Woodward will continue volleyball life at Coker

WHEELERSBURG — The volleyball life of Grace Woodward may be “from the womb to the tomb” experience.

The Wheelersburg Lady Pirates senior standout has been involved with volleyball as a small child and the sport will continue to be part of her life after signing to play for the Coker University Cobras on Friday.

And not only is Woodward planning to play at the collegiate level, the daughter of Pirates’ head football coach Rob Woodward plans to make it part of her career choice.

Woodward said she began playing volleyball at a young age by going to camps in the first grade. She started playing team volleyball in the fourth grade.

“I’ve been playing for a pretty long time. I love it. It started at a young age and I’ve never stopped loving it,” said Woodward.

Woodward also runs track and she has been part of the school swim team the past three years.

Although she enjoys the other sports, her true love is volleyball.

“It’s definitely my favorite because of how long I’ve done it. Actually, it all started because it was the one thing my dad didn’t know how to coach,” she said with a chuckle.

“When I found volleyball, it was something different, something new and I started loving it from the beginning and it has just been my favorite.”

Woodward said she looked at a couple of schools in Tennessee as well as local colleges such as Shawnee State. She also talked with some NCAA Division 3 schools, but Woodward said once she found Coker, it was the obvious choice.

“I found Coker which was through a person who knew the coach, I was really set on it and went on a visit and immediately fell in love with it,” said Woodward.

Coker is an NCAA Division 2 school and a member of the South Atlantic Conference. It is a private women’s university.

Woodward plans to major in psychology and become a school psychologist, hopefully at Wheelersburg.

“I’ve been interest in psychology for a long time,” said Woodward. “I’m definitely thinking about coaching and I definitely want to come back here and start with the junior high program."

“But coaching is definitely something I want to do. I take after my dad. I’ve got a yelling voice like him, too.”