Krystal Thomas-Smith coaches with love for the game

In 2019, Krystal Thomas-Smith decided it was time to make a change in her life.

For going on nine years, she had played on the highest level of basketball in the WNBA and had played overseas during the offseason.

By the end of the 2019 season with the Women’s Korean Basketball League — where Thomas-Smith played for Asan Woori Bank Wibee — she knew that now was the time to retire and put her efforts into the next generation of players. It was something she was completely at peace with, Thomas-Smith said.

“With the ending of my career, the three main focuses that I wanted to have were focus on my faith, focus on my family and then focus on giving back to the youth,” Thomas-Smith said. “One of the best ways to work with youth — and be able to impact youth in the way that I was impacted — was through working for a school.” 

Thomas-Smith, a graduate of The First Academy, first landed a job as a substitute teacher at Foundation Academy before taking a job as the middle school physical education teacher. Given her basketball background, she also picked up jobs serving as the head coach of the middle school team and assistant on the varsity team.

For both teams, the early message from Thomas-Smith was that the 2019-20 season was going to be different from the past. A mindset change was going to happen, but in order to do that, Thomas-Smith had to teach them what she knew without confusing them.

“It’s very different to translate what’s going on in my brain — what I’ve learned at all the levels that I’ve played at — to a middle school or high school level,” Thomas-Smith said. “I got very good at demonstrating and talking slower.”

MS. WORLDWIDE

Before Thomas-Smith found success at the professional level, she was a dominant force on the TFA girls basketball team.

She led TFA to two straight Class 2A state titles, was tapped as the 2007 Gatorade State Player of the Year and landed several top honors — including being named a McDonald’s All-American.

And all of that success didn’t just stop at TFA — it continued on when she arrived in Durham, North Carolina, to play for the Duke University women’s team. There, the 6-foot-5 center found herself adjusting to a game that was faster and more physical than any high school game she had played in. 

“When I played at Duke, every single game was intense — we had no games off, and there were no days off,” Thomas-Smith said. “We were ranked as high as No. 5 in the nation, so we were always really good and the target was always on our backs.”

“With the ending of my career, the three main focuses that I wanted to have were focus on my faith, focus on my family and then focus on giving back to the youth. One of the best ways to work with youth — and be able to impact youth in the way that I was impacted — was through working for a school.” 

— Krystal Thomas-Smith

By the end of her four years, Thomas-Smith had become the team’s leading rebounder and blocker. Thomas-Smith’s work ethic and size led to her being picked up in the 2011 WNBA Draft by the Seattle Storm in the third round (No. 36 overall). 

Despite being drafted, her chances of actually making the team — given how few make it — was essentially 0%, Thomas-Smith said. She was just there to participate in training camp. Despite the odds, Thomas-Smith worked hard and managed to land one of two open spots on the team.

Thomas-Smith would spend half a season in Seattle before being waived and then immediately picked up by the Phoenix Mercury. It was there in Phoenix when Thomas-Smith recalled having her breakout moment.

“I went in and scored two baskets right away,” Thomas-Smith said. “I got some real consecutive minutes, and we were winning and I was playing with Diana Taurasi. Taurasi was passing me the basketball and I’m scoring and got an and one, and she came up and gave me a chest bump.”

For the next several years, Thomas-Smith would continue to make her mark in the WNBA with the Mercury, Indiana Fever and Washington Mystics, while also finding success in the offseason with teams in France, China, Spain, Turkey and South Korea.

While those fun, yet hectic, days are now behind the 30-year-old Thomas-Smith, she can now enjoy focusing her attention on her teams — who have already provided her with incredible memories, she said.

“The best moment for me was when they realized they could win districts,” Thomas-Smith said. “There was a game, and afterwards there was just a look on their faces that showed me they realized they could do something special at this school that hadn’t been done in a long time.”