Webb's all about the net

Ray Woodard could never have known the story he would set into motion.

He played soccer at Brockport State University in New York in the 1950s and taught at a high school there following his education, until Indian Springs School in Alabama offered him a job.

He is known as the father of soccer in Alabama because he was exactly that. He formed a soccer team at Indian Springs and thrived at the school until his retirement in 1997. 

One of the lives he touched along the way was that of Joe Webb, now the varsity boys soccer coach at Mountain Brook High School. In high school, Webb was eager to learn the game but did not have the requisite coaching in order to adequately do so.

Following a game in which his team lost to Indian Springs, Webb approached Woodard for help.

“Over the summer, I would drive out two or three times a week, and he would work with me,” Webb said. “He would not take a dime, but he loved Mountain Dew. So I’d take him a Mountain Dew every time I went out there. That was my payment.”

Those lessons paid off, as the next time Webb faced Woodard and his Indian Springs team, the two clubs tied. But after the game, something strange happened. 

“After the game, he shook my hand and was like, ‘That was awesome. That was great. That was what we worked on.’ He didn’t care. It was about the sport. It was not about his team.”

Webb went on to play at Birmingham-Southern College and became good friends with Woodard’s son, Eric. The two had competed in an adult men’s soccer league for some time, but had a conversation one day about forming a team that included both men and women.

That was the point Webb came to the realization that Eric had sisters. Naturally, the story plays out to where Webb ended up marrying one of them, Christa.

In the present day, Webb has coached at Mountain Brook for 20 years. Eric Woodard has spent time coaching at Homewood, took over at Indian Springs for a short time, and is now at John Carroll. 

Christa Webb had a few coaching stops before her current family took priority. But the tangled web falls back to one man.

“Ray Woodard brought soccer to Alabama in 1963,” Joe Webb said. “Nobody else played. You had to travel out of state to play high school games.”

The Webbs now have a pair of soccer players in the family, sons Jason and Ryan. Their dad wanted to make sure that the family tradition did not pressure the boys into playing the sport.

“Coming along with my boys, it was, ‘Look, if you want to play soccer, play soccer. If you don’t want to play soccer, don’t play soccer,’” Joe Webb said.

Both are now at Oak Mountain, as Jason is a senior on the varsity team and Ryan is playing on the junior varsity team as an eighth-grader.

“When I was little, I was aware my parents played, but it was a far off thing,” Jason Webb said. “I’ve always enjoyed the sport. It’s been a big part of my life. I feel I chose it.”

Ryan did not feel the pressure to choose soccer, either. Other sports like baseball and football did not appeal to him, and he got everything he desired by playing soccer.

The players take on two different styles on the field, as Jason is a grind-it-out type of player, while Ryan goes for the flashy play any chance he gets.

“We are two different players,” Jason said. “(Ryan) is a lot more skilled on the ball. He has much better touch, composure on the ball. I feel like my playing style influenced his playing style a lot, because going against each other, he can’t use my style, so he developed his own style to combat mine.”

Ryan said, “Jason is more physical. He’ll go in and crunch someone if he has to. I’m more skilled with the ball. I can dribble past someone. He’s good at that, but he’s not as good as I am.”

The two may not know the ins and outs of every detail of Ray Woodard’s history, but it is more than apparent to them how the game of soccer has impacted their family.

“I’d say (soccer is) our lifestyle,” Ryan said. “If Jason and I don’t have a game, we have practice. In the offseason, we’re outside getting touches. We pretty much take a soccer ball wherever we go.”