Step one: take a spinning basketball and transfer it onto an upside-down toothbrush.
Step two: tilt your head to the side, place the toothbrush in your mouth and balance the spinning ball for as long as possible.
It sounds easy enough, but no one on Earth has managed to balance a spinning basketball on a toothbrush for as long as Abbotsford resident Sandeep Singh Kaila.
While many were opening presents or spending time with family on Christmas Day in 2017, Kaila smashed the Guinness World Record for the longest duration of time spinning a basketball on a toothbrush. He spun the basketball for 60.5 seconds, becoming the first-ever person to crack the one-minute mark in that category.
His record has now stood for four months, but Kaila knows first-hand the agony of losing his status as world record holder. He entered the record books back in April of 2017 when he spun his basketball on a toothbrush for 53 seconds. Just a few months later someone from India did it for 55.8 seconds, and that record was broken by a German toothbrush basketball spinner a month later at 55.9 seconds.
Kaila said he’s not satisfied with the 60.5 seconds mark, and aims to reach 62 seconds eventually.
But he’s not an overnight sensation, Kaila became fascinated with ball spinning all the way back in 2004. Spinning a volleyball is a popular past time in his native India and he practiced for years only to discover that Guinness didn’t track volleyball spinning. He moved on to soccer balls, but again found out that it was only basketball spinning that Guinness officially recognizes.
He said being a two-time world record breaking basketball spinner has been a dream come true.
“I wanted to be famous in the world and before getting the world record no one knew me, but now the whole world knows me,” he said. “By the blessing of God I’m the first person who was able to do over one minute in the spinning category.”
The 25-year-old said he developed his skills through a combination of God-given talent and hard work.
“I really started practicing just spinning balls in 2004 but it took two years of very intense practice to get it,” he said, with a smile. “I know records are made to be broken so I have to keep practicing to stay number one.”
He said he thinks about 70 per cent of all the Guinness World Record achievements are God-gifted, but 30 per cent can be accomplished through practice and interest. Kaila encouraged locals to find something they’re good at, practice hard and don’t give up if they want to make into the record books.
Kaila has recently started a YouTube channel filled with his highlights and hopes to inspire others to chase their dreams.
