Warrior Weekly: New Zealander Kate Bolton is far from home but close to a new family
Stanislaus State Women’s Tennis team has a new face — and a new voice — in Kate Bolton.
Bolton, a 19-year-old freshman from Wellington, New Zealand, has loved the game since she picked up the racket at age 12.
“Even if I faced hard losses, I continued to play because I love tennis so much,” Bolton said.
Bolton went to a girls-only private high school named Queen Margaret College. That’s where her recruiting process began on her journey to Stan State.
Many tennis players in New Zealand try to come and play in the United States, so she found a recruiter who could send out her information to American universities.
This was how Stan State head coach Verek Visaraga found Bolton.
Even though she is far from home (New Zealand — “it’s not Australia” — is 6,760 miles away from Turlock), she is excited to be a part of the Warrior family.Bolton respects Visaraga’s coaching style and personality.
“Coach V is what drew me to come here,” Bolton said. “We are like the same person with our personalities.”
Some aspects of life in California have been hard for Bolton to adapt though. These adjustments include the differences in culture and being away from family and friends.
An area Bolton is still trying to figure out is American food.
“I am a vegetarian, so it is hard for me to find things to eat because every dish here involves meat,” Bolton chuckled.
Bolton also spoke fondly of her appreciation for New Zealand coffee, and has found a piece of home in a downtown Turlock coffee shop.
Not only has Bolton bonded with her new coaches, she has also created a deep bond with her teammates. Bolton said they love to spend time with each other and do movie nights.
Movie nights seemed appropriate since many great American films (“Lord of the Rings”, “The Hobbit”, “The Chronicles of Narnia”) were made in New Zealand for its beautiful scenery.
Bolton has been utilizing her resources in academics with good time management in her first year at Stanislaus State. Assistant coach, and former Warrior star, Cassidy Ferrell, has also been a valuable mentor.
With the upcoming tennis season, Bolton said she is most excited to grow her self-confidence while helping the team improve as a whole.
“Kate is very gracious and she is always thinking of others,” Visaraga said. “She is very coachable and has a positive growth mindset. If she doesn’t do as well as she hopes, then she wants to come back to practice to work on it and improve.”
The women’s tennis spring season begins this weekend at Dominican and Sonoma State. The Warriors travel to Kona, Hawaii over Valentine’s Day weekend before hosting their first home match on Feb. 22 against Academy of Art.
-Micaela Brewer
Festive Week at Stan State Athletics: Thursday’s home basketball games caps off a week-long celebration for Homecoming Week. The Warriors host Cal State San Bernardino in the basketball doubleheader starting at 5:30 p.m. A capacity crowd is expected at the Ed & Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena.
Saturday afternoon, Stanislaus State will welcome seven Warriors into its latest Warrior Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Class.
The inductees are: Courtney Anderson (cross country/track & field), Jennifer Arnold (softball), Karenee Demery (women’s soccer), Stan Gustafson (community volunteer), Reggie Jones (men’s basketball), Kyle Loretelli (baseball) and Diljeet Taylor (cross country/track & field/coach).
The inductees will also be honored at halftime of the men’s basketball game Saturday night when the Warriors host Cal Poly Pomona.
Morales Shatters Own Record in Indoor Track: Clarissa Morales (Modesto/Enochs HS) beat her own school record in the indoor 5,000-meter run with a new personal best time of 16:38.00 last Friday at the UW Invite in Seattle. She had previous held the record with a time of 17:10.78.
At the same meet, three Warriors all hit provisional qualifying marks for the NCAA Championships in the 3,000-meter run. Cynthia Mejia (9:40.53), Grace Kenny (9:51.55) and Sabrina Garcia (9:53.80) all posted personal bests and moved up in the Stan State career top 10 list.
Pole Vault Champion Inducted into CCAA Hall of Fame: Former Warrior Chaunte Mitchell has been named as one of six members of the CCAA Hall of Fame Class of 2020. A two-time NCAA champion pole vaulter, Mitchell was a five-time All-American in the sport. She was named the 2003 CCAA Freshman of the Year before picking up three conference titles (2004, 2005, and 2007).
Mitchell won the NCAA Division II title in 2004 and 2005 and still holds the Stan State record of 13 feet, 5 ¼ inches. She was inducted into the Stanislaus State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015 and the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame in 2018.