Oct. 16, 2006

Over the course of the last 15 months, UTPA sophomore Mariale Camey (Ciudad, Guatemala/University of New Orleans) has been living more of the life of a gypsy and less the life of a collegiate golfer.

Camey has been traveling all over North and South America for the past year, but no matter where her travels took her, it was on the golf course where she found the most comfort.

Following a successful prep career in her native home of Guatemala, Camey was one of the country's top amateur prospects and was poised for great things as she headed to the Big Easy for her first season with the University of New Orleans women's golf team.

Seven days after arriving on the campus of UNO, those plans for greatness in her first season were quickly halted as Camey found herself departing her new home. Leaving just as quickly as she arrived in the Big Easy, Camey and her Privateer teammates raced out of the city as Hurricane Katrina ferociously approached the coast.

"It was a very scary time because we didn't know where we were going to go. Our coach took us up to Tennessee, and we stayed there for about a week. I could never imagine that something so horrible could happen to a city let alone a place that I was living," said Camey about the days leading up to and following Hurricane Katrina.

After a week stationed in Tennessee, Camey was back in a van heading to the northern part of Louisiana where she and her teammates would call Nicholls State their home for the remainder of the semester.

During those months at Nicholls State, Camey and her teammates tried to make the best of a bad situation as they continued to attend class and play golf all while living out of their suitcases in a temporary home.

"We went back to New Orleans after the semester was over, and all I wanted to do was get back to a normal life and play golf, but it was so sad to be there in that city," recalled Camey.

Every golfer struggles on the course with bad shots, terrible lies and mental breakdowns, but Camey found out that no matter how difficult the courses might be, it was still easier than what she had dealt with over the past six months.

After the spring semester, Camey went back home to Guatemala and tried to regain the swing and stroke that made her one of the country's top golfers. In July, she was one of 10 players that were invited to try out for the Guatemalan National Team that would compete in South Africa at the World Amateur Golf Team Championships in October.

The format was very simple - five different golf courses, two rounds at each course played on consecutive days with the top three players earning a ticket to South Africa with the Guatemalan National Team.

"I was leading after the first round and was tied for the lead after the second and third rounds. There was a lot of pressure heading into the final two rounds because making this team was so important to me. I was feeling good about my game, and I was happy with the way that I handled all of the pressure. I ended up finishing second overall following the final two rounds so I was really, really excited to make the team," Camey said.

While Camey would have to wait a few months before boarding a plane for a 25-hour flight to South Africa, the sophomore returned back to the collegiate golf scene as she transferred to The University of Texas-Pan American to play for head coach Barb Odale.

Camey quickly found out what life was all about as a student-athlete at an Independent institution as she found herself traveling to four tournaments over the course of four weeks. Throughout the entire Month of September, Camey and her new Lady Bronc teammates were traveling all over the country playing golf while turning airplanes, vans and hotel rooms into their mobile classrooms.

In her first season with the Lady Broncs, Camey finished second on the team with an 81.4 strokes average and was the top UTPA golfer at the Unlimited Potential/Myrtle Beach Classic where she finished 31st overall. She earned her first top-20 showing of the season at the UNT Lady Eagle Invitational hosted by the University of North Texas. In the final two tournaments of the season, Camey finished as one of the top two golfers for UTPA.

"Towards the end of the fall season, you really began to see that Mariale was starting to get comfortable on the course. In Myrtle Beach, she shot a 72 in the second round and that round could've very easily been a 68 or 70 so it was great to see her feel comfortable on the course and just let everything go," said Odale.

The following the season, Camey calmly walked into Odale's office where she politely asked to take a week off so she could travel to South Africa. It was only after asking permission before the real reason came out.

"It was so funny because when Mariale asked me if she could take off a week to go to South Africa, I thought that she was going on a vacation. After she told me it was to play for Guatemala at the World Amateur Golf Team Championships, I just stared at her in disbelief and told her to definitely go. Playing at that tournament was one of my main goals when I was in college, and they took the top three players and I was ranked sixth so I'm kind of living out my dream through her," said Odale.

At the World Amateur Golf Team Championships, Camey will be joined by a mother-daughter combo on the Guatemalan National Team as they compete against 50 other national teams over the course of three rounds. Camey has gone from representing The University of Texas-Pan American to representing her entire country all within the span of two weeks.

"I don't think that it's really hit me that I'm going to be in South Africa next week playing golf for my country. I really don't have any expectations of a certain score that I want to shoot, but I just want to soak up the entire environment and take the round shot-by-shot," said Camey.

The UTPA sophomore will be the first player since Nancy Verastegui to represent not only The University of Texas-Pan American, but also her native country in the World Amateur Golf Team Championships. In 1996, Verastegui was the number one player for Mexico during the competition.

"The great thing about this tournament is that it only occurs every two years, and it's almost like playing in the Olympics. I hope Mariale will be able to collect herself and realize that it's still a golf course that has 18 holes on it and the size of the cups are still the same. After this experience, I hope Mariale will be able to realize that she is one of the best players in the world," added Odale.

After making several stops at temporary homes the only constant that remained for Camey came in the form of a suitcase and set of golf clubs. While the scenery might have changed for the Guatemalan native, she has also able to find comfort on the golf course.

This time, the comfort of the golf course will seem just a little bit bigger when competing on the world scene.

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