After her latest return from Reno, and following a busy day at her job at Andrews Air Force Base Lanes where she operates the pro shop, the soft-spoken but forthright Cameron took time out of her hectic schedule to chat with BOWL Magazine Editor Bob Cosgrove about TEAM USA, her bowling career, and many other topics.

My first goal was to make TEAM USA again, but on top of that was to win the national amateur championship. I always go into a tournament expecting to win; this is the way that I think. I just go in and hope I do my best, and when I do, I usually end up on top. I go in planning on winning everything.

I did. Making the team this past year gave me a lot of confidence to come back locally and do well, even though I don't have to prove myself any more; I'm on the team. I didn't have to prove that I was good; TEAM USA showed everybody. Now all I have to do is bowl.

That's a really big thing. Confidence is one tool that if you have it, no matter how good or bad you are, you can bowl above your potential. It's kind of weird how that happens. You don't always have to be bowling your best, but when you have confidence, it helps in the biggest way.

Oh, no—just as exciting. It's probably more exciting this year in that I was leading the tournament. Tony Chapman [the 1992 national amateur champion of Landover, who placed 30th in 1995] came up and gave me a hug after my last game of match play, and it was the same feeling I got last year—it was very emotional just to know that you're on top. I mean, you're at the top! This is what amateur bowling is all about. It's just exciting; it really is. It's a bunch of emotions flowing all at once. You're one of the best bowlers in the country and everybody gets to see it again, so it's kinda neat.

Very disappointing. When Lynda came off the lane, I gave her a hug for winning—I was equally happy for her. Lynda's a great bowler and I'm happy she's on my team, but it was very disappointing for me to lead the tournament practically from the start of match play for the last 24 games to just lose with one match.

It was an emotional thing: As soon as I gave her the hug, I was out of there—I couldn't handle it. I walked away and had to get off TV. It was disappointing, but it leaves me another goal that I have to chase.

Lynda and I sat down afterwards, and we discussed that maybe the format should be changed to a two-game final match, giving the top qualifier a chance to redeem herself, so to speak. It's tough to come out with one game and prove yourself, even though you've done it for 48 games.

Other people's viewpoint is that the PBA Tour [has a one-game final match] every week. Well, the National Amateur Championships are held just once a year. It's a really big title, and it's a shame that you have to win it twice to get it. But that's the way it works.

She gets to go to Atlanta to bowl in a pre-Olympic event, which was what I really wanted to do. From my understanding of what they told us, we were going to have a separate qualifier among all the TEAM USA 1996 members to compete for that one spot. Before the TV match started, however, they announced that the national amateur champions would go to Atlanta.

That may have had a little bit to do with my performance on TV. It's a little more pressure, and it's something that I really wanted to do.

We both bowled great. She led the tournament through qualifying, and I led it after match play, so at least one of the leaders won. She bowled great on TV, and I actually felt I bowled a good game.

I really should have switched balls—when people see the TV show, they'll go, "You should have switched balls right after you left that 4-pin." But it's a little too late to do that now. It's a little tougher when you're in that situation to make that call.

When you're just bowling another game, it comes naturally to me, but on TV, it's like, I know I can do this, I know I can do this, and then it was a little disheartening when I picked up that other ball that I should have switched to three frames before the tenth frame when I threw a strike. I was kind of a little upset, but you live and you learn, I guess.

No. We actually have co-sponsors this year as far as equipment goes. We're open to use anybody's equipment. Each ball company gives us a certain number of balls. We use what we're comfortable with. We're not under contract to use their stuff.

For instance, we had to wear a Turbo 2-N-1 Grips patch on our shirts for the TV show. Well, I don't use Turbo 2-N-1 Grips—I use Contour Power Grips. But we had to do that; I don't know why. They said it was something in the contract for this tournament.

Linds is a big sponsor of TEAM USA, but I've been wearing my Dexters. Sometimes people feel obligated. Linds made us these very nice shoes—they were red and white, and during the year I wore them at the TEAM USA team events, but when I went to individuals events like the national amateur finals, I wore the shoes that felt comfortable to me. I'm really comfortable with both shoes, but I prefer Dexters over Linds, though. That's the way it goes.

