Sanaz, The Kickboxing Coach (Extended)

Project Location | Middle East, Iran, Babol  
Production Date | 2020-11-23


(2020 Grant recipients of Pulitzer Center)

28-year old Sanaz resides in the city of Babol, in northern Iran, and works as a martial arts instructor. She started playing sports at the age of five, and has 13 years of experience participating in professional sports activities. For the past five years, she has also worked  as a coach, and is currently also a health ambassador. Before the coronavirus outbreak in Iran, Sanaz practiced full-time every day with her students, in preparation for the national team competitions that were to be held on May 1st. However, these competitions are postponed due to the current condition of sports activities in Iran. Before the pandemic, 80 people used to go to her club for training on a daily basis.

With the onset of the coronavirus outbreak and the quarantine plan in Iran, all sports trainings were shut down in March, and remained suspended for 120 days. During this period, Sanaz could only practice individual exercises in the backyard. Finally, it has been two weeks since she started one-on-one private classes at home, while She is really trying to hold these classes according to coronavirus health protocols.