Van Heumen's father Wim coached the national men's field hockey team between 1975 and 1986. His innovations to Dutch hockey, such as using artificial grass and combining plays on grass in summer and indoors in winter, were followed by his son. Furthermore, Gijs intensified physical training of the team and almost doubled its daily training time.

After voluntarily stepping out as national coach, between 1993 and 1997 van Heumen worked as a technical director of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Hockey Bond. He later coached Oranje Zwart, HC 's-Hertogenbosch and HC Rotterdam (2004–2008).

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