Meet Brandon Schoefflar. At twelve years of age, he is one of the younger contenders at this year's Louisiana Golden Gloves tournament.

Most kids his age play baseball, football or basketball, but Brandon says he gets more out of boxing than all three sports combined.

"Boxing is a year a round sport," Schoefflar said. There's no seasons and it's not a team it's just you. You have to depend on yourself and it teaches you a lot of discipline. It keeps you out of trouble."

Shane Fontenot has been pulling double duty for this year's Golden Gloves tournament.

Not only is he competing, but his thirteen year old son Chance will
also be a contender.

"You have to keep your grades up, you have to be disciplined and you can't get in trouble," Shane Fontenot said. "Being in here keeps you in the gym every day, it keeps you out of trouble. It helps keep kids from getting in all kind of mischief that kids get into."

For a long time, boxing was an all-boys club. But thanks to boxers like former world champion Deidre Gogardy, women like Melissa Passman also get their chance to compete for amateur boxing's most coveted award. But just competing the the tournament isn't good enough.

"I've been working tirelessly for the past couple of months everyday coming in here, running on the weekends even when I'm not here and watching what I eat," Passman said. "So for me to win Golden Gloves, it would definitely make all my efforts really pay off and it would be very fulfilling for me to have that title."

The boxers that participate in the Golden Gloves tournament will not win any sort of prize money, but if you ask any of them, what they get from their time in the ring is priceless.