Rob matosevic
Name: Robert Matosevic
Current Position: Goalkeepers: Adelaide united youth team (men’s) & Australian u20 WNT GK coach
Years Coaching 7

What is your background?

Coaching background:
Elite Jnr dev programs gk coach
Aust u17 & Senior WNT gk coach
Adelaide Utd youth team gk coach
AFC/FFA C lisence
AFC/FFA level 2 GK lisence

Playing:
Australian u17 (1995)

What got you into coaching? My desire to stay involved in football beyond my playing career as well as a very supportive wife.

What is your coaching philosophy? I want to provide a proactive coaching and training environment with a solid technical foundation. I aim to continually evolve my coaching style and methods with a view of always looking to do things better and not be content with the current level.

Proactive coaching is about giving the goalkeeper tools to identify and deal with situations before they occur and or to be able to read the play to have a better understanding of what might happen next.

The trainings are based around GK football problems and match situations, complimenting the gks “style” and to further enhance their technique in dealing with football problems

Who has been a mentor to your through your coaching career? I dont have a mentor from a GK coaching perspective, but the current head coach of the Adelaide United Youth Team, Michael Valkanis has challenged me in my GK coaching methodoliges and has made me think about my coaching differently.

Is there a coach who impacted you to get into coaching? no

Do you feel that the role and importance of a goalkeeper coach has been fully realized in the coaching community? In Australia it is starting to. I am fortunate to work in elite environments where GK coaches are seen and treated as assistant coaches giving you a broader range of responsibilities, match day and on the training ground.

Looking back, how have you seen your coaching develop from when you first started to now? Greatly, when I started, it was all the generic type of training, stepping over cones, unrealistic movement, everything was in isolation. Its about decision making and based on real match situations. eg, there are no cones in the 6 yard box in a game, so why put them there in training?

How do you design your training sessions? Theres two ways, 1) through a logical thought process where I look at the gk football problem in a match situation, I try to replicate that in training with the key elements, then work backwards to a starting point and the sessions should progress from there. 2) The gk training is based on what the head coach has planned for the session and this will be my reference point to what I work on with the GKs as this now will give them an opportunity to put themselves into real match situations on the training ground.

How do you motivate your keepers behind your first string to ensure competition for the position? While each individual is different, to generalize, I find honesty works best. Speaking with the GKs about areas that they need to work on or specific reasons why they find themselves not play. Setting clear plans and goals also helps as this gives the gk something to work towards. Ultimately, the reserve GKs need to put themsevles in aposition to be ready should an opportunity arise to play.

What is your ultimate coaching goal? Still working on that one, so I am unsure of that one just yet.

Any advice for young goalkeeper coaches just entering their careers? Be very open minded and not set in your ways. A growth mindset is vital for a modern coach.

If you weren’t a goalkeeper coach, what do you think you would be?
A very annoying husband around the house! Possibly a performance analysis.