Athletes are often coached by their parents at the youth and little league levels, but it is extremely rare on the collegiate level and it is something ASU dive coach Mark Bradshaw and redshirt junior Cameron Bradshaw truly cherish.
“It makes it fun,” Cameron said. “It’s a special thing and not a lot of people can say that [a parent is their coach], especially at the collegiate level.”
While it is certainly enjoyable for both, Mark Bradshaw admits coaching his son is not always easy.
“It’s hard,” Mark said. “Any parent that coaches their own child will tell you that, and it’s multiplied when you’re at the highest level because there’s a lot of passion [and] a lot of emotion involved.”
Cameron also admits that balancing the relationships between being a son and being an athlete was hard, but that it is something he has learned to manage.
“It was hard at first because I just wasn’t used to it,” Cameron said. “Every year’s been better…we’ve got a really good thing going now.”
This is Cameron’s fourth year at ASU and Mark feels balancing the relationships has become much easier over time.
“We’re getting to be experts at it now, Cameron and I are,” Mark said.
Cameron acknowledged that Mark is his coach on the pool deck, but he does enjoy having his father present at the diving meets.
Both Cameron and Mark have had success in their diving careers, but their careers on the board began in very different fashions.
While Cameron did not begin diving until his freshman year of high school, Mark began at the age of nine.
While Mark was messing around at the local pool he learned he “had a knack for the diving thing.”
The dive coach saw him and asked if he wanted the join the team. Mark received his parents' blessing and, as he puts it, “the rest is history.”
Although diving happened by chance, Mark developed a passion for it and decided to stick with it.
“I would never have guessed that I would have had that much passion for it,” Mark said.
While Mark developed his passion on his own, Cameron did not acknowledge his love for the sport until he attended a diving meet with his dad.
“It was the 2005 World Championships in Montreal,” Cameron said. “My dad took me up there to experience some of the elite-level diving. I had just started [diving] to try it out…I didn’t really care, but when I saw the meet and saw that I could do [the] kinds of things that they were doing and I could do it that well if I worked hard at it, that’s how I got that fire.”
Once he developed his fire, Cameron knew he was going to be a Sun Devil.
Although he took recruiting trips to Ohio State because he is from Ohio, Cameron always dreamed of coming to ASU, as he had fallen in love with the school while visiting his dad.
“It was pretty easy,” Cameron said of choosing ASU. “Ever since I was little I always thought about or dreamed about coming to ASU.”
This past summer, Cameron’s diving abilities took him to the AT&T National Diving Championships, which led to an experience both father and son truly enjoyed.
“We had a great time in Texas because I wasn’t just with my coach, I was with my dad too,” Cameron said. “He got to share the experience with me which was awesome.”
And until Cameron graduates from ASU, his dad gets to keep sharing each experience, as coach and as father.
Reach the reporter at william.boor@asu.edu
