She’s just 12 years old, but in between thinking about school and Taylor Swift, Tanvee “Lilac Tiger” Vallem is training to be a professional pool player. The Bethesda middle-schooler entered her first billiards tournament only five weeks after she began playing pool in 2022. This past June, she won first place in the 14-and-under division at the Connecticut State Junior Pool Championships. And later this month, she’ll compete with girls 19 and under at the Predator WPA Junior World Championships in Gandia, Spain, representing India, her native country.
Tanvee says she loves the strategy of the game. She also has a competitive streak.
“One of the best things that motivated me when I started pool was to beat my dad,” she says.
When her father, Sree Vallem, brought home a pool table in the summer of 2022, he never imagined that his then-eight-year-old daughter would take to it.
“She’s so small and she couldn’t reach the table, and I know pool needs a lot of practice,” Vallem says. To his surprise, Tanvee asked him, “Papa, teach me!”
Sree Vallem plays pool recreationally, and after teaching his daughter the basics, he decided to get her professional instruction. He found a Boston coach, Roy Pastor, who provides online training to youth billiards players through his Break and Run Premier Junior Instructional Program. The free initiative is coordinated through the Billiards Education Foundation (BEF).
Vallem says that when his daughter finally bested him at pool, she cheered him on even though she wanted to win herself.
The budding cueist practices at least three times a week, running a variety of drills to help her improve her stance, make her stroke consistent, and control the cue ball. Her prowess on the table has earned her sponsorships from Predator, a popular billiards equipment company, and Onboard Sportswear, both of which help offset the cost of her training. The BEF has also awarded her scholarships to help her travel to contests as far away as New Zealand.
In 2022, Tanvee made history as the youngest contestant in the Predator World Junior 9-Ball Championship held in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Tanvee is often smaller in size than her competitors, and approaches a pool table with poise and focus. On her YouTube channel, a pinned video shows her nailing a trick shot against celebrated Filipino billiards player Efren “Bata” Reyes. With her eyes trained on the cue ball, she leans over the top rails, gives two short practice strokes, then follows through with a bank shot that rebounds off two rails before knocking the object ball into a corner pocket. The pool room, mostly filled with adults, erupts into cheers.
Coach Pastor, who has been training youth pool players for 23 years, believes that Tanvee is “well on her way” to becoming a professional player.
She has “a really tremendous drive and desire to learn and to move forward, and that’s kind of served her well because she’s come a long way in a short time,” Pastor says, “so she’s competing against kids, juniors, or individuals that have played longer than she has.”
“And she’s certainly holding her own,” he adds.
Tanvee currently has a lower-intermediate billiards ranking of 397, according to FargoRate, which is a statistics-based system to track player skill. The ratings is firmly beyond the beginner phase of mastering the game.
Outside of pool halls, Tanvee is a straight-A student who enjoys crocheting while reading; practicing Kuchipudi, a classical Indian dance; and learning taekwondo, where she’s currently a red belt with two black stripes.
Pastor describes his student as “a really great kid” and says Tanvee’s resilience and positive attitude contribute to the gains she’s made. Before a game, she says she likes to take “a few deep breaths and motivate myself and drink a bit of water to cleanse out my mind and be mindful and calm.” She chats with her competitor, smiling brightly in a picture with them. That smile appears, win or lose, on Tanvee’s social media posts about her tournaments.
Not that she doesn’t like winning. Tanvee’s long-term goal, she says, is “to win the world championship.”
Dara T. Mathis is a journalist and nonfiction writer who joined Washingtonian in Fall 2025 as an Editorial Fellow. A 2024 recipient of the American Mosaic Journalism Prize, she resides in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
