Bubble Ball Extreme

Showed up at Turf Time with a confirmed pre-​paid party of 20. No one showed up or even called us back for 30 minutes. We were locked outside waiting in the cold in December. Messed up.

I was super excited to start playing Bubble Ball Extreme this summer with a team of new friends. What could be better than getting to know someone by bouncing off each other and scoring goals? Let me explain what it actually is: Bubble Ball Extreme is 5 on 5 soccer with a giant inflatable ball attached to your upper body. The premise is great and sounds like it’ll be a blast, but unfortunately the implementation and management fell flat.
After playing the whole summer session I thought I’d review it for anyone who was curious. Our team of 10 players (6 guys and 4 girls) paid $ 50 each, I believe that was after a sponsor credit from Brickwood Grill. What is included is a t-​shirt in your team color and 8 games plus playoffs if you make it. That’s a bit steep for me considering the amount of playing time per person. A suggestion for future sessions is colored bubbles or colored socks. It’s hard to tell the difference between the blues and reds once you’re in a bubble.
The website says this: «Standard games are 5 on 5, played on a regulation soccer field. Game time consists of two 20 minute half’s & one 10 minute halftime.» This was also stated on Facebook. The first game however, was changed to 8 minute quarters with a 10 minute halftime. Fine. After playing one quarter, I was exhausted anyway. You need to have at least 2 girls on the field at a time. The best way to organize your team is to have at least 6 guys & 4 girls – that way no one has to play 2 quarters in a row. It’s not impossible to do so, but you will be tired and sweaty! Also, the website says: «+Maximum rosters of (9)» so I don’t know what happened there.
The Bubble Ball organizer/​ref, Mark, always seemed to look around to check to make sure your harnesses were tight enough so that your head was a certain length away from the top of the bubble – so that’s great. I never felt unsafe.
For two games, we only played 4 on 4 because «a bubble popped at 10 Ugly Men Fest.» I figured Mark had an extra ball just in case something happened – but he had «to order another» to replace the popped bubble. So that was annoying because the rules changed again.
One game, I showed up to at the game time and the game had already started. When I asked if i showed up at the wrong time, I was told that Mark wanted to get the game going because it was getting darker sooner in the day. Glad I was told that.
It was always a surprise where the game would be at, I never knew which of the 2 locations until I showed up at Cobbs Hill. Once, it was in a 3^rd location that was never announced! I am just glad I saw the bubbles & my team colors…
One time it had been raining prior to the game & I was wishing we were allowed to play with cleats. In the beginning we were told that cleats were not allowed. I assumed it was because they might pop the bubbles. But then I look over & see the other team with cleats on! Apparently, Mark «let everyone know on Facebook» but half our team didn’t know.
Several of our games did not start on time – all being at least 10 minutes late. We had to move fields once, I’m not sure who is at fault here – the fields should be rented out. Once we move to a new location, we had to set up the goals (which were now just floppy red sticks with flags on the end – not the sturdy lacrosse type goals we had been playing with) so that took time. Once we start playing, we realize how hard it is to see the goals because the «posts» are about the width of a pen. We were also reffed by Mark’s girlfriend (I didn’t catch her name) who, on numerous times during the game didn’t start the ball in the center of the field and mostly threw it to one side or she didn’t make sure that each teams players were on the right side of the field. One time we scored a goal and she «didn’t see it» (which in all honesty I don’t really blame her because without nets you can really tell). These goals suck. My suggestion is to invest in a PVC pipe goal – cheap and if it breaks… just stick the pipes back in!
Reffing=Inconsistent. A girl would get plowed over & he’d call it, then someone would do it again & he wouldn’t. Once the other team played a man down because their team didn’t show up & that’s all they had. They ended up goal tending the entire game & Mark let them because they were at «a disadvantage.» That is not OK, the team could have forfeited but decided to play a man down, so they shouldn’t get any special consideration.
Playoff issue: teams who won their session were expected to play one another. I see this as a problem because I signed up for a certain night because I was busy on the other night. So one team had to play on a different night than usual. Fix: have playoffs indicated on ONE night so everyone can make it.
LONG story short: I hope the management & implementation of the league gets much stronger because it was painful to play with all the changes & inconsistencies. I loved actually playing bubble ball, just hated everything surrounding the play time.