Since rugby turned professional, a popular trend among players has been to invest in coffee shops so they have an income when they retire, but Bulls back Stedman Gans has taken it further — he is a trained barista as well as an owner.
The 29-year-old from Vredenburg in the Western Cape provides a good example to younger players — not to mention older players who have neglected planning for their future — because he has invested his earnings not only in business but also in studying.
“I have studied industrial psychology, and after rugby, I would like to use that either in coaching or in an advisory role in the sport,” he said.
“I feel it is important to give back. I have plenty of friends back in Vredenburg who had talent but did not get the chance I got, which was thanks to my father getting a job promotion to Pretoria.”
Gans exudes positivity, and if he did not have that supreme quality, he would not be earning his 100th cap for the Bulls on Saturday when they host Benetton in the last round of the United Rugby Championship. Gans has endured long periods of non-selection but has hung in and taken his chances when they have arisen.
Gans, the 2020 SA Sevens Player of the Year, began his career at the Bulls, and they are likely to end it at the same club after returning to the XVs game in 2021.
He says he still has plenty of rugby in him but is busy expanding his coffee business. He joked in a media conference on Tuesday that while fellow Vredenburg product Cheswill Jooste indulges himself on TikTok, he prefers reading. To be fair to Jooste, he is a decade younger than Gans.
“My current book is The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life, by Steven Bartlett,” Gans said. Bartlett is from Botswana but is now based in the UK, where he has launched a career as a best-selling writer.
“I just feel blessed to have been able to play for 10 years and (hopefully) play my 100th game for this club,” he said.
Gans played rugby at Hoërskool Waterkloof and then at Tuks before graduating to the Bulls.
“Gratitude is my mantra,” he said. “I will try and give back to rugby and coach and preach when I finish one day, but hopefully not anytime soon,” he added with a smile.
