected. We believe the athletes of Gongre60 are the best and the cleanest. But they have to give us the chance.”

Laleh is another traveler, she is not clean yet, she says, “ I wish they support women recovering addicts as much as they support men’s recovering addicts. In the congre60 the boys have their own rugby team. They are even part of the rugby league. But we don’t have the same opportunities as girls.” She explains, “ Women’s drug addiction in Iran was not the subject of clinical researches. People always connect the women’s addiction to prostitution and other immoralities. I was an addict but I never committed any crimes or I never sold myself to satisfy my addiction needs. I wish we could change people’s view on this issue. I wish they give us another chance.”

..........For many Iranian women, who are not in good terms with exercising, having a fit figure is the only reason and motivation behind their on and off physical exercises. And even that exercise has a reverse result because it is not done in a routine basis.

One point that makes the professional sports important for Iranian women is its psychological impact. The other is that a professional sport brings a consistency and regularity for general and public sports for women. Participating in a fitness class only to lose couple of extra pounds is not a strong motive for a lifetime change style. Many have quitted these classes after a short while. Of course it is hard to start for someone with no previous connection with sports. One trick to make exercising a daily habit for beginners and to make the whole process a joyful and easy one is to join a group. As a group activity, exercising becomes easier to attend and harder to quit.

It can be courageously said that the main reason behind the lack of physical activities in Iranian women’s lifestyle is their laziness. Choosing, starting and continuing in an athletic field will bring a new wave of excitement that traditionally Iranian women avoid. If this excitement achieved they idiomatically say, “We are young again.”

Exercising with others and being part of a group helps women to offload their negative feelings and depressions and fills them with mirth. Of course exercising has different effects on adults compare to children; on both cases the result is positive and needed.

Other than the many obvious physical impacts that exercising and sport has, it is hard to ignore the effect of exercising on people’s feelings and personality. People who exercise gain more self-confidence especially for women this is a proven case. This is mainly what we need to achieve as Iranian women; Self-confidence cannot be injected into one’s body, but self-belief can be taught. It is hard to make exercising part of our daily ritual, but if we pass this difficult start everything that comes after makes our whole life easier.

Another important point is that the meaning of beauty differs from one culture to the other. When in most of western countries having a slim body considered attractive, traditionally in Iran and for Iranian women beauty of facial features are considered important. But today in Iran we have many young girls who have tried many unhealthy and painful diets in order to stay slim. An honest review shows that none of these diets and short time exercise (push ups and runs) works for a lasting healthy body. We should change the goal of our exercises from slimness to healthiness. We can start by choosing a fun athletic field and make it our habit. We should believe that a permanent change would come from within ourselves.