You won't find participation trophies at Vijay Reddy's home in Plano. He helps build winners.
Out of the eight co-champions in May's Scripps National Spelling Bee, he played a role in preparing the three from North Texas. Two of them, with books from his GeoSpell Academy.
"It was unreal how good these kids were," Reddy said.
His journey to the last 10 bees began with a mission to help his son, Chetan, who finished seventh at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2013.
His dedication evolved into a business, teaching elite skills through books, software and coaching. Since first grade, Abhijay Kodali of Flower Mound has used all three, learning more than 100,000 words.
Five years later, he's a champion with the winning one: "palama."
In America, the average vocabulary is generally 12,000 to 18,000 words and these kids are working almost 10 times that, Reddy said.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
His proud coach said Kodali practiced two hours on school nights, and double on days off. It's something that's becoming more common throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
"The standard of their abilities and education levels are going up each year," he said.
Some even move here.
"Karthik Nemmani, the champion last year, his parents literally moved from Illinois to Dallas, just one year before," Reddy said.
His average clients are in elementary school. Their parents, spending $120 a month for weekly tutoring, and possibly a few thousand dollars, over several years.
So, what's his advice to spell success? Start early, but only if it's your child's passion.
"It is very important. If they're not into it, you can't make them do it," he said.
This year's winners each got $50,000 dollar check, but they can't compete again. They can, however, put their skills to good use. Reddy said many score highly on their SATs and do well with reading comprehension.
