Walsall striker Jamille Matt on how psychology degree has helped his career

Matt, who has established himself as one of the leading influences in the dressing room, graduated from the University of Wolverhampton in 2011 having studied Counselling Psychology.

The 35-year-old has made a strong start to the season at Bescot - scoring five goals in 14 league outings while also recently reaching 500 professional career appearances. 

Walsall boast one of the youngest squads in the division and Matt has been hailed by a number of his colleagues for his role as the ultimate role model. 

But while passing his own experiences on to others has served as an invaluable asset for his teammates, Matt feels that his degree taught him the importance of listening above all else. 

 “One of the biggest lessons I learnt from my degree was being open-minded. In psychology, you need to think about being open-minded because everyone thinks a different way," he said in an interview with the University.

“Another lesson learnt, especially from a counselling side, is to listen. My first thoughts when I thought of doing counselling psychology was you’ve got to help someone by telling them what they need to do.  

“Counselling taught me you’ve got to be a better listener more than anything, listen to what someone is going through and help find a solution to their problems.  

“Naturally when you go into a football environment, you may think things are going to be one way. But on a day-to-day basis, things can change so you’ve got to have an open-mindset, be able to adapt and go with what is happening on that day. Your expectations won’t always come through.  

“You also need mental toughness because you need to be consistent. There’s so many outliers that can happen from injuries to a change of manager. You’ve got to control what you can control and think about what you bring every day.”  

And after taking a trip down memory lane on his visit to the campus, Matt reflected fondly on an important period of his life and insists that he still uses many of the lessons he learned in his career in the present day.

“Being in the buildings brought back so many memories and I used to live five minutes down the road from the Campus," he reminisced.

“For me, university signalled the start of adult life and it was great to be back at the Campus where I made so many friends.

He continued: "Enjoy it and embrace everything that is given to you. Hard work is such a cliché. If you work hard and put in the effort everyday, you'll get a lot out of being at University.

"There are a lot of people at university who are willing to help you. University life can be more self-directed in what you do and give you structure. 

"When you've got your time to study, use that time wisely. Those are some of the big lessons I've learned during my time at university and I've taken them forward into my football career and life."