Sabhie Joseph loves nothing more than to get together with friends at the Union and play billiards between classes.
But spending $3.50 an hour to play on campus and between $5 to $7 an hour off campus has become a burden on Joseph’s wallet.
And while Joseph, an ISDS junior, and his closely knit group of friends currently play “for the love of the sport,” they hope to be playing soon for the love of their school.
He and his brother, Sammie Joseph, are spearheading a movement to have the sport of pool take on an athletic title or club at the University.
“Every day [Tiger Pause] is packed with students just playing pool for fun,” Joseph said. “Hopefully if it is a recognized sport more students would have a motivation to play.”
Joseph said the lack of motivation is a result of few tournaments and high playing fees in the Union. To get the motivation back, Joseph wants to play against other universities or participate in more prominent tournaments at LSU.
Currently there is only one campus tournament per semester, and students must pay to play. Joseph said the cost of the tournament is not high, but the motivation to play does not exist because the prizes are not intriguing.
“Last semester I won the tournament [at LSU], and all I got was a pool stick,” Joseph said.
Alan Burgess, a political science freshman, plays pool with Joseph on a regular basis at Tiger Pause.
Burgess said an athletic title would give players respect and recognition for competing in the sport.
“People who do not play have no idea how much effort and practice it takes to be remotely decent on the table,” Burgess said.
The Joseph brothers are in the conceptual stages of pool becoming a varsity sport and have yet to bring their ideas before the Athletic Department.
“We are just a group of people shooting pool almost every day,” Joseph said. “We have not formed a club because we do not know where to go and whom to ask.”
With an athletic title, Joseph hopes pool players would obtain scholarships and funding for tournaments through the Athletic Department.
But, Judy Southard, LSU associate athletic director, said the prospects of pool becoming a recognized varsity sport are slim because it is not recognized by the NCAA.
Southard said one of the criterion the Athletic Department considers when choosing varsity sports is student interest and opportunities to compete around the country.
Southard said because there is no competition around the country it would be difficult to create a varsity team for pool.
Joseph said even if their bid to become a recognized varsity sport fails, he and his friends will continue to search for other avenues to obtain the recognition they are seeking.