Photo Credit: Sydney Thunder
Get to know Thunder BBL Assistant Coach and former NSW Blues captain Shawn Bradstreet
What is your job away from cricket?
I run Bradstreet Building Services with my brother, Darren Bradstreet, who played rugby league with the Illawarra Steelers and London Broncos.
We started the business in 2000 and it came about when Darren’s rugby league career came to an early end through injury.
From there, we decided to run our own business and built it up to the point where we now employ 22-23 people doing a lot of residential building work on the Northern Beaches.
For me at the time, it was a case of jump on board and get involved with him, even though I was a full-time professional cricketer at the time.
I found it was a very good balance to my life at the time.
How did running your own business help your cricket?
It helped me appreciate my cricket by taking the pressure off. Back in the day with the Blues I’d probably do 15-16 hours a week on the tools.
Some days, I’d train in the morning with the boys, have breakfast and then head off to work for 3 or 4 hours, and then come back to training in the afternoon.
There was an excitement driving back into the SCG for training – not that I didn’t enjoy working as a tradesman – but it definitely made me appreciate what I had at the Blues at the time.
How has your role evolved within the business over the last 20 years?
I finished my apprenticeship as a carpenter as a young fella, so I always had that, and as we got bigger as a business, I’d gradually work my way back from on site, on the tools to managing the business more and dealing with clients.
I’m still driving around in a ute but all the tools in there are cricket bats and ‘wangers’ (a device used to throw cricket balls).
How has running your own business helped your coaching?
Being able to deal with many different types of individuals and trying to get the best out of them at work which is quite similar in cricket as a coach.
Motivating them, supporting them, and being there for them when they might be going through some tough times whether that’s in sport or in life.
What drove you to become a coach?
I had a couple of years off after retiring and then came back in as the head coach of Manly-Warringah for 10 years which was something that was great for me to still be involved at the club.
When you’re a club coach, you’re dealing with 60-70 different individuals and that was very rewarding in itself trying to get the best out of all of those players back in the day.
How did that 10-year period help you as you entered the Thunder role?
I learnt a lot about myself, I learnt a lot about how to deal with different individuals.
When you’re a cricketer you know your way, but then when you become a coach, you start to realise not everyone is wired the same way. So, you find ways to get the best out of everyone.
Hardest part about running your own business?
Time management.
For me trying to find the balance between being a coach, running my own business and family life is challenging.
What is the best thing about running your own business?
Some of the end results of building houses for people and being there to help develop the tradesmen that have come through working for our business has been very rewarding.
We try to run our business like a team environment because the life of a tradesman is not easy at times, there’s some long hard slogs. But, if you’re working together, you can see the end results coming.
What is your advice for young cricketers you employ as trades people?
I’ve always said to the boys to get your apprenticeship done and then you can go off and do whatever you want in life afterwards because you can always come back to it.
Getting a trade behind you can take the pressure off the ambitions of trying to become a professional sports person.
How challenging was 2020 for your business?
2020 was a huge challenge and the biggest thing that we had to work on was understanding the stresses that everyone was going through.
Clients, workers and just trying to be understanding and being there for everyone throughout the last 12 months has been tough but I think we’ve got through it quite well.
Name of Author: Sydney Thunder
The Sydney Thunder is an Australian professional cricket team competing in the Big Bash League (BBL). Based at Sydney Showground Stadium, the Thunder, along with the Sydney Sixers, succeeded the New South Wales Blues from the defunct KFC Twenty20 Big Bash.
