Hall of Fame
Tammy Holt’s is one of the most decorated field hockey players in the history of York University, but in the beginning it took some encouraging from her high school coaches to try her hand at the unfamiliar sport.
“My first year of high school I heard about field hockey tryouts on the announcements on the first or second day of school,” says Holt on her beginnings in the sport. “At that point I didn’t really know what field hockey was and was too shy to go to the tryouts. I played some other sports that year and was encouraged by some of the coaches at school to try field hockey. The next year when grade ten started I tried out and made the team and that’s really how it all got started.”
Holt took to the sport quickly and began playing at higher levels of competition almost immediately. She made the under-16 provincial team after a short time playing the sport and by her grade 12 year was playing on the junior national team. She took the next step in her career by committing to York to play with one of the top programs in the country.
“Definitely the main reason I came to York was because Marina van der Merwe and Kathy Broderick were the coaches,” says Holt. “At that point they were the national team coaches and I wanted to pursue field hockey with my dream of going to the Olympics. They were such great motivators and always encouraged us to play at our highest level and excel as a team.”
Holt and the Yeowomen experienced success right away, winning the CIAU and OWIAA silver medals in her rookie season. They would go on to win to OWIAA championship in her next season and the silver medal the following year. A speedy and gritty player with scoring touch, Holt proved she was one of the top players in the country during this time, earning CIAU first-team all-Canadian and OWIAA first-team all-star selections in each of her first two years.
A knee injury caused Holt to miss the 1992 and 1993 seasons, but despite missing two years in the prime of her career, Holt looks back at it as an unintended bit of good fortune.
“The teammates I had throughout my time at York were just superb,” says Holt. “I had a knee injury in the middle of my career so I missed two years of play. It was tough sitting out, but it meant I had the good fortune of playing with two different groups of players. When I started at York I got to play with players like Sharon Creelman and Sandra Levy, who were my idols when I was coming into university. Then the next group of girls came in and I got to play with amazing players like Karen Hewlett, Gillian Sewell, Sarah Forbes and Joel Brough. They were all great players and more importantly great people.”
Holt picked up where she left off when she returned to the lineup, winning a CIAU first-team all-Canadian in her first year back with the Yeowomen and helped the team to another CIAU silver medal and OWIAA title. She also experienced success at the national level during her career, earning a silver medal for Canada at the 1991 Pan American Games and participating for Canada at the 1990 and 1994 World Cup, the 1995 Olympic qualifying tournament and the 1991 FISU Games.
After graduating from York, Holt worked in sales with Hostess Frito Lay for five years, before making a career change and going to teacher’s college at the age of 30. These days Holt is living in her hometown of Guelph and teaching and coaching at the high school level. She has two teenage daughters who have played a little bit of field hockey but are for the most part passionate ice hockey players in the winter and soccer players in the summer.
