Meet the Warriors: Isaiah Bolton

By Tim Heiduk

(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont men’s soccer senior midfielder Isaiah Bolton has played a key role on the field for the Warriors during the past three seasons.

But perhaps his most transcendent impact has been off the field through his involvement with Cancer Fit, Inc. – a non-profit organization, co-founded by his parents Elle and Rob, that supports childhood cancer patients and their families.

“Cancer Fit is a non-profit foundation that provides exercise and wellness programs for childhood cancer survivors,” Bolton said. “It was founded by my parents in early 2010. My mom is a leukemia and cervical cancer survivor and my dad is a thyroid cancer survivor.

“I’ve been surrounded growing up by people with cancer. It’s kind of been something I’m used to. I have aunts who had breast cancer. My uncle had lung cancer, so it’s been something that I’ve had to learn how to cope with. It’s helped me have a greater appreciation for life.”

In his earlier involvement with Cancer Fit, Bolton said he helped with fundraisers and interacted with youth cancer patients, serving as a brother-like figure to them. Bolton recently shifted into more of an administrative role, becoming a Cancer Fit board member.

“After years of helping kids with cancer, I don’t think it’s ever something that will get old,” Bolton said. “Especially with every kid having their own story, as well as we have ours. Being able to be a part of their story is something they’re going to live with forever.”

During the 2019 season, the Westmont men’s soccer team honored 9-year-old Zelaya and her family on Sep. 7 as part of Cancer Fit Day. The Warriors defeated Antelope Valley, 3-0.

“Zelaya and her family were an absolute delight to be with, an amazingly kind and gracious family,” Westmont men’s soccer head coach Dave Wolf said. “Cancer Fit, and Isaiah's family in particular, have become a real part of who we are and, more importantly, who we aspire to be.

“The organization and the Bolton's are role models for us. You don't have to spend more than five minutes with Rob and Elle to know these are people with tender hearts and huge capacities for serving and loving others.”

Bolton said the day meant a lot to him, especially considering the special relationship he has developed with Zelaya’s family.

“We’ve been family friends for a few years,” Bolton said. “Zelaya became a Cancer Fit kid a couple years ago, so we’ve been super close with her family and we wanted to do something special to involve her and her family, especially with her older and younger sisters. Everything Zelaya has to do, whether it’s not going to school, staying secluded or not being able to go outside because she could get sick, her sisters have to do the same thing.

“The three girls don’t really have a social life because they’re always having to surround everything around keeping Zelaya safe. I think she just hit her five-year benchmark of being cancer-free, so now they’re able to do more, but they have had far from a normal childhood and we wanted to do something special to celebrate it with the team and the guys. I know our team has guys who care about kids and helping others, so I thought it would go really well together.”

Bolton’s interaction with childhood-cancer patients has helped put unfortunate circumstances in his life, such as injuries he has suffered as a Warrior, into perspective.

“For something like that, it puts it into perspective knowing I’m going to heal,” Bolton said. “They (cancer patients) may not live and they came to a doctor’s appointment thinking they were fine, but now they’re leaving that doctor’s appointment and not even seeing next year. For me, I feel like my problems are very small.

“Whatever problems I’m dealing with, nothing compares to someone going through something like that (cancer).”

After helping Westmont to back-to-back 10 win seasons in 2017 and 2018, including in 2017 when the Warriors won the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament championship, Bolton felt pain in his right groin in November 2018 at the end of his sophomore season.

“It was inflammatory, so the more I did on it, the worse it got,” Bolton said. “I was doing physical therapy on it for a strain for like a month and it just got worse from doing that.”

After the pain failed to subside, Bolton got an MRI that revealed osteitis pubis, or inflammation of the pubic symphysis joint in the hip. Upon diagnosis, the condition was so bad his doctor revealed that Bolton almost suffered a hairline fracture in his pelvis.

Bolton then embarked on a two-month period in which he could not run and was only allowed to ice and take anti-inflammatory medication. He could not perform any rehabilitation exercises either, as they would have just increased the level of inflammation in his hip.

The injury kept Bolton out of spring practice and he had to wait until mid-summer to be fully cleared to return.

“It completely changed the trajectory for me for my junior year. I was constantly playing catchup the whole time,” Bolton said. “I don’t think I really felt like myself. It took a really long time into season. Even in preseason stuff I didn’t feel good.”

Ultimately, Bolton worked his way back and was a vital contributor during the Warriors’ run to the 2019 GSAC regular season championship.

“Last year was a blast,” Bolton said. “I think it was the team dynamic that made it fun. We went into every game wanting to win, but we also went into every game playing like we were having fun. That’s why we were winning.

“We were there for a reason, to play for one another rather than ourselves. We were willing to put everything on the line for the person next to us. I think that’s why we were successful.”

Bolton provided one of the defining moments of the season, assisting on Westmont’s second goal in a 3-2 overtime win at #24 Menlo on Oct. 5, which set the Warriors on the path to their first undefeated conference season in 30 years.

“It meant so much,” Bolton said. “It made me realize I still had some left in the tank, that it’s not over. That’s the hard part about getting injured is you kind of forget who you are as a player and what you’re capable of doing.

“There were times, especially going into junior year, where I doubted myself because I was like, ‘I’m not as fit as I was and I’m going to constantly be a couple steps behind fitness wise, even if I put in a lot of work.’”

Unfortunately, Bolton’s junior season came to a premature end in the lead up to the NAIA National Tournament when in practice he suffered a torn medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his right knee.

Bolton said in the moment he thought he tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), which requires a much longer recovery time. He was worried it meant not only the end to his junior season, but that he would potentially miss his senior campaign as well.

