MAKE MINE A BUBBLE
Hot yoga meets soccer in sweat-inducing pseudo-sport now making the rounds
NEW SPIN ON A CLASSIC Ever play soccer while encased in a sweat-drenched plastic pillow? The Star’s Lauren Pelley tried it — and hilarity ensued.
Imagine running full speed in a sauna. Scratch that. Imagine running in a sauna, wrapped in sweat-drenched plastic pillows while people hurl themselves directly at you, sending you bouncing head-over-heels through the air.
That’s a bit like bubble ball soccer, an increasingly popular pseudo-sport where the goals don’t matter because, seriously, you’re each wearing a giant, ridiculous bubble.
People play this soccer spin-off around the world, with leagues and rental companies in cities like Vancouver, Denver and San Diego, and in countries as far off as Hong Kong and Australia. It’s gaining fans in Toronto too, and the city’s real soccer club — Toronto FC — even used the zany sport for a recent promotional event.
And if a sold-out Victoria Day tournament is any indication, this bubble shows no signs of bursting.
So there I was on Monday, on a field near Finch Ave. West and Bathurst St., wearing a sweaty sphere for the city’s first bubble ball soccer festival.
More than 130 people joined teams for the sold-out tournament hosted by Toronto non-profit Sperro, with each person carrying their bubble like a backpack, the surrounding inflatable plastic offering 360-degree cushioning for the body slams to inevitably follow.
You can’t really see out of your bubble (since the plastic clouds your vision) and shorter folks can’t really run, either (since the plastic surrounds your thighs). But again, seeing or running isn’t really the point.
My co-ed team dubbed ourselves the “Ball Busters” and decided we were going to win, or whatever winning meant in a game where soccer balls regularly go out of bounds while players clumsily stumble around, banging into each other like bumper cars.
Just a few minutes in, the opposing team’s 6-foot-4 goalie, Bram van Bommel, 22, ran right into my bubble, rolling my 5-foot-5 body upsidedown across the field, my feet dangling out at the top. (This happens a lot.)
Bubble bumbles aside, our team scored quickly — twice in a row. By the end, all nine players were drenched in sweat after an hour surrounded by plastic in the scorching midday sun.
“We’ve dubbed it soccer-slash-hotyoga,” said fellow Ball Buster Francesca Ruppert, 31.
Sperro president Darya Denha says her organization stumbled across a website renting bubble ball gear while brainstorming fundraising ideas for the young-adult-based volunteer group. The sport’s growing popularity in Toronto and abroad was soon evident: Within three weeks after announcing the Victoria Day tournament, Denha says, the event sold out.
The tournament’s sponsor, inflatable sports rental company GeeseRabbit, is now hoping to launch a Toronto bubble ball soccer league.
“We’re doing a trial league in Waterloo,” said company co-founder Mandy Gu. “We’re hoping to launch (in Toronto) in August.”
It’s good news for anyone who wants bubble ball opportunities more often than local rental companies can provide.
As for our game, we kept up the pressure, emerging as 4-2 victors. Or was it 3-2? We’re not entirely sure. The referees weren’t counting, and we were far too busy bouncing around in bubbles to care.