Coach Kuyper has been a basketball player for nearly as long as he can remember. A successful high school career led to a basketball scholarship at Arizona State University (ASU), where he was a four-year letterman (1979-1983) and was selected to the all-PAC-10 academic team during the 1981-1982 season. After graduating from ASU, he played for two years in the European Professional League in France.

While playing in the European Professional League, part of Tom's professional contract including coaching children's basketball teams. In 1983, he began coaching five year olds who spoke no English. That language barrier created a real incentive for Tom to learn the language. In working through that situation, he found that he had a gift for working with kids. It was through this experience and his subsequent 15 years of sports that he had learned the things that are unique about coaching children.

After playing in France, Tom and his wife Marcia returned to the U.S. making their home for a time in a small northeastern Arizona community. There, he coached the high school basketball team and ran the physical education programs for both the elementary and middle schools. This experience again gave him the opportunity to work with children of all ages.

After relocating to the Phoenix area, Tom coached for the Arizona Bible College (ABC). In 1991, ABC's team was ranked number one nationally by the National Bible College Athletic Association. During the 1997-1998 academic year, ABC moved up to the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA). That year, they won their division and made it to the Final Four.