The BTM Interview: Julia Bond

Leading up to the 2022 PWBA season, Bowling This Month has interviewed three athletes to discuss their 2021 campaigns and their preparations for 2022.

In this first of three installments, we talk to PWBA star Julia Bond. Julia won three titles in 2021, including the USBC Queens for her first major title. Julia was a four-time member of Junior Team USA and is currently in her sixth year on the adult team, winning numerous medals since 2014.

(Please note that our questions appear in bold italics and Julia’s answers appear in standard typeface.)

2021 was a great year for you. What were your thoughts going into that year?

At the beginning of the year, I was most definitely nervous. Going off of 2019, my rookie season, I made some cuts, almost made some stepladders. I also bowled poorly a few times. I feel like I had a good experience. I saw some success, and had some hardships, but felt I was going in a good direction. I was really excited to go home and work on some things.

Unfortunately, things worked out the way they did in 2020, and we weren’t sure what the future was going to hold for the tour. So when we finally got the great news that the tour was coming back in 2021, I was thinking, “Okay great, it’s coming back!” but also that we hadn’t really competed in a long time now!

How was that extra downtime for you?

It was a little bit scary to not know what was going on and if or when the tour was coming back, but it was also a bit of a blessing in a way. It gave me a chance to slow down and sit to think about how I really want to spend my time. When we finally get to start back up, if we get to start back up, how ...