There's really not a whole lot to look out for but to expect the best year of their lives. I'm pretty fortunate: I've had two best years and they're back-to-back.

This year kind of started out a little shaky for me. I didn't quite know what to do or what to expect. There were new ways of looking at things, but once I started to open up and take in everything as it happened, it turned out to be wonderful.

Working with a bunch of different coaches makes it a little tough, but once you take in what you need to use, it just makes everything a lot better. Some coaches give you a point of view, and then someone else gives you a point of view, and you get all these things and it starts getting mixed up. Then you just want to start taking little parts and use them to your benefit instead of using everything they tell you.

It's going to be another great year: We get to travel out of the country, and we have a great team. We had a good team last year.

In 1996, I will not go pro. I had made a decision earlier this year that I was going to go pro if I didn't make the team in 1996. But my goal was to make the team.

I do feel ready to go out on the tour. I feel my game is at a peak right now where I'm very confident that I could go out there and make money and make a living. However, I'm going to wait. I want to make TEAM USA again and again and again, but we'll see how that works.

Everybody says, "Aren't you going to get tired of that?" I don't think you can. It's a different team every year, and it's new experiences.

I'll never forget this year. The World FIQ was one of the best tournaments I've bowled in—and we didn't even win! We bowled, I think, the best that our team ever bowled this year, and we met a lot of new people, we experienced a lot of great competition, and it's just one of those things that's going to stay with me forever. So it's just going to be new experiences every year. I just hope I can keep doing that.

We on TEAM USA have come up with some terms regarding house and league conditions. Sometimes we run into "adult bumper bowling" where they give you a trough and all you have to do is place the ball there—there's really no effort or skill to do that. A lot of house shots do that: They put the trough there, you put the ball there, and you hit the pocket.

At FIQ, they give you maybe a one- or two-board area that you've gotta hit to hit the pocket. You miss an inch right, and by the time the ball hits the pins, it's seven or eight inches right. You miss left and it's hooking a mile—or not hooking at all. It's very difficult.

When we bowled the FIQ, I hit the pocket I don't know how many times each game, and I can't tell you how many times I struck, but it wasn't very many. The carry was very difficult. It's very hard for straighter players like me to get the ball to roll up soon enough on some of these FIQ conditions. They definitely make you work; they make you hit what you're looking at. They definitely don't just give it to you. They don't give you that "throw the ball right and watch it hook left and strike all over the place, even if you miss five or six boards." When you miss out there, you miss by a mile!

When we were done with the FIQ and bowled the World Team Challenge, that shot was tough also, but they actually gave us three-to-four boards, whereas FIQ only gave us one board. We took the three extra boards and a little bit of back-end and ran with it. We were just tuned in to hitting that mark. It looked to us that we had the whole lane. That's why we led by so much—over 500 pins. [Her team eventually finished second. —ED.]

In the FIQ, we were praying that we would hit the pocket and then, when we hit the pocket, have them all go down. We tried everything, but I don't think it was because of soft conditions that we didn't do well. We just don't see the tough stuff.

I guess you could say that: If we don't see the tough stuff, I guess we are bowling on softer stuff. It's very difficult to adjust to that shot in one day and work with it. I think we gradually got better as the tournament went on, but I don't know. It definitely was tough.

When you prepare for the FIQ, you want to find something tough. You want to find a place where you're not going to have an easy shot to the pocket, and you're not going to have an easy line to carry. It is difficult and frustrating to find that sometimes.

I'm not saying that every house should be tough or easy, but make 'em fare. Don't give it to the person, but don't make them so difficult that they don't do well and get discouraged and quit.

There are a lot of inflated averages around the area. I admit that. My 217 is a little high, although this year in the Metro Invitational league [at Annandale] I bowled to win—I didn't bowl for average. To win in that league, you had to bowl well, whereas in other leagues they're not quite as competitive, but there are still inflated averages all over the area. It's kinda weird.

