His cue stick is taller than he is. But that does not deter 11-year-old Bharath D from handing out advice to classmates. “Make a firm bridge with your fingers,” he says as he helps a friend get a grip on the table. It soon becomes clear that he knows what he is talking about, as he pockets two red, one pink and one blue ball in quick succession.
“Ronnie O Sullivan is my favourite snooker player. He is passionate about his game. Did you know he’s got the highest number of maximums? 147,” states Bharath, in a chatty mood after having impressed the room with his skills. He has been playing snooker for 11 months, and first learnt about it when he saw someone in his village watching it on YouTube, on a mobile phone. “I was fascinated. Then I noticed my school had two snooker tables and I started playing,” he adds.
Bharath is playing with state- of-the-art facilities, in the Government High School, set a little away from Kovalam village on East Coast Road. The students are all from this fishing village.
The institution has been training its students in snooker since 2015, with funding from the Venkatraman Memorial Trust (VMT). The Trust, which was started in 2004 by British citizen Sylvia Holder, also takes care of the school’s infrastructure. “In 2015, Holder’s friend Peter Bainbridge sent his three-quarter size snooker tables to the school, all the way from the UK. From it, we found a lot of talent,” says 80-year-old Sylvia who was recently in Kovalam. She flies down twice a year from London as she is actively involved with her Trust here.
CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, 10/04/2019 : Government High School student Gopal Krishna Mohanta playing snooker at their school premises, near Covelong Point, Kovalam in Chennai on April 10, 2019. Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam
“Once we received the table, we roped in a coach,” says Aarthi Chandrasekar, administrator, VMT. As students started participating in competitions, they realised practising on a smaller table was costing them their game. So, in 2017 the Trust bought a big table, a second hand one that cost them ₹87,000. “Earlier, when we took our players to a sports meet organised by the Tamil Nadu Billiards and Snooker Association, they could not believe we were from a Government school. We had to show them our ID cards,” laughs Aarthi adding, “Our student, 13-year-old Fathima Bee, secured third place in the State-level meet there. She is 15 now and still plays.”
The school has 179 students (in classes VI to X) of whom 25 are currently learning the sport. Over the years, 45 students have been trained, many of whom have participated in inter-school meets and State and National-level competitions. “They mostly reach the semi-finals; a few of them managed to reach the finals. It gets tough as they compete with State and district-level winners,” says Aarthi.
Aided by the Trust, the school also has music classes for students where they learn to play the guitar, flute, bongo and keyboard; indoor games likechess, table tennis, carom and outdoor sports like cricket, football and volleyball.
CHENNAI, 10/04/2019 : For Metro Plus : Government High School student M.Keerthana playing snooker at their school premises, near Covelong Point, Kovalam in Chennai on Wednesday. Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam / The Hindu
They just got a bowling machine (worth ₹1,87,000 and sponsored by a supporter of the trust) that sends deliveries at varying paces. “Sylvia’s idea is to empower students in whatever they have a knack for, be it academics or extra curricular activities,” says Aarthi.
Suddenly, 14-year-old Gopalkrishna Mohanta storms into the snooker room with a sense of urgency. He hurriedly picks up a cue and starts a quick game. “I have to race back for another class. I play in between classes,” he grins. He says the sport is an effective stress buster. “I want to pursue this full time. Maybe I’ll even get a job through this,” he adds. This Class VIII student holds the record for the highest snooker score in this school.
“The students are very involved. They hang on to my every word and practise even when I am not around. Two of our students even got jobs as markers at Madras Cricket Club and Suguna Vilasa Sabha,” says Prabhu G, the snooker coach who teaches at the school twice a week for a minimum of three hours.
CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, 10/04/2019 : Government High School students playing snooker at their school premises, near Covelong Point, Kovalam in Chennai on April 10, 2019. Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam
Prabhu himself is a seasoned cueist, having won and finished in the top three in a few State ranking tournaments conducted by the Tamil Nadu Billiards and Snooker Association (TNBSA). He could not afford to learn the game, so he worked as a helper at TNBSA. He is visibly pleased that these students have been given such an opportunity.
“Snooker is an aspirational game. It is not something you see often out of clubs and posh places,” says Prabhu. He hopes, after the surfing wave that continues to sweep through the village, Kovalam will send out snooker champions at State, National and international levels.
- Thirty years ago, when Sylvia Holder came to Chennai for work, she stayed at the Taj Fisherman’s Cove. While walking along the beach, she met a 12-year-old. He showed her around the fishing village nearby.
- He then asked her for some money for his education. Sylvia agreed, and he graduated from Madras University with a degree in Business Studies.
- That young boy was Venkatraman, whom the trust is named after.
- “I was never really expecting to hear from him again,” says Sylvia, and with a laugh adds, “But that boy would not give up. He wrote to me.” Despite the lack of emails and phones, they managed to keep in touch. Venkat, as he was fondly known, got a job in Qatar.
- Things were going well till Venkat, on a trip to Kovalam, met with an accident and passed away. “I flew down to meet his family. I thought I would help by buying them something.
- But Venkat’s brother Janakiraman took me to a primary school and I was horrified,” recalls Sylvia. She decided to go back to the UK and raise some money for the school. That’s how the trust was formed in 2004.
