When Ty Vitko arrived at Endicott College three years ago to pursue his dream of playing collegiate basketball, Gulls’ head coach Kevin Bettencourt knew right away what type of competitor he was getting.
“Ty was our hardest worker; the kid lives in the gym,” Bettencourt said of the Dover, N.H. native. “He’s the ultimate gym rat.”
After two steady seasons to begin his college career, the 6-foot-4 guard was poised for a breakout junior campaign as a key rotational piece. But in an instant, a serious knee injury put all that on hold.
Vitko — who suffered the injury playing pickup ball just days before the season began — says he “tore pretty much everything in my knee and broke my femur.”
As he rehabs and works towards a return to the court, there’s not much Vitko can do now from a playing standpoint as the Gulls’ season rolls on. But his overall presence and basketball knowledge alone is paying dividends for a 10-6 (7-4 in CCC) Endicott squad, and much of that can be attributed to an internship he took part in last summer.
An exercise science major, Vitko hooked up with longtime mentor Noah Laroche of Integrity Hoops and traveled to California for a three month experience. From June through August, Vitko — who had played and trained with Integrity Hoops from third-to-ninth grade — not only worked out daily with Laroche, but was also given the opportunity to shadow NBA strength and conditioning coach Cade Jones.
That led to 1-on-1 sessions with Sacramento Kings’ star Harrison Barnes (Jones’ pupil), as well as shared court time with the likes of Marcus Smart, Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin, Duncan Robinson, Cam Thomas, Georges Niang and Franz Wagner, to name a few.
“I’d go in the gym for 5-6 hours a day and train with players; the exercise science piece was the 1-on-1 shadow with Cade Jones,” said Vitko, whose workouts were based in Burbank, Calif.
“Players would filter through, some would come with each other, some by themselves ... I mean, I spent hours on hours in the gym with people who are obsessed over basketball. It’s their whole life, and how hard they worked and how they approached each workout and the details they worked for really rubbed off on me.”
Vitko says he kept a notebook of all his workouts with each player and brought that home with him to continue to build off the experience. He’s shared some of those workouts with his Endicott teammates, and was eager to put them to the test this season.
“To have 1-on-1’s with people of that level and that caliber, it was almost surreal,” Vitko added. “Just their desire to get better every day; Harrison (Barnes) is a really good role model in terms of that. He’s a perfect example and even players in the (NBA) look at Harrison as someone who approaches their work with such diligence and detail. That’s the reason he’s been playing so well after so many years in the league.”
Climbing the ladder
As an Endicott freshman in 2019-20, Vitko saw action in 22 games and shot over 46 percent from the field and 35 percent from deep in limited minutes. A year later, in the COVID-19-shortened campaign, his shooting numbers jumped to 51 percent from the field and 41 percent from distance; he averaged a cool 13 points per game.
Then came the injury that would change the trajectory of his college career. Vitko underwent surgery after tearing his ACL, MCL, PCL and meniscus and chose to redshirt his junior year.
“It was a freak accident,” said Vitko, whose initial prognosis had doctors speculating whether or not he would ever be able to play again. “But the recovery is going well and I should be off crutches in a few weeks.”
Bettencourt, who had extremely high hopes for the gifted hoopster heading into this season, recalled the moment he found out about Vitko’s injury and was astonished at how positive he remained through it all.
“I drove to the emergency room and when I walked in, Ty was sitting there with a big smile on his face,” said Bettencourt. “The ER was packed; he had a room and he kept telling the nurses that he didn’t need a room. That’s just the type of kid he is.
“It was pretty much as bad a knee injury as you can have,” added Bettencourt, “but his attitude and mentality through it all is something that our program is still learning from even today.”
The sky’s the limit
Nobody knows for sure what type of player Vitko will be post-injury. But considering his unmatched work ethic and drive to succeed, it’d be wise not to bet against him.
When healthy, Vitko was an athletic and versatile guard capable of putting the ball in the hoop in a variety of ways. Bettencourt said his defensive capabilities had elevated in leaps and bounds over the last few years alone, and there really wasn’t anything he couldn’t do on the court.
“I thought he was going to be a top 5 or 10 player in our conference ... maybe even better,” said Bettencourt.
“We’ll see how he does coming out of this, but with his work ethic and dedication he’s the type of guy I think could, if he wanted to, pursue a career overseas ... We’re very optimistic that he’s going to overcome this and really have a good finish to his career at Endicott.”
Vitko himself admitted he’s always aspired to play basketball professionally, but also wants to follow the path he’s on academically and “hopefully find a job in the NBA at some point.”
Vitko is already thinking ahead for his post hoops career, too. Along with Boston University students Dahbin Choi and Jules Taylor (both of whom joined Vitko in California), he’s running the YPCT (Your place called there) program to give more individuals a similar internship experience.
“Noah (Laroche) wanted to start this and bring in interns and people who want to be mentored,” said Vitko. “I went out (to California) for strength and conditioning and (Choi and Taylor) both went for front office and followed an NBA agent. So we’ll be running this program now as far as who’ll be allowed to come; we’re starting with Boston University but we’re going to try to get more involved from Endicott, too, and as many colleges as we can.”
At just 20 years old, Vitko’s story is still in its preliminary chapters. Considering the adversity he’s already faced along the way and how he’s responded to it, the sky’s the limit for the young student-athlete.
Staff writer Nick Giannino can be reached at NGiannino@Salemnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGiannino_SN.