I don't think so.

It doesn't surprise me because with all the technology and equipment around now, people can almost buy hook in a box. They can go to a pro shop and buy hook and reaction, whereas before I'm sure it was a little different. I'm not quite old enough to remember the rubber ball era. I barely came in during the urethane age.

I guess when urethane was around, it was a little bit tougher to get good and to average high. I really don't know because I was still pretty young. By the time I started coming into my own, that's when resin had just started coming out.

When it did, I felt there was a downfall in my game. I had to learn how to bowl a different way and adapt my game to resin, whereas some people now buy resin and buy a 200 average. That's kind of frustrating; I had to work to get back up to where I was when resin came out. My average dropped 10 pins or so, and I had to work and learn how to use resin; others could just fit it right into their game and their average jumped 15 to 20 pins.

Sometimes it doesn't seem fair, but it's out there for everybody to use, so it's just the way you work it, I guess.

I'm not complaining, though. I'm very happy with my game and how I'm bowling. I'm not disappointed in anything. Basically, the way I look at it, you have to bowl against inflated averages and if you bowl your best, you'll win.

I definitely am a more social person. I find myself meeting more people. It's kind of funny: This past weekend I met a person and started talking to him and he said, "Wow, I'm talking to a TEAM USA member!" and it made me feel really good. He was kind of treating me like a celebrity, and I really don't think of myself as a celebrity. I think of myself as Kendra Cameron and I'm going to bowl!

TEAM USA definitely has opened my eyes.

At first, in the beginning of the year, I thought it was miserable. We had set these schedules where we had to be at certain times, and they wanted us to be in bed at a certain time. But you look at them, and you say, "We're here to bowl."

I'm not saying I went there to go and have a good time. The reason I went was to bowl, but we had one trip where they dragged us shopping like three days and we went sightseeing. We didn't want to do that—we wanted to bowl! Is was like, just get us to the bowling center. Just get us to the bowling center! Please! Leave us at the bowling center; you can go shopping!

This particular tournament was the TEAM USA/TEAM JAPAN event, where it was mostly a showpiece and a delegate and an administrative thing—a big, political bowling event. So it was kind of frustrating that we bowled four days out of 11 and we were shopping and sightseeing the other seven.

That was the only thing that kind of made it miserable, but I did make a lot of great friends with TEAM JAPAN.

Once you get into the competition, it's great. There's nothing better than bowling for your country—nothing better.

Work. I had to take off time for work, and I don't get paid when I'm gone. It's tough to keep a job, especially a full-time job, and go out and bowl all the time.

People go, "Oh, you're going on vacation again!" and I say, "No, I'm just going to my other job." Many people don't know that bowling is another job. They think I'm going to have fun, and while fun comes with it, it's also work. I just don't go out there to have fun. I go out to work, and I work hard!

I'm just glad I have a job and a boss who is flexible enough and understands what TEAM USA means. It does help my business, so that's pretty good.

At work, a lot of people have come by to congratulate me. A lot of my friends in the area are real excited for me. Everybody still treats me like Kendra—not Kendra the TEAM USA member. I like that a lot around here.

I was out at the U.S. Olympic Training Camp in Colorado for a whole week and all the coaches were working with everyone else. One day, I was just bowling for five or six hours straight, and nobody was coming over to work with me. I finally went up to somebody and said, "Look, I've been out here for four days and no one has come up to me and said, `We want you to work on this and this.'"

Fred came by and said, "Kendra, I know we should have told you earlier, but we really don't want to work on your game." When I asked why, he said, "We like it like it is."

There was one thing that they wanted me to work on, and that was my timing because usually I'm a little bit late. We worked on that for an hour or two, and I was pretty much set, and they were happy with what I was doing. We bowled the Colorado Springs All-Stars in a challenge match and, let's put it this way, I whacked 'em! I shot 194-278-299 and I was like, wow, I really like this new timing thing!

