Posted: Feb. 7, 2008
College Newspaper: Spectator

Whether you know it or not, VSU has its own “Balls of Fury.”

Sure, the movie sunk at the box office, but the game of ping pong is as popular as ever, especially with guys around campus. Whether it’s in the residence halls or in the game room, Union Station, you can always hear the sound of a small ball bouncing back and forth.

If you’ve ever been in Union Station, whether it was to play Guitar Hero or to wait for your food to be called at the Loop, you’ve probably seen one of the usual “Ping Pong Boys” in there, constantly playing ping pong, waiting for their turn
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“It’s a good social interaction and a way to compete against friends,” Ian Robertson, a freshman undecided major, said.

His friend, Arthur Woo, whose father taught him to play, agreed.

“It’s something to do to waste time,” Woo, a freshman pre-engineering major, said.

Jimmy Bowen, a freshman marketing major, agreed.

“It gives me something to do between classes and I guess I just like the competition between friends,” Bowen said.

The group began VSU last fall and an instant friendship was formed, but some of the guys knew each other long before their college educations began.

“Jimmy and I were in kindergarten together and I met Joey around that time too,” Zeke Garschagen, a freshman biology major, said.

Garschagen, Bowen, Brown, Robertson and fellow ping pong player Ray Barrett all attended Lowndes High School in Valdosta and meet up in the game room with Woo and several other plays throughout the day.

After this semester, the Union will be torn down in order to make way for a new and improved Union.

“When they tear down this building,” Robertson said. “I may have to kill myself for a lack of ping pong and a place to meet.”

Garschagen agreed.

“All of these guys I’ve known, high school, elementary school. They’re some of my closest friends… my best friends,” Garschagen said. “It kind of sucks because we don’t have anywhere to go because this is our hangout spot.”