by Sean McMenamin, CWPA Communications Assistant
BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — After COVID-19 shut down the 2019 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) season, University of Michigan women’s water polo goalie Heidi Ritner faced a tough decision.
She had to decide on whether to accept a job with the Miami Dolphins, or return to Michigan for her fifth season with her sister Emily. After graduating from Ann Arbor in May with a degree in sport management and a minor in business administration and history of art, the 2020 Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) Honorable Mention All-America selection elected to return to Michigan for a fifth season, pursue a Masters Degree and run it back with her teammates.
“I think a big thing for me is ‘you don’t know what you have until it’s gone,’” said Ritner. “It was a hard decision because obviously I got a job for an organization I really wanted to work for, you know it’s a dream job out of college. But I talked to both my managers who were both athletes as well, they both played football, one at Iowa, one at Bucknell. They totally understand that senior year is the best and to have it taken from you, and if you get another shot to do it then totally go for it.”
“And to get another degree is, that’s something it’s a hard thing to turn down so I think a lot of that came into my decision,” added Ritner. “And my parents are obviously very excited too and my sister. I’m not ready to say goodbye to it yet and if you have the extra chance, definitely take it.”
A Corona del Mar, Calif., native, Ritner has only been able to train out of water as COVID-19 has impacted her usual training routines, specifically the in-water training at Michigan.
“I think right now it’s really hard,” said Ritner. “But before I came [to Michigan], I was in California for the past two months or so. Everything’s closed there so the pools were all closed and I don’t have a pool in my backyard, so the water’s been out of the question.
“But I’ve definitely shifted a lot of my training towards dry land stuff. Our strength and conditioning coach has sent out a bunch of workouts that we’ve been doing, and thankfully I have my sister at home who’s also on the team. We get to pass the ball around outside but I’ve tried to do some light running because obviously I’m a water athlete.”
Ritner’s water polo career really took off from the start in her freshman year as she earned some phenomenal accolades. Some of those accolades included being named a five-time CWPA Rookie of the Week and the Rookie of the Year honor for Michigan.
“I think for me I improved in different areas along the way,” said Ritner. “But I feel like this past season which got cut short, I was really hitting my expectations that I had for myself which I maybe didn’t feel like I filled as well my sophomore and junior year.”
“So that was also a bummer that it was cut short, but I’m happy I get another swing at it this coming year. It’s a team effort too so I hope that I withheld the standards that my teammates had for me and my coaches.”
She has been able to stay in contact with her teammates, especially the ones who are currently living in other countries. Two of the members on the team are from England, one is from Australia and one is from British Columbia.
“Yeah so we have a lot of people [from] Australia, and then we have a couple from England, too,” said Ritner. “Those are probably some of my closest friends so that’s kind of funny because of the time change. We definitely keep in touch as best as possible, and as a team too we have team Zooms every week or every two weeks or so.”
“But we definitely keep in touch, everybody’s always texting,” added Ritner. “A lot of us are from the same area down in Southern California so we’ll see each other at home too or if we’re from the same high school teams, we’re definitely in the same area. We get to see each other, so [I’m] thankful for social media to keep everybody in touch. We’re a really close team so I’m definitely grateful for that and I miss my teammates, but I’ll see them again soon.”
She served as a team captain last season, before it was shut down due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
“I hope to be able to show by example, that’s something I try to pride myself on,” said Ritner. I’m obviously going to show respect to them so I hopefully get that in return, you know everybody’s made it onto the team for a reason, they deserve to be there. Just showing everybody that [if] you work hard, it’ll definitely pay off. Obviously it’s a team sport so working together to reach that common goal is really important.”
“Putting your teammates and your team first over individual goals or opinions is really important. I hope to be able to teach that to the younger girls and I think we all share pretty similar values and ideas of how it should be. So I think we’ll be good there and I’m excited to meet the younger girls.”
Ritner was on the CWPA All-Conference First Team in 2019 and won the CWPA championship in her first three years, but fell short in the NCAA Quarterfinals each year. In her fifth year, she will be looking to get over that hump and earn the coveted National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship along with her fourth CWPA championship.
“Yeah I’m really excited because a lot of our major players are coming back and are able to return so that’s really cool,” said Ritner. I’m super stoked to be able to have another round of it with them and I think everybody’s only going to be better because of this. I think we can definitely go for another CWPA Championship and I also think that we can definitely, I hope to break the streak of the NCAA, getting past the quarterfinals. I think we did awesome this year, we had our first win against Cal since I had been there, and that was huge for us.”
“This year it was always like [down to] the last moments of the game so that was definitely frustrating but really exciting when we got them,” added Ritner. “I think that that shows a lot about us and that was only the first half of the season. If we put in the work we can definitely exceed those standards that we have and make it past the quarterfinals which is something I’ve always wanted to do at least in my four years here, so now I get another try which is awesome.”
Ritner has her name etched into the Michigan record books with the most career wins, as she set the school’s freshman wins record with 27 victories in 2017, and became the fastest U-M goalkeeper to 25 wins, doing so in 34 games.
“I think that accolades [are] awesome and I’m super honored to be able to have it, like that’s great,” said Ritner. “But at the same time it’s a team sport and I can’t do it without my teammates. I’m hoping to be able to get more wins with my teammates because that’s obviously what we want and we put in the work for it, definitely.”
“We’ve definitely put in the work so to see that all pay off together as a team is really great,” added Ritner. “My goal this year is to win another CWPA Championship, have that in the books as well, [and] get another ring. And then I want to make some waves at NCAA’s, so that’s my goal, that’s what I want to do this coming year for sure. I want to break that, I want to get past the quarterfinals.”
Heidi has had the privilege of being able to play with her sister Emily at Michigan. Heidi dove into what that has been like and mentioned some of her favorite moments that she has shared with her.
“Of course it’s like mixed feelings, we were right next to each other you know, so you’re [thinking] ‘ah darn,’ but I was definitely excited,” said Ritner. “I mean it makes it amazing, we get to see our parents all the time too which is amazing, [when] we travel out to California for tournaments and they only have to make one stop and get to see the both of us, so that’s great. Every Sunday we make dinner together and we have some time together, so that was great.”
“Having her around, it’s really nice to have family and somebody who kind of gets it,” added Ritner. “And I couldn’t imagine having her anywhere else – so I’m really happy that she’s here. There was only like one year of our lives that we didn’t have together and that was when I was a freshman here. So it’s been nice for sure.”