There were a few other things to practice: learning how to throw it slower and use different wrist positions. But other than that, they were very happy with my physical game, and they were extremely pleased with my mental game and with my knowledge of equipment.

I owe that to running a pro shop, where I've been able to work on my own equipment so I know what to do when I get into certain situations—except for that TV show!

Just by learning from other people. Every once in a while, I still call Jim Lewis [of the Sports Plus/Carmen Don Pro Shop in Alexandria] and tell him that I want to do a ball this way and can you help me out? We go to drilling seminars. There are some books out that I haven't really read yet. Chip Zielke has a book out which is very good. I've taken a look at it, but I haven't read it yet.

I learn a lot just from experience alone—going bowling myself. That helps me help other people also.

Very overwhelming. At times, it was very emotional. A lot of letdown, a lot of excitement. It was an awesome event. I wouldn't change a thing other than to put a gold medal around my neck.

I do admit that a very good male bowler can make more money on the amateur circuit than he can on the pro circuit. I don't know why that happens, but it does.

On the women's side, it's definitely different. LPBT is probably the route to go if you're one of the top women bowlers because there's not a women's High Roller, even though we can bowl the High Roller.

I'm not saying that I can't beat those men; it's definitely a lot different, and it's very difficult to do that. I'm going to give it a try this year—the Hoinke Classic in November and the Super Bowl High Roller in January.

There is the World Tenpin Team Cup in Calgary in August. I'm being sent to bowl in World Team Challenge qualifiers in Las Vegas, Detroit, and Dublin, Calif. There's also the week at the Olympic Training Center in February, the WIBC Queens in Buffalo, the World Team Challenge Championship, and possibly a tournament in Korea and the FIQ World Youth Championships in Hong Kong.

The Tournament of the Americas in Miami is in August, as are the National Amateur Championships in St. Louis. There is also the AMF World Cup finals in Richmond.

Honestly, I would rank myself No. 1. Not to have this huge ego, and not to be big-headed, but right now, I'm on top of my game and I don't feel that anybody in the area can beat me.

On the men's side, I'll give any one of those guys a run for their money—that's for sure! I feel very confident and on top of my game, and that's one of the best feelings you can have as a bowler. It helps a lot.

On the women's side, it would have to be Joanne Harris and Lisa Rand. They're always at the top. There are other women who are just as good, and they're knocking on our door.

I think it's great in this area that we have this much competition. In the Baltimore area, there really isn't a whole lot—there's Debbie Kuhn, a former professional, and Chele Rutherford, but it's just not the same as the D.C. area, where the women are very competitive. That is wonderful.

On the men's side, I'm not really sure. I'm out to beat everyone, so I wouldn't say there's a certain person who gives me the most competition. My goal is to win everything. I don't mean to be greedy, but you've gotta have that attitude.

The reason I'm an ABC member is that I just support bowling. And hey, I get those way cool men's awards, too! I kind of like that. I picked the right season to join ABC: When I shot my first 300, I got a watch and a ring. That's pretty nice.

I can't wait for them to merge and become one big organization. There's no reason why they can't have one organization with two separate divisions. That would be wonderful—have a mixed nationals or something.

A lot of men ask me why I'm an ABC member when they can't be WIBC members. I actually think that's kind of unfair, and it's why I hope they do merge sometime soon. It isn't fair. I think men should be able to join WIBC, just like we can join ABC.

I support both organizations. I think they're great; they just need to merge. Make it The American Bowling Congress or The United States Bowling Congress. 

It's difficult to compete against men. For women, it's always going to be that way; I don't know why. I feel I'm just as good as most of them, but I won't say that I feel that I'm at a disadvantage. It's just a little bit tougher.

I'm always going to pick a women's scratch tournament over a men's scratch tournament if they happen to fall on the same day. That's just the way it works.

I know I can hold my own, and I can beat most of the men around here. In the last two [Nation's Capital/Baltimore Area] Masters, I'm really happy that I've made the match-play finals. That was a big accomplishment for me this year. Now I have to win one, and I think that is definitely within my reach.

