Rene Rougeau – basketball.. basically
Rene Rougeau is one of the imports who have made the transition to a second season in Finnish Korisliiga – with most of them leaving after a year. And he is a player who the Karhu supporters enjoy seeing on the court, and the opposing team.. maybe not so much. Rougeau is a player who is passionate about the game, and as he himself admits – sometimes his mouth can get him into trouble with the refs 🙂 And if you attend a game where KarhuBasket plays – you might want to keep your ears peeled and listen to his talk on the court.
He admits that he wasn’t maybe the most talented kid, when he started to play basketball. But playing with his younger brother, there was always competition there – and naturally he couldn’t let the younger sibling beat him..
It was only on college when Rene started to realise that the game was something that he might actually be good at. And looking at his playing history – you can make the conclusion that the game of basketball has been taking Rougeau all around the world in the last ten years. In his playing history, few teams keep recurring, as he has spent various stints with Toros de Nuevo Laredo (two spells 2010-14 and 2016-17) and Caballeros de Cullacan (2011-12, 2014 and 2017) – both these in Mexico. Fluent in Spanish, he has spent many season playing in the Mexican/South American leagues – maybe that is where his passion had come from .. and also the talking that gets him into trouble with referees?? He has also played in the ABA, New Zealand and in Israel with Maccabi Haifa.
End of last season was one to remember for both KarhuBasket and Rene, winning the Finnish Korisliiga – the small town enjoyed a good celebration after lifting the Pantteri in Kauhajoki. Unfortunately for them, the championship winning team went their own ways, with only Rougeau and Bojan Sarcevic returning from the key players of last seasons roster. Despite this, the team did exceed all expectations in the Basketball Champions League qualifications – an experience that Rougeau enjoyed at the start of the season.
Rougeau always has time for the fans, be it a win/loss – he always takes time to share a friendly word with the fans. Something that is always nice to see, as the players of today are the ones who inspire the next generation – so giving time to talk to them and say Hi.. is a good way to get the kids closer to the players/game.
During his downtime – it is the usual watching TV, and also big on sleeping.. and he attributes sleeping enough to the fact that.. maybe it is one of the reasons why he has so much energy and passion once he steps inside the basketball court.
Apparently not the best cook in the team, Rene still manages to list his favourite ingredients – but adds that he still needs to step up his game, if he is to be anywhere near some of the coaching staffs cookery skills. Luckily for him there is always the Krouvi in Kauhajoki, where he can pop over the enjoy the wings.. and (from what he’s heard) good beer. But.. still – trying to eat healthy, so that’s good to hear.
During his career, Rougeau has talked about his strong religious beliefs, and has the tradition of reading the bible in the locker room before each game. While playing for the Southland Sharks, he told in an interview about his church back home, and how he at times still gave a call to the pastor over there ahead of the games (forgot to ask if this still goes on today?). Unlike some athletes who come out after having had troubles in their life, and then finding religion. Religion has always been part of Rougeau’s life since the day his was born.
And with Rene’s fluent Spanish, he has a message at the end of the video for all the fans in Korisliiga… (he did say what it meant – so hopefully he was being honest 🙂 ).
