Bob Pegues wasn't expecting to get the job. In fact, he didn't even know he was being considered for it.
So, when Boxing Canada informed him he was the unanimous choice as the organization's new coach's representative, imagine his surprise.
"It's very cool," said Pegues, the head coach of Prince George's Inner City Boxing Club who also serves as the youth development national team coach and Boxing B.C.'s coach's rep. "When they told me that I had it, I said, 'Jeez, I don't need one more thing to do,' and they said to me, 'There's a lineup of people that want this -- you take it and then figure that out.'"
Pegues, a 57-year-old Canfor employee, will take on multiple responsibilities in his new national post.
"I'm the rep for any coaching issues nationally," he said. "Sometimes it works out like dispute mediation. If a coach feels like he's been wronged or is having a conflict then I get involved and sort of work it out. That's one of the things. The other job is to be part of the committee to select the criteria for the [national] carding -- making sure that the carding rules are being followed, making sure that we have input with Sport Canada to make sure that it isn't being so strict nobody can make it or so loose that anybody can make it."
In Pegues' opinion, one of the biggest perks of being placed in the Boxing Canada position is the positive spinoff effect it will have for Boxing B.C.
"Boxing B.C. is really going to be the big beneficiary of it because for years we were cut out of everything, because we never really performed," he said. "This year, we have. We've had three gold medals [internationally], half a dozen silver medals and two coaches on the national team, so B.C. is really coming around. Our association is getting strong. There's still lots of goofy stuff going on, but at least we've got credibility for the first time in a long time."
At Inner City, Pegues oversees the development of Kenny Lally and Jag Seehra, who are on national A and B teams respectively. His success with those athletes, and his stellar track record with Inner City over the years, were significant factors in Boxing Canada choosing him as its coach's representative.
Pegues, Lally and Seehra have the collective dream of all three of them being part of Team Canada for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
"This is one more part of the whole big picture," said Pegues, a former boxer who founded Inner City in 2000. "These kinds of things all help to keep a finger on the pulse and help make sure we've got some input on the national team, so it's great."
