NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio — Mark Woodward, better known as Coach Woody, is 66 years old and has been coaching for most of his life. Now, after nearly 50 years of doing what he loves and imparting wisdom and skills to the youth he's led, Woodward is battling it out for one more season as he takes on the biggest fight of his life.
From managing a baseball team in his teens to a career that has seen him make stops coaching basketball at Bethany Lutheran School in Parma, Parma Heights Christian Academy, and for the past 11 years, coaching at Royal Redeemer Lutheran School where he currently leads, Woodward has helped spread the love of the game here in Northeast Ohio.
On any given game day, you might hear Woodward before you see him.
"He's different than all the coaches," eighth-grade forward Abby Elgin said with a smile. "He yells at us a lot but I learned to not take it personally. It comes from the heart. He really loves us and cares about us and he does it because he wants us to be better players and people."
The yelling: not angry or malicious, but rather instructional and filled with pride. Woodward's style has encouraged the girls he coaches on the court to believe in their skills and to strive for excellence when the game is over.
The girls see the yelling as endearing, and they love to goof around with their coach. Sitting down for an interview, Woodward was swarmed by his girls as they came over to yell at him, interrupting the high praise he was giving them at the time.
"You came at the right time, you knuckleheads,” Woodward said as he looked behind him at the girls with a smile stretched ear to ear.
Woodward has poured everything he has into coaching the girls—a strictly voluntary job. Without earning a penny, Woodward has invested his heart into the many teams he's coached over the past 11 years, and each girl on the team has taken away something from their beloved coach.
Now, the girls hope to leave something with him as he gears up for the end of his final season as their coach. After more than a decade with the team and nearly 50 years leading youth on courts and fields, Woodward has a different battle to focus on for now. A battle with cancer.
"I've had the cancer for two years. I've got a spot in my lung, which we're taking care of with immunotherapy. I have a spot on my spine and it's actually in my first vertebrae on my right side," Woodward said.
Battling health is not new for the coach. He's had five heart attacks in his life. He's never let them stop him. After nearly losing his leg as well as having a hole in his gastrointestinal tract, Woodward wouldn't let the risk of surgery stop him either.
"The doctor, at first he didn't want to operate and he told me 'You got a 50/50 chance of dying on the table,' which is something nobody wants to hear," Woodward recalled. "But I told him my faith—I said, 'God will pull me through, just do the operation.'"
Woodward made it through, and in his health battle, his school and his girls were there every step of the way.
“We would pray for him every day in class and he’d always update us. It was sad but we persevered with him through it," said eighth-grade guard Mia Londrico.
"We knew that he could push through, he could beat it and we made sure to be there for him as he is for us," said eighth-grade guard Sophia Szucs. "We would go visit him in the hospital, go visit him at his house. We would make him cards and stuff every once in a while and we would just always check up on him and make sure he's okay and make him laugh."
The girls on Royal Redeemer Lutheran's basketball team made it their mission to lift Woodward up, knowing how much he has lifted his players over the years. When it had to be off the court, the girls were there. And now, the girls are dedicating themselves to their coach on the court.
Undefeated this season and first place in the CLEL. the Rockets are headed to the state tournament—and they're aiming even higher. This is Woodward's last season as their coach.
"I just need a rest. Just need a rest," Woodward said. "But this will be a good year. We're going to go to the states again. We're going to play for the state championship, then we're going to go to Fort Wayne, play in the National Lutheran tournament, and that's a great way to go out."
In 11 seasons, Woodward has been to the state championships 10 times. Royal Redeemer has never won the state championship or won a game at nationals—but the girls this year are playing for Woodward and want to make history as a final thank you.
“It would mean a lot to us, but especially for Coach Woody," said eighth-grade guard Allison Popa.
When the season is over, Woodward will spend plenty of time with his children and grandchildren. He might even return to doing what he loves for his little ones after he fights off cancer.
"If God opens up a door, maybe I'll go through, maybe not. If my health comes back and it seems to be so, if I could get back to where I was at before all this happened, who knows?" Woodward said.
But for now, Woodward is soaking up every second he can with his girls at Royal Redeemer. It's his job to leave them with lessons they can use in the game, and as they grow through life, but over the years, the girls on this team and all the teams before have left their mark on Coach Woody as well.
"The love we shared on a basketball court. Them knowing that I coach them hard and they don't take it personally. They know because after all the coaching is done, then the fooling around starts and then they know. They know," Woodward said, a tear rolling down his cheek. "With every eighth-grade class that leaves a piece of me goes with it. And it’s hard, and this one will be really hard."
Developing young people of high character without making a penny while displaying tremendous courage in the face of adversity—that's been Woodward's life work.
"I'm going to be very sad, win or lose because then next October I won't be with them," he said. "These 11 years have meant the world to me, even through the cancer, even through all the stuff, to be able to do what I love and I love coaching...it'll be very, very emotional. I can't imagine that last moment when I say goodbye to them. It'll be tough."
And it has been the life work of a coach well-lived.
