Lindee Learns to Keep His Ego in Check on the Tennis Court : High school: Sophomore is confident of his abilities as Loara’s No. 1 player and prides himself on sportsmanship.

It might be said that Cameran Lindee was born playing sports.

On the day of his birth, his mother, Janet Lindee, was doing headstands and considered hitting some tennis balls, since Cameran wasn’t due for another two months.

At the age of 6 months, Cameran was learning to swim. By the time he was 4, he was playing soccer and baseball.

Lindee, the No. 1 tennis player for the Loara High School boys’ team, first picked up a racket at age 8 in the Anaheim Parks and Recreation program.

From the start, Lindee was sports-minded, but he doesn’t let sports consume him. He is all business on the court, but doesn’t have a big ego. Thinking about the spoiled, precocious teen-ager who spends his time at his parents’ country club? Forget it.

Lindee, 15, wants to earn an athletic scholarship. He has a 3.7 grade-point average, but isn’t gunning for the professional ranks. Instead, he wants to become an orthodontist.

That scholarship looks to be within reach. As a freshman last year, he reached the Southern Section Individual Championships round of 16. There he lost to Brentwood’s Ari Nathan. Lindee compiled a 63-1 record in the Empire League last season and was named the league’s player of the year. His only loss was to Esperanza’s Take Katusube in the league final.

“I want to play tennis in college,” Lindee said. “To turn pro, that’s hard. It’s pretty far-fetched unless something happens and I turn into this incredible tennis machine.”

For the moment, Lindee, 5 feet 10 and 135 pounds, isn’t an incredible machine, but he is off to a 23-1 start and has led Loara to a 1-0 record in the Empire League and 8-0 overall. Before the spring break, Loara beat El Dorado, 10-8, thus ending a 15-year drought against the Eagles, according to Loara Coach Gary Cleaveland.

“He’s not a cocky kid; he has no ego,” Cleaveland said of Lindee. “But when he walks on the court, he has confidence in himself and he’s all business.”

Lindee started playing tennis when his mother, who was a recreational player, enrolled him in the parks’ program when he was 8.

“Little League baseball was over and I had to find something else for him to do to keep him active,” Janet Lindee said.

Cameran’s instructors noticed he had a knack for hitting tennis balls. People told his mother to enroll Lindee in private lessons. She made inquiries, but discovered lessons at most of the clubs were too expensive, especially since the boy’s father, Jerry, was stricken a year earlier with a debilitating neurological disorder and the medical bills were mounting. Lindee’s mother found a tennis center in Anaheim that was less expensive and offered group lessons. She remembers Cameran hitting balls across the net as he stood among the other children, who were girls. Instructor Kevin Steele, who still coaches Cameran, remembers a slow-footed player with some potential.

“He was all hands and feet and a little bit awkward,” Steele said. “But he always had a smile on his face and was always eager to try.”

Eventually, Lindee began taking private lessons from Steele. He continued to play soccer and baseball, but it was too much activity and something had to go. Lindee dropped soccer when he was 9 and quit baseball before he was 11.

“My mom made me make a decision,” Lindee said.

Lindee doesn’t regret quitting baseball, but he talks affectionately about the glove he received for his 10th birthday.

“I’ve still got the glove at home, but I never got to use it to play baseball,” Lindee said. “I just play around with it.”

Lindee said his mother hasn’t forced him to play tennis.

“If I said tomorrow, ‘I don’t want to play any more,’ she’d ask me, ‘What’s the deal?’ ” he said. “But, if I hated it, she’d let me quit.”

Janet Lindee is heavily involved in her son’s tennis career and said she did push him into competitive sports.

“I think it’s great to have kids in something like this. It keeps them off the street and away from drugs,” she said. “A lot of kids hang out at 7-Elevens. You have to do something.”

Lindee isn’t nationally ranked, but was ranked 24th last year in the 16-and-under division in Southern California. He does not have a sponsor, and the Lindees can’t afford the expense of national tournaments.

“He has beaten a lot of nationally ranked players,” Steele said. “But you pretty much have to play two to three national tournaments a year to get recognized.”

Coping with his father’s illness has helped Lindee keep his ego in check.

“If there’s some kid who walks on the court with holes in his shoes, holding a cheap tennis racket and his dad drives a clunker, I ask myself, ‘Why do I have to play him?’ ” Lindee said. “I want to beat him, but I don’t want to hurt his self-esteem and I don’t want him saying he has nothing to live for. So I let him win a few games.”

What does Lindee do to the players who behave like poor sports?

“If his dad drives up in a Porsche, and the guy is wearing $400 worth of tennis clothes, then I want to destroy him,” Lindee said. “Not because they’re rich, but because they talk a lot. He’s the kind of kid that will throw rackets.”

Lindee knows all too well about the temper tantrums of younger tennis players, having started playing junior tournaments when he was 9. Lindee said he, too, gets angry, especially at his mother, who spends a lot of time shuttling him to practice and games.

“My mom’s my pal, but we’re both kind of hard-nosed. If I want to do something one way, and she another, we kind of butt heads. So I have to compromise.”

Steele thinks Lindee is sometimes too accommodating.

“I suppose if he was a whole lot nastier to his mom, he’d probably be a better player,” he said. “He doesn’t have an ego--he’s humble--and success takes him by surprise.”

Stefan Edberg, Lindee’s idol, exemplifies the sportsmanship Lindee admires.

“He goes out there and just gets the job done,” Lindee said. “He doesn’t say much. He’s not yelling and screaming. He’s just calm, cool and collected and goes about his business.”

Much like Lindee.