Sports Person of the Week – Ashton Richard

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) – 21-year-old Sulphur native Ashton Richard won the 9-ball shootout national championship in Las Vegas earlier this month and brought home a grand prize of $10,000.

“It was really exciting it definitely didn’t hit at first it took a little bit but it was really exciting,” APA 9-Ball National Champion, Ashton Richard said.

The talented pool player comes from a family of skilled players.

“Pretty much everyone plays pool all my uncles, their wives, my mom, my dad, my brother, my sister,” Richard said.

Richard started playing pool from a young age on her family pool table putting in hours of practice each week to perfect her craft.

“I play league Mondays and Wednesdays and then I go over to my dad’s house usually every Friday so probably eight-nine hours every week,” Richard said.

Richard began competing in the amateur pool circuit at 16 years old, but this was her first time competing in nationals, and she says keeping a calm demeanor allowed her to succeed.

“The biggest thing is to not put as much pressure on myself as other people I kind of just play and have fun I didn’t really expect to win I wanted to do it but didn’t put too much pressure on myself to do it,” Richard said.

Richard beat out 124 players in her bracket in levels 1-3, the highest level being a nine and because of her stellar performance in Vegas, she will be advancing to the next bracket.

“Whenever I started the bracket I was a level three and because I made it to the finals they moved me up to a four so next time I play in the finals I would play with the 4s and 5s,” Richard said.

She will be taking on tougher competition next time around but Richard says for her nothing changes, keep doing what she’s done her whole life.

“Just to get better and have fun and keep playing the way I’m playing and if I make it there again just to try to win it again,” Richard said.

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