Holman selected for Nat'l Futures Tourney

Fallbrook High School junior Devon Holman was selected for field hockey’s National Futures Tournament.

Holman earned the selection to the under-19 team at the regional tournament May 12-13 in Berkeley.

“That was a great tournament. A lot of skill,” Fallbrook High School field hockey coach Kathy Waite said of the regional tournament.

A total of 32 players from the regional tournament were selected for the national tournament, which will take place in late June at the women’s Olympic Training Center in Virginia Beach. The under-16 and under-19 teams will each have 16-player rosters consisting of 14 field players and two goalkeepers.

Three Fallbrook players sought berths on the regional under-19 or under-16 teams, although only Holman was successful. Lizzy Eskue participated in the tournament in hopes of a berth on the under-16 squad, and senior Lauren Woods sought a third consecutive trip to the National Futures Tournament but was not chosen for the under-19 team.

“That was pretty hard on her,” Waite said of Woods not being selected. “She’s made it the past two years, so that was kind of rough.”

The goalies from Torrey Pines High School and La Costa Canyon High School were selected as the two regional under-19 goalkeeping representatives for the national tournament.

In 2006 Holman was selected as an alternate for the under-16 team. “She’s been doing all her homework, doing whatever she can,” Waite said.

In addition to her play with the high school team and the Guac Girls club consisting of Fallbrook High School players (the team cannot officially represent Fallbrook High School in tournaments which take place outside the CIF season, and without the ability to call themselves the Warriors Waite and her team adopted the name Guac Girls), Holman has also been training with Tara Jelley in Del Mar.

Holman earned first-team all-league and second-team all-CIF honors for the 2006 high school season. Holman plays both midfielder and forward; she was primarily a midfielder during the regional tournament.

“I was just very, very blessed that Devon was chosen,” Waite said. “It was wonderful. I was ecstatic to have her make it. She deserves it. She’s done so much work, and she’s got the skills.”