The midfielder was expected to play significant minutes in the national tournament for the Warriors, who felt his absence in a Round of 16 defeat to eventual national runner-up Hastings (Neb.).

“To get hurt right before was a dagger and to see us lose just hurt more,” Bolton said. “The mental part of being hurt is worse than the physical pain.”

Bolton has fully recovered now, but he has yet to play in a national tournament game despite the Warriors qualifying for nationals in two of his three seasons, after not featuring in Westmont’s Opening Round loss to Marymount in 2017. That is something that motivates him entering his senior season, assuming there is one.

“Being able to touch the grass for a national tournament game is all I want. That’s what’s been driving me,” Bolton said. “Having the potential that the season could not happen is almost making me work harder because if that chance comes, we’ve got nothing to lose at that point.

“It’s been a bad year, so we might as well win something. Even if we only get to play a game or we play a whole season, we better win it.”

While Westmont and the Warrior men’s soccer team have been blessed with Bolton’s presence the past three years, Isaiah was not initially planning to attend college in the hills of Montecito. He was set to play NCAA Division I soccer at Air Force Academy, but plans changed his senior year after an unfortunate family circumstance.

“In August going into my senior year, my mom had a stroke,” Bolton said. “She was in the ICU (intensive care unit) for the first week and then got transferred to the hospital and in-patient physical therapy for probably a few months.

“So for the first half of my senior year of high school, I basically didn’t have a mom at all. I would go visit her and try to take care of her, but it just wasn’t the same because my dad was working full-time. My sister and I were going to school, so probably 60 to 70% of the time it was just me and my sister.”

That event made Bolton, who is from Newbury Park, re-think where he should attend college.

“Right up until I was going to go to Westmont, I was like, ‘I don’t know what I should do. Should I go to school there (Air Force) or do I go somewhere closer that I can commute home to?’ My last three choices were Westmont, Air Force or Grand Canyon.

“Air Force I already wanted to go to. Grand Canyon was another Division I school, and Westmont, which was close because it’s in Santa Barbara. I kind of knew of it, but I just wasn’t sure.”

In the spring of 2017, Bolton played against Westmont in a scrimmage as a member of the Oxnard Guerreros, a semi-pro team that plays in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL).

“I played that one game and I talked to Wolfy afterward,” Bolton said. “He said I had a spot and he wanted me to come practice. I came and trained one time and the coaches liked me. They said I had a roster spot and to just let them know.

“I don’t know what it was, but something in my brain was like, ‘I need to go here. I need to be close to home. I need to work on my faith because I didn’t have that in high school at all.’”

Bolton only knew one person going into Westmont, fellow incoming men’s soccer recruit and now current team captain, Zach Godeck. The two played three years of club soccer together with Oxnard PAL, before Bolton went to play for LA Premier in Pasadena.

Making the transition to college even more difficult were the challenges the Bolton family faced back at home in Newbury Park after the stroke Isaiah’s mom suffered. Bolton said it took a mental toll on him, resulting in what he called the toughest semester of his life in the fall of 2017.

However, Bolton noticed a shift during the 2018 spring semester, which coincided with his coming to faith, that ultimately convinced him that Westmont was where he was meant to be.

“I didn’t really find faith until coming to Westmont,” Bolton said. “I was a Christian but didn’t do anything to be a Christian. I started reading the Bible and started going to church more.

“I also met my girlfriend Katie. She helped me kind of find myself again and helped me want to be a better person for her and my family. She’s also pushed me to do well in life, just with everything I do. If I’m going to do it and not give my best effort, then why am I even doing it?

“She played a huge role and then just trying to strengthen my connection with the team, being more interactive with the guys and more involved in their lives and being friends with them, not just teammates. All those factors really played into it.”

Not only did Westmont allow Isaiah to be close to his family in Newbury Park, but it also kept him even closer to his younger sister Miabella, who went to Westmont the year after Isaiah.

Miabella is on the liberal studies fast track, meaning she will complete her undergraduate degree after this year, at the same time as Isaiah, before staying at the college to get her teaching credential next year.

“That’s something I never thought would happen, but I’m actually really looking forward to it,” Bolton said of the two graduating college together. “She’s one of my best friends. We didn’t always have a great relationship, but as we got into high school and then college, it’s gotten really good. She’s definitely one of my best friends.”

As close as he still is to his sister while attending the same college, his family as a whole remains even closer, as displayed by the two-memory-band tattoo on his left arm, which he got the summer before going to Westmont.

“One of them is for my Uncle Mike, who passed away when I was a baby,” Bolton said. “He was the most influential person in my mom’s life and then the other one is for my grandma Cita, who’s my dad’s mom who passed away from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease). She was the most influential person in his life.

“Without them, my parents wouldn’t have been together and I wouldn’t be where I’m at now. So I used the inspiration from my mom and my dad, as well as from the people who inspired them, to get that tattoo.”

In fact, it was Bolton’s parents who inspired him to play soccer in the first place. Isaiah’s dad Rob played soccer at Santa Barbara H.S. before playing at Santa Barbara C.C. and Cal Lutheran.

“They’re huge soccer fans and have been super supportive of me my whole life,” Bolton said of his parents. “I probably would not have played soccer if it weren’t for them and in turn I wouldn’t be at Westmont.”

The Warrior family is incredibly grateful he is.

“Isaiah has meant a lot to our program,” Wolf said. “He is a respected role model, both on and off the field. From my perspective he lives a congruent life (his inside matches his outside) and stylistically, he plays football in a way that reinforces some of our most important ideals, especially putting players on the field that are excellent receivers and passers of the ball.”

For more information on Cancer Fit, visit the organization’s official website at: http://cancer.fit/