Guy Sahri: You've lived through years of competitions and obtained excellent results, that he brought more to your current approach ?

Hassan Fekkak:

It was a path and a very interesting experience that gave me the medal and introduced me to his side... How to manage it the downside ? It is a difficult issue because it raises the problem of felicity a while, joy of winning, whether managing a defeat, failure and the eyes of others. This allowed me to meet people, to acquire knowledge that probably without the karate I would not have acquired. This gave me very great moments of emotion and it allowed me to step back from myself to things and beings that I love. This allowed me to realize that the medal is not an end in itself but only one step in a journey. While competition is a great exercise to challenge but he did not let that become a vice inherent in the practice and confuse what we do with what one is. I was competing because I like that. I win competitions and I lose competitions. One day I win one day I lose, but I do not lose my value, what I am, I lose a game... That's the gamesmanship that is not « the » whole person we see. It is a parenthesis in the life of a person. The danger lies when creating this confusion between what we are and what we do and then it's hard to get out and see the end of road...

« I refuse to be indoctrinated… »

Guy Sahri: As a practitioner and teacher, they were your disappointments, your mistakes ?

Hassan Fekkak:

As a teacher I have had no disappointments, but a lot of happiness, happiness transmit, share with the people who trusted me and with whom I have done an excellent track record both on the Sport human. As a practitioner, at a time I'm too scattered, that is to say that I was competing in Kata and Kumite in several International Federations. I refused to be indoctrinated... I chose not to have a linear career in some way and to participate with various federations to just see the differences. Perhaps it was a mistake on my part. Maybe I should have, at some point, less scatter me fix myself a rather objective and thus go further. To summarize I would say that I had only moments of happiness...

« It brought us together a lot… »

Guy Sahri: How did you come to Karate ?

Hassan Fekkak:

At 10 years I have watched many Martial Arts movies with my brother, Abdou, older than me. We lived in a small town in Morocco where there was no Karate Club. One day after returning from film we tried to repeat the same choreography. This lasted some time. At the age of 11 when I started to play football with my friends, I saw my brother from another city, Casablanca, to study and practice karate in a big club. All weekend I waited his return in order to train with him. It was fantastic ! I remember that my brother had made himself his first kimono in bags of flour... I would say it taught me that this vice is Karate. Three years or four years later a Karate Club opened in the city so I could start practicing this discipline. Why I hooked ? I remember at primary school was not easy every day. After the training, I felt much better in school, more radiant and more calm. This allowed me to share with my brother a space where we could settle our disputes in a kimono with a disguised way of course. It brought us together a lot... (Laughters)

Then when I arrived in France, in Paris, I had great difficulty adjusting to this new country, I create new benchmarks. Go enroll in a Karate club, helped me turn the corner. It was actually club Dominique Valera, the famous « Valéra Institute Sports », in rue Broca in the 13th district of Paris. There is a special story ! I got a hand to hand behind, asking Mr. Dominique Valera if he agreed to train although I cannot pay immediately. He lives with me such a determination, such determination and such a desire to practice this discipline he finally accepted... This allowed me to know the top level, so much so that I trained the morning and evening like crazy ! And so I started...

« A relationship of brothers… »

Guy Sahri: What are the important events that have marked your life ?

Hassan Fekkak:

There were more... The first arrived in my in Paris France, with Dominique Valera when I was 18. It was a « Sir » I saw in magazines and sports magazines. When I arrived at club the first time I did not recognize him because I did not know who was in charge of club. Then when I talked more with him he was really impressed by his charisma and ease of being. The second encounter was with Zenaf Youssef in American Boxing, and the meeting with Serge Chouraqui who brought me a lot and when I was in France Team, met with the current President of the Fédération Française de Karaté et Discipline Associée – FFKDA, Francis Didier and Thierry Masci that the current Director Teams France. I also met 2 important people for whom I have great affection. The first, Fumio Demura with whom I attended a tournament in Los Angeles in the United States and then I saw in Paris at several stages. The second person is Kancho Hirokazu Kanazawa, emblematic of Karate world. There are also meeting with Patrick Tamburini, recently died and whose exploits were recognized by his peers because he had climbed in an official expedition to Everest the highest mountain in the world. In fact his ambition was to experience the breathing techniques of Karate test their endurance and prove that the technique of martial arts leads to everything. Of course he did not go to the tip of the summit that is to say more than 8850 meters, but he reached the shoulder of Pumori at over 6000 meters. The meeting with Michael Milon that a meeting was very affectionate and friendly. I knew him when he was 13 years during an internship with Jean-Pierre Fischer. Then we have sympathized more and more having a relationship of brothers... Michael Milon call me « brown bear » and I called « polar bears ». I remember that we trained and did a lot of exhibitions of Karate and I can dedicate an autobiographical book on the medal and the downside...

« The road is not finished yet… »

Guy Sahri: To get started, did you reach this level ?

Hassan Fekkak:

No, not because frankly in my little vile in Morocco when I started at age 11 I do not think any of competition and I thought even less have the opportunity to meet many important people in the world Martial Arts and in life. I trained myself not set any long-term goal. Looking back now I say more I train the more I progress and I must improve. The practice of Karate made me a lot but the road is not finished yet, far from being...

Guy Sahri: How are you feeling today ?

Hassan Fekkak:

(Laughters) I feel good. My philosophy of life is very simple. We are only passing through, I live from day to day, I saw the moment as if it was the last time of my life and I project myself as if I was... I am eternal problems of life as they come and the older I get, the more I am happy in saying that happiness is a journey that we must enjoy every moment...

« Mozart… »

Guy Sahri: Pour finir je vous invite à répondre à ces 10 questions au fameux questionnaire de l'Actors' Studio et de l’émission française de Bernard Pivot... Vous répondez si vous le souhaitez :

What is your favorite word ?

Courage.

What is your least favorite word ?

Cowardice...

What is your favorite drug ?

Sport.

What sound or noise do you love ?

Mozart…

What sound or noise do you hate ?

The sound of the underground... (Laughters)

What is your favorite curse word ?

Freak !

Who would you like to see on a new banknote ?

Mother Teresa… Martin Lutter King…

What profession other than your own would you not like to attempt ?

(Silence for several minutes)... A job where I would be idle !

If you were reincarnated as some other plant or animal, what would it be ?

The animal I would say, a lion and the tree, grass or oak.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates ?

You have accomplished your mission on earth...