Westmont Magazine Tenacious Goalkeeper Stays in the Game Despite Epilepsy

Gabi Haw ’21 concludes her career as a goalie on the women’s soccer team as one of the top five in Westmont history. But her path to success began with one major hurdle: epilepsy. “In my first year at Westmont, I was diagnosed with a severe case of epilepsy,” she says. “My faith was shaken as well as all the plans I’d made for my future.”

She was scared and confused and yearned for a measure of hope. “I found the most peace and comfort by simply knowing who Jesus is and the plans he has for me,” she says. “I didn’t know why these things were happening, but I came to understand that God doesn’t always promise us understanding in life, he promises us peace!”

Her teammates, coaches, professors and residence life staff came alongside her to listen and pray, and encouraged her that she could still stay at Westmont despite the health issues she was facing. “My communication studies professors even sent me a gift and came to visit when I was staying in the hospital last year during week-long testing at UCLA,” she says. “That is the kind of love and support I had that fueled me to stay engaged academically and socially.”

Gabi says faith played a huge role as she struggled to find the right balance with her medication that made her lethargic. “Professors have cultivated my faith,” she says. “They’ve challenged us to ask God bigger questions because He will show up with the answers. I’ve grown so much because of these questions. They were right—God will answer in His timing, not ours.”

In 2017, Gabi asserted herself as a rookie, appearing in 16 games and starting in 14. Fearless in her first Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament Championship, she stopped a program-record 15 shots on goal to keep the No. 9 Warriors in a tie against No. 5 Vanguard. Westmont eventually lost the game in penalty kicks but advanced to the quarterfinals of the NAIA National Tournament that year and again in 2019.

“The most important things I have learned throughout my experiences with Westmont soccer have been grit, resilience and gratitude,” she says.

In her senior year, the pandemic pushed soccer from August to February. During the unpredictable season, six of the Warriors’ games were either postponed, canceled or forfeited. Every member underwent testing for COVID-19 two to three times a week. “We reminded ourselves that testing and abiding by the protocols allowed us to play the game we love,” she says. “At game time, everything feels normal again. We don’t have to wear masks, social distance, or worry about anything else going on in the world. When we step on the field, it’s simply bliss.”

In May 2019, the women’s soccer team traveled to Africa for two weeks, visiting and playing soccer in Kampala, Uganda, and Nairobi, Kenya, continuing a partnership with Sports Outreach Institute (SOI) that began in 2006. “We missed a lot of sleep, played soccer against amazing athletes and faced some hard realities that come with visiting a foreign country,” she says. “We laughed, we cried and we also shared our love for soccer and how it has given us an opportunity to get an education.”

Gabi has also participated in Fellowship for Christian Athletes (FCA) in Santa Barbara, developing relationships and talking with high school students about sports, faith and the dynamics of high school. “I had a rough high school experience, and people helped me get through it,” she says. “I wanted to be a part of FCA to help students overcome some of the same hardships I faced, but I think they ended up giving me more of a reason to smile than I ever helped them.”

A communication studies major, Gabi developed a passion for studying social media. Deborah Dunn, professor of communication studies, assigns students in her Media and Mass Communication course the task of creating a website or blog and writing content for it in lieu of a research paper. Gabi started a blog, “The Social Media Issue,” about the effects of social media on humanity based on previous research and her own personal interest. “I’ve grown passionate about what social media has the ability to do, and this blog was a way for me to share my research with those I love,” she says. After she reposted her blog on social media, a local company became interested in her work and offered her an internship overseeing their social media platforms.

Gabi now works full time as an outside sales representative at a global human resources management company. “I’ll still be active in the Santa Barbara community, training the next generation of goalkeepers, investing in high school students and staying active in church ministry,” she says.

Eventually, she wants to earn a Master of Arts in Theology and Ministry at Fuller Seminary. “I have a huge heart for mission and global mission work, but I first want to take time to dive deeper into God’s calling,” she says. “Right now, that’s living in Santa Barbara and continuing to invest in the community around me.”

In the meantime, she will undergo two rounds of brain surgery beginning this summer. “My doctors and I are extremely hopeful that this surgery will allow me to have a better quality of life and potentially completely heal me of my seizures,” she says.