CHENNAI: Fifty-seven-year-old N Suryanarayanan is a reputed cue sports coach. He specializes in both online and physical coaching. He is the father-cum-coach of Shrikrishna, one of the most promising players in the country.
He has helped his son become the No 1 junior player in the country and is now helping him excel at the senior level.
With the pandemic situation alarming in many parts of the country, and with Tamil Nadu too seeing a surge in the number of Covid cases, online coaching is preferred by most players.
"From April 2020, online coaching has been in full flow. Students from the outskirts of Chennai and Belgaum train under me. I coach about 20 players,'' said Suryanarayanan, who also does physical coaching at some of the pool parlors in the city.
"My objective has been to build a high-performance player, working towards winning medals in ranking events, be it state, national and international,'' he added.
Online coaching is imparted to beginners as well as established players.
"I do not differentiate a player as a beginner or an advanced one. I teach a seven-year-old kid as well as a 70-year-old enthusiast. Both of them play shots that are so advanced that makes people wonder as to how it was possible in a very short time. I look at the level of the player and help them graduate to the next level in their consistency range. I track over 69 parameters for each student which helps me to monitor closely as to how they can be made to achieve their potential," he explained.
A beginner has to log in several hours to learn the sport before becoming a professional. Infrastructure, too, is better today than in the past.
"I go by 500 hours block of time on the table that includes coaching, practice, sparring and matches. In addition to this, I also track the level of performance that includes the number of rounds played, the kind of breaks made, the situations managed, the level of opponents played to nuances in striking, timing, cue power, consistencies, habit etc,'' he informed.
Many players feel that online coaching is effective.
"The players demonstrated a significant jump in their striking consistencies which shows that online coaching is beneficial. The key thing I establish is that is to make sure a player understands my coaching framework, terminologies and language,'' he said.
Today technology is advanced that most players send their videos for analysis. They usually send videos while they are preparing to play a tournament.
"I also analyze videos and give feedback for correction. Subsequently, I fine-tune them online. My coaching framework incorporates techniques, drills, physiology, psychology, spirituality and data analytics. When it comes to school/college going players, I teach them in the form of applied geometry and physics by association the relevant formula. This enables them to digest the stroke quickly and make it a habit,'' explained Suryanarayanan.
Cue sports players' job opportunities are slightly better than that of the past but still lot of corporate support is essential for the sport to thrive.
"In the current scheme of things, the employers are Petroleum Sports Promotion Board and Railways. More and more public sector organisations and corporates need to come in to support the sport. Thanks to TNBSA president Soumini Srinivas and her perseverance, today billiards and snooker is recognised by SDAT (Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu). The schemes for awards, education quota, cash incentives and other schemes are extended to players in this sport. It is a matter of time before Tamil Nadu government would start employing people from this sport through SDAT schemes,'' he signed off.