YOUTH SPORTS
COURTING SUCCESS
Basketball coach provides players
with lessons for sports and life
What do Italy, Canada, Haiti, Turkey, Senegal, and
New York City have in common?
At the moment, representatives from each area
not only play basketball together in Port St. Lucie,
and see each other at school every day, they live together as
well. Even more uniquely, they live with their coach, Mike
“Woody” Woodbury, in the Tesoro community of Port St. Lucie.
Woodbury grew up in Maine, eventually earning a dual
degree in business and sports management. While owning
an oil company, he tapped into New England’s love of
basketball. And for 24 years, he owned and operated
MBNation Basketball, placing more college players than any
other program in Maine.
“The day I left to come to Florida to visit my sister, it was 8
degrees at home and felt 10 degrees colder,” he says. “When
I landed, it was 78 degrees. That 80-degree difference did not
make it difficult for me to put roots down here.”
He brought with him a dream to train young people to be
not only athletically excellent, but academically excellent as
well.
“For most players, basketball lasts a few years,” he says.
“Education is forever.”
INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS
The Nation opened up on Enterprise Drive with basketball,
cheerleading, and tumbling programs. (MBNation continues
under the direction of an alum.) By last spring, there
were 19 basketball teams for boys and girls in grades K-12.
For a monthly fee ($125), players participate in practices,
games, drills, and, if age appropriate, college-prospect training.
This includes the opportunity to be scouted by visiting
college coaches. >>
32 Port St. Lucie Magazine
ANTHONY INSWASTY PHOTOS
Mike Woodbury, known as Coach Woody at his Port St. Lucie training facility, had to find a larger home when several players moved in with his family.
BY ELLEN GILLETTE