One on One with Thomas Huyghe

Thomas Huyghe is a Belgian Strength and Conditioning coach for the Erie BayHawks in the G-League. He started his journey in the United States back in 2014, when he got the opportunity to do a Master of Science in Exercise Science and Wellness Management at the University of Central Oklahoma. Now, four years later, Huyghe has just finished his first season in the G-League, where the BayHawks advanced to the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

How did you end up with the Bayhawks?

A combination of my previous experiences, education and relationships in our field have led me up to this opportunity with the BayHawks. After my first collegiate opportunity with the University of Michigan back in 2015, I interned with the Washington Wizards for one season (2016-2017). During the last stretch of that year, we battled the Atlanta Hawks during the playoffs and that’s when I came in contact with my mentor in Atlanta. He is one of the guys I’ve always looked up to in this field. He taught me a lot of things and was always willing to give honest feedback, something that has been very valuable in my growth as a professional. As I moved on from the Washington Wizards to pursue a full-time job as a basketball S&C coach, this summer, I was offered my first job with Olimpi Tbilisi in Georgia (country below Russia) and less than 2 months into the job, I was called up for an interview by the Hawks. The rest is history.

Was it a dream come through for you?

Absolutely. As a kid from a small town in Belgium, it’s always been a dream to working with the best basketball players in the world, and having the chance to live in a great culture and location like the United States. It’s nothing less than a blessing and I’m super grateful for all the people from the Bayhawks, as well as all other organizations throughout my 4 years in the USA, that have always welcomed me with open arms and help me acclimating to my new habitat.

When did you decide you wanted to go to the US?

When I was 10 years old. Funny story. One day, my mother came back home to surprise me with a movie (Video Cassettes back in that time) called Space Jam. I’d say the rest is history. Haha.

However, 5 years ago, I fully dedicated myself to making my dream come true. It was time to make it happen, so I saved up and finally enrolled into a Master study program in Oklahoma (University of Central Oklahoma). That’s where the journey began for me.

Can you explain a typical day for you as a strength and conditioning coach?

I’d say it’s quiet challenging to describe a typical day in our field, because there’s always happening something new every day. The unpredictability, however, is one of the main reasons why I love the job. It teaches you to become highly adaptable to many circumstances, not only in my work setting, but also in life.

One day we might practice in the morning; the other day we might practice in the evening. Changes to agendas can be made last minute and you always have to be ready for whatever moments awaits. Especially in the G League, where players may come and go, and you’ll have to fit them into the team as soon as possible.

To give you a quick idea, in the morning, we would set up the equipment on the court, weight room and athletic training room and make sure we are ready to roll for when players come in to practice. Right after, we typically meet as a staff to prepare practice and prepare the plan of the day. We go over each segment and discuss what the best options are to make the best of the today’s practice. The performance staff meets typically at least twice per day to go over each player and see what needs to addressed, emphasized and/or adjusted into their program. When players come in for practice, we collect information on how they feel, how they slept, what they ate, how sore and stiff they are, etc. With that information we aim to build a dataset and hopefully it helps us identify what’s considered normal (standard) and what’s abnormal in each player on a certain day. In this way, we can modify each player’s program accordingly and immediately, if needed.

Right before practice starts, on some days, we would go through “vitamins” with the team. This means that players are divided in segments and rotate from station to station. The stations could be “S&C”, “Active Recovery” and “On-court individual development”. Once the vitamins are over, practice starts. After that, I typically jump into warming up the players up for about 6-12 minutes (on court) and right after, practice begins.

During practice, I assist with any needs for the coaches and jump in when they need me, such as running 5 on 5 script (offense or defense), rebounding, screening or any drill that may need assistance.

After practice, we’d do extra S&C work with players who need to. When all players are gone, equipment has to be restored and put in the right places. Towels and jerseys needs to be washed, and we give each other feedback based on the practice.

And on gamedays?

Game days are similar in nature, although there won’t be any vitamins or full practices that day, but rather shootarounds in the morning and late afternoon. A couple guys will go through gameday lifts, such as lower minute guys or guys who have developed a solid base of work capacity.

There’s a lot going on and a lot that I didn’t include, but what I can say is that it’s a very variable job and the opposite of a 9-to-5 job. For example, on game days (2-3 per week) I’d typically work from 8am till 1am the next day (17-hour day) with a couple breaks in between. When travelling on the road with the team in the G league, the hours may vary even more. Sometimes we’d arrive 5 am in the morning in another city and play a game that same night. It’s not like the NBA where charter planes are easily accessible. It’s sometimes brutal, but so much worth it. Passion, discipline and perseverance are certainly prerequisites in this field.

