Jamille Matt: Forest Green striker on psychology, coaching and promotion

With eight goals scored and his team sitting at the top of League Two, it is no surprise that Forest Green Rovers striker Jamille Matt says he is feeling "better than ever" this season.

Despite being 32, and now in his ninth EFL season, retirement is not on Matt's mind - but that does not mean he has not already thought about what life after football might look like.

The preparations had already begun before Matt had signed his first professional contract, when he combined completing a degree in counselling psychology at Wolverhampton University with playing for Kidderminster.

Then during his last year with Newport in 2020, he began completing his UEFA B coaching badges and spent the Covid-19 lockdown working on courses offered by the Professional Footballers' Association.

"I always want to have that decision over when I want to retire, rather than someone going 'there's no contract there'," Matt told BBC Sport.

"I've always said to myself try and be as prepared as possible. I did my coaching badges, I got my degree and did another couple of courses.

"I try and keep progressing as a person as well," he continued. "It's personal development. So if I can keep doing things outside of football I think it will prepare me for life after football."

Step into the manager's shoes

Matt's professional playing career began relatively late in modern footballing terms.

He was 23 when he signed for Fleetwood, becoming their record signing in the process, after making a name for himself with semi-pro side Sutton Coldfield and then Kidderminster in the Conference.

Matt subsequently played for Blackpool, Grimsby and Newport before finding a home at Gloucestershire club Forest Green at the start of last season, signing a contract extension in August until 2023.

While Matt is unsure about moving into coaching later in life, completing the badges have given him a new perspective on playing.

"The main reason with the coaching was to see it from a different point of view, I think it opened my mind up to empathise a lot with the manager to be honest because sometimes you don't see a lot of the work that they have to do to then present to us at training," he explained.

Matt can also point to lessons he learned from his psychology degree, not least dealing with the pressure that comes with being in professional sport.

"A lot of what psychology has taught me, within football especially, is never to take the highs too high and the lows too low, be as level as you can.

"I think it's just little things like building up little prompts before games and things that will calm you down," he said.

"Pressure can build up in your head, but there's things that can cause you to be nervous. If you can identify those things and keep that to a minimum, I think you'll always perform to your highest level."

Matt was born in Jamaica where athletics, rather than football, is the national sport.

"I used to get up on a Saturday morning at like 6am and we used to go over to the beach and do hill runs," he said.

"When I came to England it was straight away in school, football at break time, football at lunchtime. I got the bug I suppose and ever since then it's always been football."

Rather than being talent spotted and snapped up by a football academy, Matt joined Sutton Coldfield's youth setup as a teenager and worked his way to the league ranks.

"I wouldn't change anything for my journey because it's got me to where I am now and I look back fondly on where I've come from. I think that keeps me hungry to keep pushing on and see if I can keep progressing," he said.

Winning automatic promotion to League One with Forest Green is the next target, with the team having been defeated in the play-offs last season by Matt's former club Newport.

And despite being top of the table after 15 matches, Matt understands that offers no guarantees.

"I've been around this league long enough to know that it is a long season, it's 46 games, and things can change in an instant, or over a couple of games," he said.

"We've just got to keep doing what we're doing, and what's got us success, and if we can carry on doing what we've been doing then I'm sure come the business end of the season we'll be where we want to be."

As the oldest member of the team, and club captain this season, Matt is keen to pass on what he has learned to his younger team-mates, as well as offer them an open door to talk if they ever need to do so.

Ultimately, though, he wants to keep doing what he has been doing for the rest of his career; pushing himself as far as he can.

He added: "I've always wanted to play as high as possible in terms of a personal point of view, but I'd love to be able to do that with Forest Green."

Forest Green Rovers face St Albans in the FA Cup first round on Sunday 6 November, live on BBC Two from 17:00 GMT.