"Whether I'm coaching in the boxing ring or whether I'm helping guys out on how to start a business or coaching my kids to be good to be part of the team at home, coaching is no different," says the head coach of Hastings Giants Boxing Academy.
"We're just coaching people to be the best versions of themselves so it doesn't matter whether I'm good at it or not, it's something I feel I'm drawn to do."
McDougall says his appointment opens clear pathways for boxers from the region.
As a star-one AIBA coach, he has had the credentials since April to help groom trainers from Wairoa to Kapiti Coast.
"That means with my high-performance role [from January] and gaining more experience internationally will open pathways for more local [regional] boxers to be able to get on these teams and keep developing to make a food go of it," he says of Pathway to Podium opportunities for fighters and trainers.
"We're trying to get on board with that through the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) but those who do will have to prove themselves."
Boxing New Zealand's coffers aren't plentiful so any assistance athletes receive will be a boon.
Napier Boys' High School pupil Sam Nicol is on the radar of becoming a high-performance boxer while 24-year-old Hastings barber Saili Fiso is at the cusp of earning an invite to the second-tier team as well.
"If he [Fiso] does well at the nationals he will get invited but, to be honest, he might be in before that," he says of the nationals to be staged in Rotorua in September 11-15.
McDougall says a star one and two credentials earns coaches a couple of international tournaments to hone their skills but acquire star three and they will be recognised as head coach material. That can be accomplished from six months to a year.
With his sport science background and the fact he's "been in the game" means it's just a matter of him finding the time to do the overseas courses although there may be attempts to hold them in the country.
The former firefighter, who arrived to a "loving and caring" Bay about eight years ago from Upper Hutt, has coached the service's national under-23 rugby team. He stepped down from his emergency service role when he started the gym fulltime three years ago,
"First and foremost Hawke's Bay is what I love, as I do Wellington, so we can develop a club and more coaches for better quality boxing in the region to develop a pathway in the country to travel the world."
He has also been at the helm of athletics teams as well as strength-and-conditioning coach in almost two decades.
"I'm now just stepping into the next level to help the people come to it."
With a young family, it isn't going to be easy for McDougall but that's the measure of the man in helping mould the template of impressionable people in the boxing catchment area.
He and wife Vicki often discuss the importance of making that sacrifice to achieve that provided he can find that balance on time away from the children and the extended family in his gym.
"It's all about getting that balance right."
Should the pugilists excel the second-tier Taipei Cup also will beckon with quality opponents stepping into the ring from Canada and Britain.
The Kiwi team comprises 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games representatives Chad Milnes (60kg), Leroy Hindley (69kg), David Nyika (91kg) and Patrick Mailata (91+kg).
"It is exciting to be going away with young boxers who are very experienced," says McDougall.
Previous Kiwi international representatives Ivan Pavich (52kg), Richie Hadlow (64kg), Ryan Scaife (75kg) and international debutant Jarrod Banks (81kg) are also in the mix.
Keegan O'Kane-Jones (56kg), who was returning from injury, has passed a late fitness check.
Former Commonwealth Games gold medal winner David Nyika, of Hamilton, as well as Milnes and Mailata, of Auckland, recently returned from a training stint with and competing for the British Lion Hearts Team in the World Series of Boxing.
McDougall says Nyika, Mailata, Milnes, Scaife and Hindley are podium potentials who should boost their CVs to the NZOC.
Fighting against Aussies, he says, is a good yardstick because of the country's fulltime coaching system through their institute of sport in two decades.
Boxers from the Pacific Islands, such as Samoa, Fiji and Papua New Guinea, also will test their fortitude.
