The Catalan champion to whom Prince dedicated a concert retires

BadalonaAnna Cruz had prepared the video announcing her retirement last summer, but Joventut convinced the Catalan player to postpone her decision for another year. The Badalona native has made her final decision now, as La Penya faces the decisive stretch of the season. "Retiring to Badalona is like closing a circle because it's where I started playing basketball. Although I had to leave, it's always felt like home. Ending my career at another club wouldn't make sense," she admitted in an interview with ARA.

Cruz wanted to retire feeling like she could still be useful, and this past season proved her right. "Even though I'm 38 and have my physical limitations, I try not to let it show and set an example for others. I liked feeling like I was a role model while I was still playing," she says.

Cruz's track record, as the only Catalan player with a U.S. championship ring, is far greater than her ego. "It's very difficult to play in the WNBA, but even more so to win a ring. We also achieved a lot with the Spanish national team, but there really aren't many players who have a WNBA championship ring. There are very few, and so I feel lucky. And no, I was able to play an important role. 0%," she recalls.

The day after winning the WNBA championship ring, Cruz was told she was going to an office to speak with the president. It didn't take long for her to realize that the person on the other end wouldn't be, as she'd thought, the president of the Minnesota Lynx. "My teammates started pulling out their phones to record the moment, and I did the same. I was surprised to see the conversation was with Barack Obama, who called to congratulate us on the title," recalls the player, who during the celebration also had the privilege of attending a private Prince concert.

A WNBA champion in 2015 with the Minnesota Lynx, the Badalona native was also a Euroleague champion in 2017 with Dynamo Kursk, and has an impressive record with the Spanish national team, where she accused former coach Lucas Mondelo of psychological abuse. "For a time, I lived in two totally different worlds because I was in Russia during the season and in the United States during the summer. The differences were very significant. In the WNBA, travel conditions were very good and we always had a full house. Then I would arrive in Russia and it was like returning to another reality," she recalls.

Open epilogue

Joventut will close out the regular season this weekend against Perfumerías Avenida de Salamanca at the Palau Olímpic. Although they have already secured their spot, the Penya team still doesn't know who they will play in the quarterfinals. "Having Anna Cruz on the team has been a luxury, both for what she's contributed to us on the court and for the leadership she provides off it. The younger players have learned a lot from her, but so have I," acknowledges Jordi Vizcaíno, coach of the green-and-black team.

When she plays her last game, Cruz will begin to plan her next step. Joventut is leaving the door open for her to take on a position in the team's front office. "I don't think I have enough patience to be a first-team coach. I don't want to close doors, but right now I still see myself as a player and it's hard for me to visualize myself doing anything else. When I finish playing basketball and retire, I want to remain linked to basketball because I can't imagine a life without it, but from there."