 Is it different to work with a G-League team and their players than any other team?

It’s very different compared to any other league. It’s been a very eye-opening and unique experience for me. The truth is that everyone in the NBA G League wants to work themselves out of this league. It’s a market for NBA scouts. Everyone wants to make it to the NBA, including coaches, executives, managers and anyone of the staff. Players often join and leave teams on a regular basis, making it extremely hard to build consistency in the process of athlete development.

On the other hand, this certainly creates a vibe of pride in each member to do whatever it takes to reach that next level. In general, I’d say the biggest challenge is the “statsheet”. I think that’s why a culture of “team work makes the dream work” becomes even more valuable for sustained success in the NBA G League than any other league and I was very fortunate to have had people around me who all vouched for the same mindset. Especially, our General Manager (former 2-time NBA champion with the San Antonio Spurs and this years’ Winner of the Executive of the Year award) was a pillar to our success. He helped us setting high standards for togetherness and humility and this was preached and practiced right from the start. He also brought in high character type of guys for us who perhaps weren’t always the most talented in our league, but certainly the hardest working horses. I’m extremely grateful he brought me on board this season and that I could learn and grow from his experiences in the same time.

What can you still do for the G-League players?

Both. We sit down with everyone and see what we can do best for each player individually as well as the team as a whole. We analyze each player and identify their individual strengths and weaknesses. We apply a holistic approach, meaning that we look at as many factors as possible. Some players may need more advice on nutritional habits. Some players my come down from the Atlanta Hawks to play with us as a rehab assignment and have specific plans in place for them. Some players playing less during games may need more conditioning work. And so on. The main goal is always to implement a plan that works towards becoming the best player they can possibly be. That’s what we’re all about.

We look at how they could become the best version of themselves. Not just during their time in the NBA G league, but even more so during the res t of their lives. Think about it. Making it to the NBA is a matter of seconds. You get your name called up. Then what? How long can you sustain the NBA life? Players typically compete until somewhere in their 30’s, so what about their lives after that? Education (transformative learning) is a big part of what I do and that’s something I will always set as a priority. We educate the person in the athlete before we train the athlete in the person.

How is it for you if a player gets called up to the NBA?

It’s a wonderful feeling. That’s what we we’re all striving for as a unit. Our goal was to get as many players called up to the NBA as possible and that’s the beauty of the G league. The G league is entirely set up towards supporting that goal.

Every player who has been called up this year was a special moment for me and something I will always remember. We’ve had many guys who were overlooked and doubted in the past and seeing them fighting through all the adversity every single day of practice and all the extra work they’ve put in along the process, it’s just incredibly rewarding to then finally seeing them called up to the NBA stage.  It is an honor and something I’m very proud of as a coach and our organization as a whole. I can confidently say that each and every player who was called up from our team earned it full-heartedly and they valued the process more than anything. I think that’s powerful and makes a call-up that much more special.

What is the importance of good strength and conditioning work for a player in his game?

I think strength & conditioning is often perceived as a temporary attribute to player development. Nevertheless, the truth is that strength & conditioning is a lifelong process. It’s start with birth, where a baby learns and develops the ability to grasp, crawl, walk and eventually run all the way up to athletes who learn specific sports qualities (e.g. passing skills) and finally elders who aim to maintaining their daily active lifestyle such as groceries, standing up and moving around. The whole process is connected and everything we do on a daily basis matters.

Generally speaking, an athlete’s physical capability depends on the combination of key qualities such as strength, mobility, agility, power, speed, stamina, posture and coordination. Players need an optimal dose of everything to compete at the highest level. However, basketball players (and athletes in general) are the best in hiding their weaknesses and camouflaging them with their strengths. Each quality can be compensated by another quality which can somewhat “blindside” the weakness of the athlete. Therefore, identifying the specific demands of the sport (biomechanically, physiologically, bio-energetically, etc.), the period as well as the level of competition is paramount in drawing up the big picture of the player’s needs and typically one of the first steps in developing a player’s S&C program. Once these specific demands are identified, a side-by-side comparison can be conducted between the demands and an in-depth profile of the athlete. This process is  often called the “comparative needs analysis” and a fundamental aspect in preparing an individualized  S&C program for the athlete.

Basketball players, especially NBA players, are so good at compensating their weaknesses with their strengths in order to perform at the highest level. For example, they might excessively stress their patellar tendon to accelerate or decelerate due to a lack of mobility in the ankle joint and/or many other underlying reasons. Therefore, it’s often hard to tell for any outsider when a player is not properly or consistently following the S&C program.

