September 27, 2007

Ricketts plays football for Air Force Academy

It isn’t every day that people get to live out their dreams, but that’s what happened to Richard Ricketts, a San Jose resident whose home address is on the border of Almaden and Blossom Valley.

Ricketts’ dream was to play football for a Division I school. That dream recently came true. During his senior year at Archbishop Mitty High School, Ricketts and his father Jeff went looking at different universities. After viewing the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., he knew that was where he wanted to go.

“He just fell in love with it,” Ricketts’ mom Carol told the Times. “He committed to it while he was there. It also helped that legendary coach Fischer DeBerry—who had been at the Air Force Academy for 25 years but just retired—was there too. I suddenly realized that he was going to college and was going to play football and get the greatest education for free and be able to serve his country,” she said.

Even though he had been considering other smaller schools, such as Texas Christian, Cal Poly and Stonybrook in New York, he was hooked after his tour of the academy, she added.

Last summer, Ricketts entered basic cadet training at the academy in preparation to enter the first academic year. The six-week, two-phased orientation program must be successfully completed by cadets prior to entering their freshman year. The training prepares them to meet the rigorous mental and physical challenges experienced by new cadets.

Phase one involves personal in-processing, orientation and training in the fundamentals of being a cadet. Cadet trainees are prepared to adjust from civilian to military life and disciplines and learn proper wear of the uniform, saluting policies and procedures, drill and ceremony, marching and living quarters standards.

During phase two, cadets train outdoors living in tents while learning to function in field conditions. Cadets apply and practice teamwork, cohesion and learn to deal with physically and mentally demanding situations. They complete the obstacle, confidence, assault, and leadership reaction courses and participate in a rescue mission termed Operation Warrior.

The cadet has not yet decided on what he would like to commit to after his tenure at the academy although he has talked about flying, said his mother, and “the academy takes all freshman in planes and they start flying little by little,” Carol Ricketts said.

Besides graduating from Mitty, Ricketts also attended Holy Family School through eighth grade.

—By Carol Rosen