VANCOUVER, B.C. – Now in his fourth season in MLS, it's hard not to think of Darren Mattocks as a veteran on the Vancouver Whitecaps roster. What is easy to forget when talking about the Jamaican striker, however, is that he is still only 24 years old.
Mattocks has grown, both as a player and as a person, since being selected second overall in the 2012 draft. The confidence and swagger are still there, but there has been a lot of talk about his maturity this year.
"I've been here four years," Mattocks told reporters on Monday. "You definitely take things into consideration of what you've learned in the past and how you can help that still going forward. I would definitely say that as time goes by, you learn a bit more."
Part of that learning involved a couple of training stints for Mattocks in Europe this past offseason, first with English Championship high flyers Bournemouth and then with Swedish club IFK Goteborg.
Traveling broadens the mind, but it also gave Mattocks a valuable insight into the game elsewhere in the world and just what he had back home in Vancouver.
"We do things the right way [in Vancouver], just like the guys in Europe," Mattocks feels. "You definitely take things on board from everywhere that you go to play, so hopefully you can take it back to your team. I think I've done that and that has helped me this season.
"As a player, we always have meetings in the locker room. A day past that you don't work, is a day missing. So every single day you just got to take more and more to help you get better."
Mattocks was the match-winner for Vancouver on
Saturday in their 1-0 victory at Real Salt Lake
. After beginning the season on the bench, the striker has started the Whitecaps' last three games, netting two goals and adding one assist.
'Caps coach Carl Robinson has been at the Whitecaps for the same length of time as Mattocks, and he's seen the striker's growth the past couple of years. The cocky player that once talked about himself in the third person at times has gone, replaced with a more patient and understanding Mattocks who puts the team before anything.
It's an attitude Robinson is lauding to the rest of his squad.
"Darren didn't start a game in the first five games of the season and credit to him," Robinson said. "What he did do is he kept his head down. He came to see me and we spoke about a few things. He didn't complain. He waited for his opportunity and he was confident enough that when he got his opportunity he would take it, and he's certainly done that. Saturday, we were talking about Darren Mattocks' rejuvenation."
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Behind the reinvigoration also lies two other factors, both of which are spurring Mattocks on to the next level.
The first lies in his form with the Jamaican national team, where his seven goals in eight matches have given him a lift to come back and do it at club level. The other is the motivation provided by new Whitecaps striker Octavio Rivero, and the Uruguayan's five goals to kick off the season have left Mattocks knowing he needs to raise his own game to compete.
"Competition is healthy," Mattocks admitted. "When it's good, it's really healthy. Overall, we've got a pretty good, competitive group. We've got so much depth."