Regardless, often, it’s just a matter of time before players who neglect strength & conditioning may perceive negative symptoms such as pain, feeling fatigued, sleep disturbances, lack of appetite, decrease in performance, and so on. Although technological advancements have helped us with quantifying the loads imposed on athletes in recent years, it’s not a cookie cutter process to detect undertraining and/or overtraining in an early stage. That’s why emphasizing the consistency and proactivity of strength & conditioning year round is so important to the success of a player. A well-prepared, proactive and consistent athlete is simply just a lot more “in control” of his destiny.

Consistency and proactivity will also help the athlete with sustaining high chronic training loads in relation to acute training loads, which has shown to be an important factor of reducing injuries within an athlete. In simpler terms, basketball players who are used to consistent and gradually incrreased training loads are less susceptible to sudden changes or spikes in loads (e.g. increased minutes played, overtime games, back-to-back games, etc.). This concept s sometimes reffered to as the “load tolerance” of a player. To me, a critical concept to consider when working in a high performance setting, and hence, reconfirms and emphasizes the importance of year-round strength and conditioning interventions.

Do you think the importance of this strength and conditioning work has increased in the last few years?

I wouldn’t say the importance has increased, but perhaps the awareness and accessibility. The field of strength & conditioning has certainly grown within the last few years with organizations such as the NSCA, CSCCa and NBSCA doing a phenomenal job, especially speaking from my experience in the United States. It’s my sincere hope that they only continue to grow within the States as well as overseas.

The last few years, it seems like more players get injured. Do you think there’s an explanation for that?

I think those increased numbers are certainly interesting, but quiet general in nature to draw conclusions upon. Pinpointing exactly how much each underlying factor affects the chance to become injured will always be an on-going challenge.

In general, when speaking about NBA basketball, it is no secret that it is a very demanding environment because of its style of play, competition schedule and travel requirements. Especially in the last few decades, the pace, the style of the game as well as the versatility of a typical NBA profile player has increased. Unfortunately, I think there are still players who rely overly on the preseason to get into game shape, especially within today’s culture of NBA players focusing so much on rest and player load. For example, this could become a disservice when players may identify extensive passive offseason rest with career longevity, and rely too heavily on the preseason to get back into shape.

On the other hand, too rigorous offseason programs could cut time off to fully recover from a straining season. So, in my opinion, injuries, health, performance and longevity should always be approached on an individual basis rather than a general basis. For example, one of the most researched factors correlating with injury, is previous injury. Hence, general numbers about NBA injury rates don’t tell you anything about those players who injured themselves beforehand, let alone what they are doing in their down time. Think about sleep, mood, relationships, food behavior, posture, genetic make-up, luck, temperature, altitude, coaches’ feedback and hydration as well. All these factors can influence the body in their own unique way and play a significant part in the “injury reduction puzzle”.

You can only control what you can control so far, and I think that starts with profound education. Educating the league, its players and its employees about most of the things we already know that are important, such as sleep, is paramount to reducing overall injury. I think the league has done a great job with doing that in recent years, such as the NBPA and NBSCA initiatives, but there’s always room for growth such as the league promoting more scientific research on NBA players as well as the support to bridge the gap between science and practice. Subsequently, scientific research within this population can become more accessible, attractive and educable to players and coaches.

Who is the most enthusiastic player you’ve ever had during your workouts?

That’s a great question. Honestly, I’ve been very fortunate to have had a lot of guys who bought in to my approach, and it’s hard to give you one particular name. Off course, in every team, you always have guys who are more enthusiastic then the other, but I think when the standards are held high by the enthusiastic guys, all other guys usually follow their example, sooner or later. Enthusiasm and energy is contagious and I think it always starts with me as a coach to set the tone and keep everyone engaged at all times. In that way I like to take high responsibility for someone’s enthusiasm. I think it’s a very important and often undervalued aspect of coaching/training and I’m glad you brought this up.

What is your ambition? Do you want to become a coach in the NBA?

The NBA is the highest level of basketball competition, and it’s definitely always been my ultimate goal to work in such extreme environment. Especially because those athletes are there for a very specific reason. Each player has his own journey, his own role in the team, his own unique background leading up to playing in this extraordinary league. These guys are so gifted and are obsesses with pushing themselves to become the very best every single day, and that passion is something I’ve always admired and embraced in my life as well.

However, basketball regardless of the level or geographic location, team chemistry and togetherness have always been a big part of why I love this job. It’s a team sport and it has given me so much, so every opportunity where I can give back to the sport in any shape or form, I’d say that is in fact, my lifelong ambition.