It’s said competition brings out the best in people. This is certainly the case in the Bradshaw household in Valdosta. Eric and Jeanne-Hope Bradshaw’s twin sons, Ryan and Drew, are ultra-competitive, ultra-talented and ultra-intelligent. And right now, they occupy the top two spots in the Class of 2015.
Now juniors at Valdosta High, the twins moved to Valdosta from Carrollton with their family in 2002. Early on, their parents noticed the twins were gifted academically. So the Bradshaws made a deal with their sons when they were in the second grade: If the twins would maintain a 95 or higher in their classes, they wouldn’t check their homework. “They always did that, and we’ve never checked their homework,” says their father.
The twins’ school years have been marked by academic achievement. Currently participants in the International Baccalaureate Program, Drew and Ryan were also in the Duke Talent Identification Program as seventh-graders, where they finished in the top two percent of seventh-graders in the United States. They are now on track to be valedictorian and salutatorian of their graduating class. The Bradshaw twins have been motivated by the aforementioned arrangement with their parents and an intense desire to one-up each other in the classroom, on the wrestling mat, and anywhere else.
“I can finish second to last and be okay – as long as I beat my brother,” says Ryan. The competition, while fierce at times, is also friendly and the brothers do what they can to help each other out. To them, success in the classroom comes down to time management. They don’t procrastinate and they do whatever it takes to get their school work done. “When we come home, we get on our homework. In the IB program, our workload is pretty big and we have to get started on everything immediately. Procrastination doesn’t work,” says Drew.
They don’t just do their work to finish the assignment. They pay attention to the details of their projects and assignments and make sure they get them right. Ryan doesn’t want to be outdone by Drew, and vice versa, and they work hard to out perform the other. The end result is incredible attention to detail and unrivaled thoroughness when it comes to completing assignments. Their quest to beat each other academically has them ahead of everyone else in their class – and yet they don’t know which brother is first and which is second. Both agree: “We don’t know, we don’t want to know.”
Despite their punishing workload in the classroom, the brothers make time to participate in several other activities on the Valdosta High campus. Both wrestle, Ryan runs cross country, and Drew is the drumline section leader in the band. When it comes to wrestling, both brothers want to do what’s best for their team and for each other. Being identical twins, they are also the identical size. To give both a chance to compete, Ryan dropped down a weight class to 126 pounds so Drew could wrestle unhindered in the 132 class. They don’t keep track of their statistics, instead focusing more on what the team does. “It doesn’t matter what is best for the team – they’ll do it. They are more interested in how the team does than their own individual statistics,” says their father.
Wrestling is a brutal sport. Yet for all the physicality of wrestling, a match often comes down to strategy, to who can out think and outmaneuver an opponent. That’s where the Bradshaw twins excel. The same intelligence and attention to detail that has them in the top two spots in their class helps tremendously on the mat. Seldom do the twins get outstrategized in a match. If they lose, it happened because they were out wrestled. “We don’t beat ourselves. We don’t make a lot of mental mistakes. We love the challenge of wrestling. You wrestle people your own size, and there’s a lot of strategy and technique involved,” says Drew.
Their goals are all team oriented. You won’t hear them say much about their own records or what they would like do individually. It’s all about the team, about the Wildcats being successful and going as far as they possibly can. In early December, Ryan had eight varsity wins and Drew seven. They have made significant contributions to the program, and they are getting better each and every week. Their goal is to help Valdosta make it to the state meet and they’re willing to do anything required to see that happen. “I want our team to make it to state. I’ve worked hard in the offseason and I’d like to see us do really well,” says Drew.
Ryan agrees: “I want our team in the state duals. I love wrestling with this team more than anything else.”
Ryan and Drew still have a year and a half left in high school. What does the future hold? They plan to keep working, keep wrestling and keep studying. “We are going to wrestle and we hope to stay at the top of our class,” says Ryan.
Ryan and Drew Bradshaw are musically inclined. Ryan is a percussionist though he doesn’t play in the Valdosta High band. They pass the time playing music and often play in churches throughout the area. Their work is confined to instruments; neither twin is a particularly talented vocalist. When asked if either sings, they both laughed and said, “No, not at all.”
Academic Athlete/South Georgia/January 2014
Ryan and Drew Bradshaw
Valdosta High School
Valdosta, Georgia
Robert Preston Jr.
Photography by Micki K. Photography
Bradshaw twins sit atop of Class 2015
