Boxe and slam at Aubervilliers

Boxing Beats was founded by Saïd Bennajem, a two-time French boxing champion selected to participate in the Barcelona Olympic Games. The organization offers young people from Aubervilliers the chance to practice boxing as amateurs, as professionals or as a leisure-time activity. Bennajem’s organization also offers its members remedial education courses. “It is important to reconcile success in sports with success at school,” Bennajem affirms. That is why study workshops were set up on the gymnasium’s mezzanine level. Twice per week, two students come in to help the 15 or so teenagers with their studies – two hours of homework followed by two hours of coaching!

Since May 2007, the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation has also been offering the young members of this organization the chance to participate in slam (writing and interpretation) workshops, which are led by Houcine Ben of the BouchAZoreill’ collective. Starting in September, the students will perform monthly on a stage in the Paris region to familiarize themselves with performing before the public. According to Bennajem, “Slam gives young people an alternative to boxing gloves as a means of self-expression; it helps them develop self-confidence and grow as individuals in their everyday pursuits.”

The Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation also plans to fit out a media library that will be open to all members, and at the start of the school year the colourful painted mural that already adorns one gymnasium wall will be extended all the way around the rings.

Boxing Beats not only sets an example with its cultural and educational initiatives, but also with its athletic results – particularly for girls. Fatima, for example, is already a double French boxing champion at the age of 16, as well as an enthusiastic participant in the slam workshops.

"All those who, up until now, considered writing an impossible challenge or an impassable fortress because school, education and society reminded them of their own incapacities, powerlessness or vulnerabilities, slowly begin to set aside their apprehensions and discover, as though by magic, the power of words." Stéphane Martinez, author of Slam entre les mots, Anthologie, edition La Table Ronde.