The ground vibrates strongly with each hit of the skates in the Plaza Nevada in Casablanca. Between obstacles and colored ramps and young people rising into the air, appears Doudou Elhadri (Cup, Morocco, 28 years old). “I designed this place,” he says, pointing to the track, on whose project he collaborated. In June, Elhadri became the first female national champion in the roller skating discipline, but her history in the largely male urban sport dates back to the summer she turned eight. More than 20 years later, the young woman has become the first African woman to participate in the world competition, the last edition of which was held in mid-September in Italyalthough it was declassified.
When I started, the kids in the neighborhood knew me as the crazy girl on skates. They insulted me, they threw stones at me
“When I started, the kids in the neighborhood knew me as the crazy girl on skates. “They insulted me, they threw stones at me,” he says. His first skates were given to him by his uncle. “He lived in Holland and visited us every summer. It was the best gift of my life, although I didn’t know it then,” he adds. When he turned 15, his parents gave him the second pair. “I used them every day for four years.” They were worn out, but “it wasn’t an excuse to stop.” With them, he won his first competition in Casablanca.
Since then, and thanks to the support of his family, he began to cultivate his passion. “My father accompanied me to this same park so I could practice. It was just an esplanade, now it is my home,” he explains. After a while, a young woman approaches at high speed and bumps his hand. A few minutes later, another skater whistles at him from afar.
An urban sport with obstacles
“In Morocco, when something new arrives—in this case, an urban sport—the criticism appears first,” he says. “This was one more reason to prove to myself that I could do it.” During the conversation, Elhadri reiterates how these challenges have influenced her personal and professional career: “They keep me alive and give me the strength to continue.”
Added to the social and institutional obstacles to new sports in the country is gender discrimination, which has not been avoided either. “The situation has changed, but before there were no expectations about what a woman could or could not do in skating,” she explains. When he went out the first times to walk the asphalt of his neighborhood, the messages were clear: “In the atmosphere it was perceived that they did not want me to be there. I had to be cleaning the house and having children, not skating,” she says.
I decided to take off my hijab. It was counterproductive to put it on in some environments and take it off in others. It is not an obligation, it is a decision
Faced with a hostile environment, the young Moroccan woman is grateful for the environment of her home, where she has always seen “the light and hope at the end of the tunnel.” Elhadri explains that a few years ago he moved to Dubai to work and that when he made the decision to return to Casablanca to skate, he received the support of his family. “I also decided to take off the hijab. It was counterproductive to put it on in some environments and take it off in others. It is not an obligation, it is a decision,” he adds.
In 2017, the young woman began the procedures to open her own association and skating school in Casablanca, the first in the city. The project Roll’School Familyled by Elhadri, currently brings together more than 60 young people. “It started as a project to create a community around skating and motivate the girls, teach that this was also a safe world for them,” she explains. Since then, the national champion trains groups in different disciplines and levels. “It wasn’t just a matter of technicalities, of learning to skate, but of confidence. “School students learn to believe it,” he insists.
Elhadri is also a member of another group, known as Roll’Schoolin Montpellier, France. It was created in 2011 and is a traveling sports association whose objective is to promote skating and freestyle scooter (scooter), especially among young people and as a means of education and integration into community life. He skatepark in Montpellier is one of the oldest in France and the project foresees its improvement. “Sport is also a good excuse to travel,” says Elhadri, while listing the cities he has visited, inside and outside Morocco, thanks to skating. “I want to go to Barcelona soon. It is a benchmark city in this urban sport,” he adds.
With an eye on the future
In the last Olympic Games in Paris, an urban sport took over the cameras of international competition for the first time: breakdance. “We have made history,” exclaims Elhadri when talking about Fatima Zahra El Mamounyalso known as B-Girl Elmamouny, one of the two athletes who represented Morocco. And he dreams of including skating as an Olympic sport: “I would love to. The reality is that in 2032 I will be too old to represent my country. Still, I would love to be part of that process in some way. I hope to be one of the incentives to fulfill the dream of other young people.”
At the end of the interview, Elhadri takes out his mobile phone. A video appears on the screen that brings together the acrobatics and achievements of different women, all Moroccan and young. “She does parkour; this other girl is a beast in the skate; and she, she is a surfer. “She’s like my sister,” he says. A familiar face sneaks in: it is Maryam El Gardoum, the young Berber woman who conquers the waves of the Atlantic.
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