The Talawanda High School senior is comfortable with her choice despite Miami’s coaching change earlier this year after attending summer camp and sitting down with new coach Cleve Wright to talk about the RedHawks.
She said she committed while former coach Maria Fantanarosa was the head coach and thought about her verbal commitment after the coaching change.
“It kind of rocked my world. I thought about my future. I did not know if we could start over,” Richter said. “He got together with me. It was important to talk to him and get to know him. I went to the elite camp this summer to see if I still wanted to go there. I loved his coaching. It’s a hard transition, but I still wanted to go.”
That was not the case in her earlier years, when she wanted to leave the area for college, but stay within two hours so family and friends could watch her play.
“I did not want to go this close, but I went close,” she said. “Miami has good academics and good basketball. It felt like home to me. I visited other colleges and did not feel that.”
Her mother, Kim, who is Talawanda’s head coach, said they made several unofficial visits, including going to Northern Kentucky University and Cedarville College.
“She said, ‘It’s not Miami,’ ” Kim Richter said of her daughter’s visits. She said she has promised her daughter to not drop in unannounced, but to call first and not show up for 45 minutes to visit.
Mother and daughter have business to attend to, however, before their college visits are on the agenda — the Talawanda basketball season that starts tonight. The Braves were 24-1 last year, falling in their fourth postseason tournament game after an undefeated 21-0 regular season.
“I’m looking forward to a good year with Talawanda. With (the letter of intent signing) out of the way, my focus is on the team,” Ana Richter said. “Last year was really good. Our goal is to go deeper in the tournament. We have high expectations, but we have to work for it.”
Basketball has always been her favorite sport, but she plays volleyball very well, too, and loves that sport.
At her letter signing ceremony held at Talawanda, her father John told a story about a game when she was in fourth grade. He said they were playing at the Salvation Army gym in Hamilton and were down one point against the first-place team with just seconds left in the game.
“We threw the ball in to Ana and she weaved down the court and got the shot. It hit the backboard and went in. She showed she liked the ball and she liked to knock them down from the beginning. This is a gift,” John Richter said.
Ana said does not remember that, but there have been so many games since then it’s hard to recall a lot of specific ones.
Her love of the game, however, does remain. Her volleyball is solid and she is talented in that sport, but it is more of a diversion than first love.
“I love volleyball but I think of volleyball as a break season. I know I want to play basketball and I do not want to burn out. I love volleyball so much, too,” she said, but added of basketball, “I work on being good. My goal is to be great.”
Both parents played basketball in college and on her mother’s side, she is the third generation to do so.
Ana Richter calls herself “blessed” to have the parents she has. They have not pushed her toward basketball, but supported her and, having played college ball, were able to advise her.
“I’m blessed to be a family that knows what they are talking about. They never pressured me into this,” she said. “It’s cool it turned out the way it did. I can follow in their footsteps.”
Richter is undecided on a major in college, but is leaning toward business or sports management.
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