In The Technical Area with Matt Stonestreet

Matt is the currently a coach at Dubbo Devils and South Dubbo Wanderers. 

When did you first start coaching and why?

I started in 2015 when my son took up the sport. I had played as a junior when I was younger and understood the game and thought it would be a good way to spend time with my son.

As he progressed, I followed his path with coaching. I have been a coach with the WYL Dubbo Devils for 7 years and had the opportunity to coach as a Western NSW FC coach as well.

I obtained my C Licence in 2020 as a way to formalise my learning and to help me develop players and teams in the best way I could.

What do you think are the 3 main characteristics of a successful coach?

The ability to adapt, you need to adapt to different situations in games, different numbers at training, different types of players and different types of families.

Wanting to learn, to me a coach needs to keep growing as a coach the same way we want our players to keep growing and improving.

Being able to communicate to a wide range of people. Some players need to hear the instructions, some need to see it and some need to do it. Being able to get your message across in different situations to different people is key to bringing out the best in players.

How do you keep developing yourself as a coach to be the best you can be for your players?

I attend all coaching development sessions I can, I listen to podcasts to get a wider perspective of the role and talking to and watching other coaches to hear their methods and see how they work with their teams.

I have always enjoyed seeing the change and progression of a team from the start of a season to the end and how players can change of that time.

If you could turn back the clock, what advice would you now give to yourself when you first started coaching based on the experiences you have had?

Go with your gut, when you make a call and decision then back yourself. If it doesn’t work out the way you had hoped own this and reflect on how and what you can do better or differently next time.