I don't think so. I know a lot of the men don't like to be beat by a woman. I don't think there's intimidation at all. Most of the men in the area are very friendly towards me, and they wish me the best of luck and I do them the same.

Here's how I look at it: Everybody who bowls in a tournament is a bowler—they're not male or female—and I'm there to bowl against them.

We have a sports psychologist who works with TEAM USA members, and he taught us some relaxation techniques, such as breathing, thinking of other things, and I've used a couple of those and they really help out a lot.

Experience helps a lot. Being in those types of situations frequently makes it a little easier to deal with. I'm sure the more and more I get on TV, the more relaxed I'm gonna feel. This past time was my third time on TV, and I felt very relaxed. The other two times I was nervous and got the stomach ache before the TV show. This time, it was just go out there and bowl your best.

Oh, definitely! I don't know why. You only have 50 or 80 people behind you—not a large number—and they have these cameras, so it's not like everyone's watching right away, other than a regular crowd. But for some reason, it's like I'm bowling in front of the whole world. I don't know why. It was definitely easier bowling this last time.

Right at this moment, it's at the top. There's nothing that can take me away from bowling. I don't think there ever will be. Bowling is always going to be the main part of my life. I've chosen that as my career. Whether I'm in bowling as an athlete or in bowling as an employee, it's always going to be part of my life.

I like to go whack golf balls. After I lost on TV, I went to the driving range at the Reno Hilton and whacked two buckets of golf balls to release some stress, and that helped a lot—trust me! It's better to vent it right after than to keep it bottled up.

I like talking on the phone, too. I met a lot of neat people this year, and I keep in touch with them; I like to write to them a lot. I've made some friends that I'll never, ever lose. They're just people who will stay with me no matter what. That's a really neat thing.

I guess I could say that I like work, too. Not too many like work, but it's not a bad job.

I decided I've got to give my car a break. I drove too many times to Virginia last year to bowl league. It's gotten rather expensive and out of hand, and it's real tough with me going away now. I kind of hate to have to find subs and stuff like that, but I'm going to have to do it anyway.

It's more of a convenience thing this year. Some people tell me that I'm not going to be looked upon as one of the top scratch bowlers if I don't bowl in these [Virginia] leagues. Well, I'm sorry, but I can't drive all over the planet to satisfy other peoples' needs when I have to look out for myself.

Bowling at Crofton, it's close to home. It's a decent scratch league. It's got pretty good money in it.

Bowling at Andrews Air Force Base Lanes, I get off work at 7 p.m. and the league starts at 7:30. I can't beat that! There's a bunch of good people in that league, and I'm on a very competitive team, so it's not that it's going to hurt me by not bowling in these competitive leagues. I feel that both my teams have a good shot to win the championship, so we'll see what we can do with that.

It's still on hold. I've been thinking of looking short-term at the moment and taking a few classes at a community college to get my associate's degree in whatever I have enough of to get an associate's degree just to hold me over for a while. At least I'll have a piece of paper with something on it.

I started out in business, and I was looking for that bachelor's degree. I looked at business because if I was going to be in bowling, I've gotta know about business—not always true! Bowling's different: There's all types of things that go on in bowling.

Then I switched to geography. That was something that I really enjoyed. It came easy to me, and I said, hey, I can get a degree in this—no problem.

Then there was actually the thought of majoring in a language. Foreign languages have always intrigued me; they've always been a neat thing to me, and it's something that I've liked to do, ever since I took Spanish in high school. It's just something that was easy for me to pick up, I enjoyed it, and that's just another thing that I looked at.

I keep saying that if I keep changing this major, I'm never going to graduate. I just want to get that associate's degree out of the way and see what happens. But that may not happen for a little while yet, either.

