One of the core missions of BACA is to elevate the skill level of local Bay Area players—to take their game to the next level and help them succeed in national and international tournaments. To fulfill this mission, BACA organized an intensive 4-day carrom coaching camp from Feb 20–23, 2020 in Santa Clara, CA.

To preside as the chief coach for this historic occasion, BACA invited ex-Indian national team coach and “Carrom Dron” awardee, Shri Arun Deshpande, widely recognized as the world’s foremost carrom coach! An erstwhile champion himself (having won the Indian national title and Maharashtra state title several times), Arun has been coaching players of all skill levels for the last three decades.

Given the relatively large size of the class (22 students), Arun had devised an efficient format to strike a good balance between covering a lot of material vs. providing individual attention to every student.

Over the course of four days, Arun touched upon almost every aspect of competitive carrom, including body posture, grip, the “science” of carrom, aiming techniques, strategy, winning mindset, and even yoga exercises for carrom fitness! All of this was done against the backdrop of an array of advanced strokes handpicked by Arun to convey the essence of his carrom philosophy, and numerous real-life scenarios drawn from his decades of experience as player and coach.

“Arun’s coaching added new weapons to our players' arsenal and gave them the confidence to reach for even greater heights in national tournaments.”

Arun flew from Mumbai to San Francisco exclusively for this event. He was hosted by generous BACA players Panna Chowdhury, Mandar Ashtekar, and Nani Subbarao. As this was his first visit to the Bay Area, Arun was also taken sightseeing by BACA volunteers. Nani Subbarao showed him famous California landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Lombard Street, while Amit Jain took him on a technology tour of Google, Facebook, Apple, and Stanford University campuses.

The event was highly successful. All the participants were truly inspired to practice harder and improve their game. Arun’s coaching has added more weapons to their arsenal and has given them the confidence to reach for even greater heights. It has also motivated BACA organizers to conduct more such events in the future!