Born in Millingen aan de Rijn, Gelderland, Gesthuizen started playing football at MVV '18 in his hometown as a midfielder.

For this club, he worked for several years as a youth coach at the regional football academy NEC/FC Oss, for the U17 team, among others.

In 2010, Gesthuizen was appointed head coach of eight tier Derde Klasse club VV Rood Wit from Breedeweg, where he won the championship in his first season.

[4] Arno Arts had long been considered a favorite to succeed Jan van Deinsen in the position, but according to chairman Harrie Derks, both men matched the profile of the new head coach; a young coach with professional footballing experience from the region.

[8] From the 2017–18 season, Gesthuizen coached the U17 side of the NEC/TOP Oss academy and worked as an analyst for the first team of NEC.

[9][10] In the 2019–20 season, he became joint head coach of NEC together with Adrie Bogers and Rogier Meijer, where he was mostly the face of the trio towards the media.