I get to drill up things and experiment with different types of equipment—learning to drill bowling balls for myself for certain lane conditions or to fit them into my arsenal. It helps a lot. By drilling your own equiipment, you really get to know your equipment, as far as what it does—what conditions it works on, when to use it, and when not to. That's helped a lot. I can go home and say, wow, I needed this ball drilled out this way, instead of, "Hey, can you help me find out what works best on this condition?" Now it's like, hey, I'm the expert on this.

I really don't think I am an expert, but I know what to do, so why don't I try this and see if it works? I'm fortunate that I get the chance to do that.

I've always looked up to Lisa Wagner. She broke all those wonderful money records one year and she's got the most titles on tour. I've looked up to Leanne Barrette, who has one of the strongest balls on the tour. Even closer to my age is Tammy Turner, for being on TEAM USA and for accomplishing what she has and going out on tour and being one of the most powerful players out there. 

That's a tough call; I've never thought about that! I always look up to my friends—Jim Lewis, Rich Wolfe—a lot of my friends who are regional players. They've taught me a lot just by watching them bowl. It's mostly their friendship that I admire the most. That's kinda neat.

I'd have to say Norm Duke, David Ozio, Randy Pedersen—I really like his game. I'd definitely like to see Leanne Barrette, and probably Anne Marie Duggan. That would make a really great show.

On a local show, I'd like to see Rich Wolfe, Jim Lewis, and myself. I definitely would like to see Tony Chapman. Tony's a great bowler and I wished him all the luck in Reno, but all my luck didn't carry over to him—I think I used it all.

Definitely Lisa Rand, who is coming into her own now. I'm really excited for her. She had a dry spell for a while, but she's really worked on her game and she's thinking about going on tour. We're really good friends. She definitely has what it takes. She's just gotta get it going on. When she does, she's there.

It's kind of funny—everyone keeps asking me. I don't think I've been in the association long enough to do that. Since I turned adult, I've been in the Baltimore association for two years. I've been in the D.C. association now for two years.

That's always a nice honor. I think I have a while to wait for that. Everybody goes, "You're a little too young to be inducted." My feeling is that I haven't been around long enough.

It would be a nice honor, but it's not my goal. I don't think it should be anyone's goal. It's a very nice recognition. It's something people see, and they recognize you for it.

I think I'm headed there pretty good, I guess—I don't know. I'm not worried about it. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, that's OK.

I do eventually want to become national amateur champion. I'm not going to be real disappointed if that doesn't happen. I also want to go out on the women's tour.

Basically, my biggest goal is to bowl the best that I can. Of course, everybody's goal is to win, and my goal is to win whatever I bowl in. But you can't win everything. I just pray that I go out and bowl the best that I can, and everything will fall into place if I do.

Self-portrait: More outgoing now than ever before … likes to have a lot of fun … always tries to keep a positive mind on everything.

Trait you deplore about yourself: Not outgoing enough.

Trait you like about yourself: I'm a good friend.

Walter Mitty fantasy: Winning the lottery, retiring from my job, and going out bowling.

Inspiration: My parents and friends who are behind me 100 percent, no matter what I do.

Greatest feats: Making TEAM USA two years in a row and winning my first WASA tournament.

Car in garage: Chevy Cavalier.

Favorite cereals: Cap'n Crunch, Fruit Loops, and Honeycomb.

Favorite beverage: Water.

Favorite TV program: M*A*S*H reruns at midnight.

Favorite store: Anywhere there's a bargain—but no thrift shops!

Hobbies: Whacking golf balls, listening to music, and reading books.

Last book read: The Homing by John Saul, my favorite author.

Bad habit: Driving too fast.

Most treasured possessions: The medal and trophy I won for making TEAM USA 1995 and 1996, respectively.

Idea of perfect happiness: Finding the right person with whom to spend the rest of your life.

Quality you like most in a person: Honesty.

Quality you dislike most in a person: Being two-faced.

Person I'd like to come back to life as after death: Myself—I'm very happy with my life now.

Greatest fear: Not being able to bowl.

Greatest regret: Not anything—everything has a purpose.

Motto: "No matter whatever you think you can or you can't, you're right." •