A student from the Gran Canaria high school in La Isleta has ended up in the hospital after a friend practiced the ‘mataleón’ technique with him. This practice, which has become a very popular challenge on networks, consists of performing a martial arts hold—jiujitsu—grabbing the person from the back and strangling them with the arm until they are left without oxygen and unconscious.
According to Canarias7, the events occurred last Wednesday, May 8, when the student fell to the ground after fainting. Apparently, he hit his head very hard and had to be hospitalized, although the evolution is favorable.
The boy’s mother, Isabel García, remarked last Monday the 13th that “they did it to each other because before, my son also did it to this other one.” In any case, she added that “they had never reached the point of fainting” but that “it seems that this time it has gotten out of hand.”
The center has begun a more exhaustive investigation into what happened, after clarifying that the injuries occurred without harmful intention on the part of the classmate. As reported by the media consulted, the boy—along with other 1st year Baccalaureate students—stayed in the classroom to “prepare” for an exam during playground time.
Taking advantage of the teacher’s absence, these two students, who sources have been responsible for highlighting are friends, began to play at being the ‘killer’ until the known outcome occurred.
From Education they point out that this is a “specific case” that is very rare in the Canary Islands, and even less so in educational centers. Of course, they are already studying the development of a specific awareness-raising action in classrooms about the dangers of this game to prevent other situations like the one that occurred.
“Social networks have good things, but also bad things,” said education counselor Poli Suárez, who has even contacted the young man’s mother to find out his status.