VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds are pleased to announce Geoff Matthews has been named the new head coach of the Women's Field Hockey Program. Matthews is an accomplished former player and coach with local and international experience including in his native South Africa, stretching to the United Kingdom and most recently the Lower Mainland. The newly minted Canadian citizen's impressive resume includes coaching Canada's National team programs and a very successful tenure as the Technical Director with the West Vancouver Field Hockey Club. He takes over the T-Birds position from interim head coach Richard Hildreth, who's pursuing another opportunity after one season in the role.
"UBC is a great university, said Matthews, reflecting on why the new post is a great fit for him. One of the best in the world, and the opportunity to work in the Athletics and Recreation Department was one that I couldn't resist. There are so many great coaches and leaders within the A&R department and I hope to learn from them and their programs. I also saw this opportunity as a unique challenge that will develop me personally (both on and off the field). I am going to take my 24 years of coaching experience and develop a well-rounded, athlete-centered high-performance program. A program, that athletes will love being a part of."
"Geoff's incredibly deep resume, with many years of national and international coaching experience, immediately stood out to us," added Leah Pezer, UBC Director of Athletics, Student Services. His ability to bring stability and structure to the program is exactly what we need. During the interviews, Geoff demonstrated a genuine passion for the sport, a steadfast commitment to building our program, and a profound care for the well-being of our athletes. We are confident that he is the right fit to lead our women's field hockey program into a successful future."
The native of Cape Town, South Africa's admitted early sports passion was as a standout cricketer before shipping off to school in Stellenbosch, a university town in South Africa's Western Cape province. There, Matthews was fortunate to be influenced by current English Men's National Team and Great Britain head coach Paul Revington. Under Revington's leadership, Matthews' love for the game of field hockey and impact as a player were both greatly accelerated.
Matthews would go on to compete at the premier club level in South Africa and the United Kingdom all the while representing Western Province provincially from Under 16 through to Men's provincial level before eventually turning his sole attention to beginning a coaching career in 2000. Matthews coaching stops would mirror his playing career as he'd again spend time coaching men's and women's teams in South Africa and the UK, in his home country, he coached provincially at U16, U18, U21 and Senior Men's level, where he won two U21 National Championships.
In 2012 Matthews wife, Kerryn, was offered a one-year contract to do a post-doctorate at UBC and the young couple with an 11-month-old infant son named Rory, packed just two-bags each for what they thought would be a relatively short stay on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. As it turns out they never left and in 2021 they all became proud Canadian Citizens, with Matthews emphasizing the move to Canada as the best decision they could have ever made.
It didn't take long for Matthews to make his presence felt on Canada's west coast as within two years of the pilgrimage to British Columbia he was working with the Canadian Men's National program in 2014 as an Assistant Coach for the U21 team, a position he held until 2021. The following year, in 2022 Matthews replaced Indy Sehmbi as Head Coach of the U21 Men's National Team (JMNT). With the JMNT Matthews has attended three Junior Pan-American Championships, and helped the squad to two silver and one bronze medal to go along with capturing three Junior World Cups.
Geoff Matthews sharing feedback with UBC Men's Field Hockey Alumnus Sahib Suhri while coaching with Team Canada.
In early 2023, Matthews was named assistant coach with the Men's National Team and over the last year he's garnered even more valuable experience while his passport gathered no dust. The air-miles for Matthews have included leading team Canada to the 2023 Pan-American Games in Santiago, Chile, two Nations Cup appearances in South Africa and Poland, an Olympic Qualification tournament in Oman (West Asia) and the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia.
Coinciding with his international demands over the last 10 years has been an important local position that Included Matthews being appointed Technical Director at West Vancouver Field Hockey Club (WVFHC), the largest field hockey club in Canada with over 1200 members. Matthews credits a lot of his success to WVFHC, who supported his professional development and involvement with the National programs. Matthews coached the Women's Premier team for nine years, winning seven league and playoff trophies, this included a recent Men's Premier team coaching stint that saw them win the 2023 playoffs, capping the first time WVFHC has won both Men's and Women's playoff titles in the same season.
Matthews is extremely proud of the strides the WVFHC team has made in developing a comprehensive year-round player pathway for all athletes and they continue to develop a number of U SPORTS, NCAA and Women's National team players. This includes the current WNT at the Nations Cup in Terrasa, Spain which boasts seven WVFHC players on the squad.
"My philosophy in life is fairly simple, be brave, no regrets and have fun," continued Matthews, when asked how his previous playing and coaching experiences influence his approach with today's student-athletes. "I recognize how many challenges student-athletes have. Balancing life, sport and academics is never easy. Sport itself, is not about the x's and o's. Sport is about challenging yourself and being challenged in different situations. If my athletes fall in love with field hockey then I have been successful as a coach. That love will drive them to achieve great things and for some they may go on to represent Canada at international level. For others, it may bring them a life-long activity that they will pass on to their families. The lessons athletes learn within a team with a winning culture will allow them to be successful in their post-academic endeavours. Those athletes will become great leaders and ambassadors for UBC."
