NEW YORK – Arriving in the US shortly before 9/11, sisters Nancy and Yara Helmy said the attacks changed their lives, with the two young Muslim girls growing up in an increasingly Islamophobic climate.

“Our parents were like, ‘Stick together… Everyone hates the Muslims now, and you’re Muslim and you need to protect yourself,’” Yara recalled in a new video produced by The Scene, Huffington Post reported on Friday, March 10.

Seeking protection from possible hate attacks, the sisters have trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu for the past five years.

The time saw the US spiraling into some of the worst Islamophobia since the post-9/11 years. They train almost every day of the week and fight competitively at tournaments every year.

“Jiu-jitsu has definitely made me more empowered,” Nancy said in the video.

While many worry that their hijab has made them more vulnerable to attacks, the girls see it as a “symbol of resistance”.

“Wearing the hijab is kind of putting a bull’s eye right on me,” Nancy said. But, it has become a “symbol of resistance.”

For those who might assume weakness in her, the jiu-jitsu fighter said, “Little do they know.”

The sisters haven’t experienced Islamophobia within the jiu-jitsu community, Nancy told The Huffington Post.

They encountered bias when the sisters tried to compete in the International Brazilina Jiu-jitsu Federation tournament and were denied due to their hijabs.

After a number of coaches and fighters protested, the federation lifted the ban in 2014. Yara and Nancy competed later that year.

“Jiu-jitsu is pretty much the only place where we feel equal to everybody else,” Nancy told HuffPost.

“My religion doesn’t matter on the mats.”