 Welcome to another Portland Media Center member highlight. I'm Leslie McVane and my guest today is Bobby Rousseau, the president and head coach of Portland Boxing, a longtime member of Portland Media Center. That's true. Welcome, Bobby. Thank you. It's great to have you here. Glad to be here. Yeah, and since we last talked, which was a while ago, you have been named the national president of the Golden Glove of America. And that oversees what, 30 franchises in all 50 states. Yep, 30 franchises, 50 sub franchises, all 50 states. And it's a challenge. Well, I can imagine it's quite an honor. Tell me what that means to you. Well, first of all, it's a great honor, you know. And I never thought that, you know, that's something that, you know, I absolutely love Golden Gloves and to be president is just an amazing honor. And I hope I can make, you know, some great changes that will help, you know, what we do. Well, and it's, you know, the Golden Gloves, even if you don't follow boxing, you don't know anything about it, everyone's heard of the Golden Gloves. Absolutely, it's a well-known brand. We're approaching 100 years coming up. And, you know, like you said, it's the most recognizable brand in boxing, really. Yeah. So it's, you know, it's what it does for the youth of America, too, you know. It's, you know, any boxer that was of any note at all was probably a national Golden Glove champion. Yeah. And so, but it's more than that. It helps, you know, all the levels, you know, the kids have, you know, dedication and devotion to the sport. Right. And that's on top of, I'm just gonna read a little bit here. The executive director of the New England Golden Gloves, being in the main sports hall of fame and an elite coach qualified to coach at the Olympic level. Wow. Yes, thank you. Well, you talked a little bit about the Golden Gloves and boxing in general is more than just boxing. And one of the missions, at least I see, is part of the mission from reading about what you do at Portland Boxing. It's helping young people who pass through your doors to build self-confidence, self-control, integrity, getting kids to believe in themselves and go for their dreams. Why is this so important in building your organization and has been over the years? Well, that's really what the sport is all about. It's about, you know, the competitive aspect of it is just the goal to get there. And at the Portland Boxing Club, we are, we have a real high standard there because it is a combat sport and you have to be very careful. So really the percentages, really one or two out of a hundred that come through the doors will actually be in competition. But it still makes a difference to the kids because they're there, they're building confidence, they lose, you know, many kids have just lost weight and, you know, that type of thing. And they just feel better about themselves. It's a positive atmosphere, it's a, you know, it's a positive motivation for them to focus on, you know, trying to become a boxer and get better and, you know, confident with their skills. So, you know, that's huge, especially in the teenage years. You know, to get them on the right track rather than go in another direction. And it gives them a place to go. I mean, they're, you know, they're hanging around and then they think, wait a minute, I can go over to my place, the Portland Boxing Center. It's a place I belong. It's true, again, it's a place to belong. And everyone needs a place to belong to and to identify with. And we have virtually over 27 years, we've had hundreds, if not thousands of kids through there that, you know, I think that somehow we made a difference in their life. And if they have turmoil in other aspects of their life, they know they can go there and know what to expect. That's true. You know, a lot of the kids that we have, you know, boxing is not gymnastics, it's not hockey. It's a different type of sport. And it basically draws people with kind of a tougher background. A lot of the kids don't have fathers that are in their lives and, you know, just issues like that. So this helps for that because they need some guidance. They need someone to talk to and just, you know, good advice, you know, in a lot of cases. And as Portland's been changing, so have you, you've had a lot of the new Mainers, the immigrant community coming through your doors? Yes, we always have, really. You know, whatever country was at war, you know, the refugees that came here. You know, all of them, Bosnia and Iraq and Somalia and, you know, all of them, really, any of those countries, Middle Eastern countries. And those, you know, they are really special people. They just work harder. Their work ethic is phenomenal. They have the same ethics in work and drive that our grandfathers did when they came here. And it's different, you know, the regular American kid doesn't really realize how, you know, what a great country this is, but they do, the immigrants do. And they just work so hard. And they amazingly just outwork everybody. They work two, three jobs in a lot of cases and train harder than anyone. So it's that drive that is really a lot of fun to work with with someone with that kind of drive. And you say we've always had immigrants. And you know, you think back, boxing, the Irish, the Italians. I mean, that was a big part of boxing becoming popular in this country. It is. And, you know, not only that, is that there's also a real support system because those, their families and all of their, you know, countrymen come out to support that. Recently, actually, the National Golden Gloves in USA Boxing, in order to compete at a national tournament, you had to be a citizen to compete at the open class level. And a couple years ago, we got that change to allow legal non-citizens to compete. And, you know, and I was, you know, fought for that because it was, I'm thinking we don't, we obviously need more competitors and we all need more fans. And that's what these people do. Yeah, and also, you know, you're seeing them put in all the time and the effort and for them not to be able to go to that next level would have been awful. Yeah, so that was a big step. I mean, it was kind of, you know, we had people fight it back and it took a couple years to get through, but finally we did. And that's a great shot in the arm for what we do. Well, and you've had national champions. I mean, you've just brought, had some amazing people come through your doors and are known throughout the country. I think that's amazing. But now you've got a big event coming up that we need to talk about. And this is an annual event. Say a few words about what it is. Well, this is really the lifeblood of our organization, you know, as far as fundraising. You know, again, we're not gymnastics and it's a different kind of a place and most of the kids can't even afford dues. So, you know, we charge $25 a month, really not a lot of people pay. And that's okay. I don't think I've ever asked anyone for dues in all those years. So we have to make money some other way. So this event will be my 105th show that I've done in Portland. And, but that's what's given us all this longevity is to be able to support it financially through these events. And each year in all of the shows that I've done, it just got better and better and more support. We will have, you know, roughly 130 to 150 sponsors that support us, that willingly, you know, support us every year, you know, hopefully we'll sell out the expo. So it's a huge event. It just does really well. It's November 9th at the Portland Expo. What time? 7.30, it starts, doors open at six. But it's a great event. You won't be disappointed. It's a great atmosphere. Everyone's there. Yeah. And do people come from out of Maine to see this? Like, are there promoters who come and watch the people? Yeah, yeah, yeah. As far as competitors, we have two boxes coming from Argentina to fight in, one in the Maine event and the Co-Maine event actually. So it's an international event. Wow. So this is something that you boxed as a child. Yeah. And this is something you've just carried on and, because they used to have boxing at the Expo when you were a kid. Yeah, I was actually the clubboy at the Expo when I was a little guy. And my uncle was the boxing commissioner when, during all that heyday of boxing in the 60s and 70s. So, you know, I was just, I've been a freakish fan. And you're just, it's in your blood. Yeah, it is, yeah, with my uncle. And, you know, just all I was was just a decent gym fighter. That's all. But it's been a great run and it's been a lot of fun. Well, thank you for being here. And that's November 9th, 7 o'clock. 7 30. 7 30 at the Expo. But they might want to get in line because it might be sold out. Yeah, I think we have a good shot of selling it out. We do almost, you know, if the weather's good, the walk-up will probably push us over the top. So get your tickets early. Yeah, well, thank you, Bobby. Thank you, my pleasure.