Heaven Holt joined family, friends, teammates and coaches in the multi-purpose room at Claiborne High School, April 20 to announce that she would be continuing to play soccer with King University.

She put ink to paper early Friday morning as her mother Krystal Rice was at her side. Holt’s father, Randy Holt, was unable to attend due to work obligations but both parents are excited to see her get this chance.

When asked about attending King, which is located in Bristol, Holt said, “At first I didn’t know if I wanted to play at college but after getting my tail worked hard by their coaches at a try out I found out that they wanted me and at the same time I realized that I really liked the campus. I attended a class to see what it was like and loved it. It felt just like high school.”

When asked about her expectations with King she added, “I know that I’m going to have to work hard and fight to get playing time but I’m ready.”

She wanted to thank her best friend Lily Cope, Taylor Chittum, Ruthie Sorke and the entire team for their friendship.

When asked about her coaches, she didn’t hesitate to answer. “Well, Shawn Peters got me to play as a sophomore and he is like a second dad to me and was always there when I needed him. Jeff Sorke is more like a friend to me than a coach but he has helped me so very much to improve.”

”Heaven is a leader and was as a sophomore,” Peters said. “She played wherever I asked and I am so proud of her.”

Sorke said, “Heaven is usually the first to practice and the last to leave. She always volunteered to take care of the field and around it without even being asked. She is a leader and even earned the leadership award at our banquet. Heaven is a great example of what we are building here. One of our stated goals is to produce players that can play at the next level. We have a lot of athletically gifted girls here. It’s our job to get them technically and mentally to a place to match that athletic ability. Heaven had an excellent preseason and pushed herself in every aspect of her game and this is a result of that.”

Holt is the very first Lady Bulldog to sign to play college soccer from CHS and her mother said it best when she said, “We are just so proud of her and excited to see how she does.”