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Juana Lopez

Professor Wheatley

Eng 101

15th May, 2017

Rolling in a Bubble

Can you picture yourself in a bubble? I don't think so, and neither can I. Rolling in a

bubble like a little hamster would be strange. Can you imagine that, being a little person on a

huge bubble, rolling all over the place? I didn't think I was going to get inside a bubble to

experience one of the weirdest things in my life. Yeah, it can sound fun, and it is except when

you have trouble being inside close places where it feels hot. I had been kind of frustrated lately

when I'm in close places and even more when there is humidity. I have even started thinking that

I'm claustrophobic. For me to be happy and calm, there should be air around me. Can you

imagine how I was going to got air in a bubble, and how did this kind of game started? A few

weeks before I received an invitation from my cousins to go and play bubble soccer, but I

couldn't as I had a class that day. A few days later I told my friends, and they said we needed to

go, but didn't go. Recently, I told them I needed to do an activity and asked them if they were

down to help me, and of course they said yes.

But what is bubble soccer? An article from "HuffPost" gives a description about how this

game started. " Bubble soccer (or bubble football as its known throughout many parts of the

world) was actually invented in 2011 in Norway just a joke by Henrik Elvestad & Johan Golden.

Little did they know, they would set the foundation for such a spectacular and crazy new

sport."(paragraph 1) How did these two individuals come up with this idea? I bet they were not

right in their minds when they came up with this idea of playing soccer in a bubble. Most of the

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time all the weird and fun things become popular fast on social media, and this was not going to

be an exception, obviously it was going to become viral in a few months, who wouldn't want to

try this game. I thought playing soccer in a bubble could be more fun than playing the game the

normal way. I decided I had to try out this fun looking game and confront one of my fears of

feeling locked without air.

I decided I had to tell my mom and know her point of view. I told my mom "Ama ire a

jugar en la futbol dentro de una pelota"(mom I'm going to go and play socccer in a bubble) and

she replied back "te andas muriendo estando dentro del carro sin aire tu cres que aguantaras

adentro de una pelota" (you are dying inside the car with no air do you think you are going to

handle it?) She was right. The last time I began to feel anxiety was during the winter. My family

and I went to San Luis Mexico and while I was waiting for my dad inside the car, he left the

windows close as it was cold outside. In a short amount of time I started to feel desperate and

had to open the windows. I needed air, I was feeling anxious and desperate, I even remember I

was feeling like I was going to pass out. I needed air and all I could think of was opening the

door and get out of the car to got all the fresh air I wanted. Now think about how I was going to

feel being inside a bubble. I was scare but had to try this game out and comfort my fears.

It was a Saturday morning, I woke up and came to San Luis, Arizona to pick up some

clothes and items as I had stayed in Mexico the two days before. I went back to San Luis,

Mexico and started like my normal weekends. I just enjoy the day and try to relax while being

with my family. As the time was approaching, it was around 3PM, I finished eating and started

to get ready. I was nervous. It was a hot day. I was feeling tired, but I had to do my activity. It

was around 4PM when I was on my way to the Bubble Soccer place near Cinepolis, and I picked

up my friend Anahy and when we were on our way. Anahy made me felt scared on our way to

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the soccer game as she shared with me about what his brother Alberto had told her that it hurt

when someone hit you and threw you to the floor. We arrived early to the place and had to wait

for my other friends to got there. I looked the place from the outside of the window and saw the

soccer field and some trampolines, some kids playing and thought to myself it was going to be a

fun experience. I entered the place just for a few seconds, and felt the humidity and hotness

inside. It felt as if I was inside a oven. Maybe I was, I was going to become fry chicken after the

game. I started to think about how hard it was going to be for me to be inside without air. I went

back outside and waited until my friends Marilyn and her brothers finally arrived.

We had to wait for Marilyn and her brothers to arrive because he was sleeping and wake

up a little late. My sister, Anahy and I went back outside to sit on a bench. We waited a couple

of more minutes until they finally arrived. We all enter to the bubble soccer room pay for the

bubbles and waited for out turn. As we were waiting for our turn to play our soccer game, I felt

suffocated, I was nervous and the thought of being inside a bubble made me even more worried.

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I felt like not getting inside but I knew I wouldn't regret it and have to do my activity for my

homework so I decide I had to play. This place was really hot, there was not a lot a people and I

remember it was around five more people in the room, but it felt really hot and suffocated

because there was no air around and the air of the fans on the top of the ceiling did not help the

room to be fresh.

My friends even started to complain about not getting inside the bubbles because they

thought it was nasty, because the people that went before us probably had sweat inside the

bubbles and they were right it was nasty being inside some stranger sweat. I also thought the

same; how I was going to be able to be in a bubble full of sweat from other people and even how

it would of smell? I couldn't imagine but we couldn't pull back as we had already paid. It was

finally our turn, and one of my friends Anahy decided she was not playing. She was scared about

what her brother told her and she didn't want to sweat and be inside a bubble full of sweat from

other people. Marilyn, her brothers, my sister and I were the only ones who were playing. We

went inside the soccer field and waited for our turns for the lady who works there name Rosa to

helped us get inside. Rosa is a short women in her 30's, she has short black hair and is a little fat.

She is a serious person as she didn't talk much. As she helped me get inside, I realize the bubble

did weigh very little. At first it was hard trying to balance my body with a bubble and feel

comfortable, then she asked if we wanted to play with a soccer ball or just hit each other. We

obviously wanted to play soccer. We formed our teams and waited for Rosa to start the game.

The game started and I felt weird being in a bubble and not being able to see where the soccer

ball actually was. I felt like a cartoon from the movies in which they could barely walk.

We were playing nicely at first without trying to hurt someone, but it was kind of boring

as there was not music playing. After Rosa and the other lady put "Reggaeton Lento," everything

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began to change. We started to hit each other which made it kind of interesting. I was having a

great time, but the place was too hot and humid which made it worse for all of us. Every time I

fell, I tried to get up and when I found the way on how to get up, I got hit again and again. It was

hard trying to get up. The only way was using your feet because your hands were inside the

bubble which made it complicated. Anahy even screamed to me "Karen no sales del Piso(Karen

you're always on the floor)." It was true I was always on the floor. I got exhausted really fast and

wanted some air, I didn't want to leave the bubble so I just bent my knees and let the bubble give

me some air from the top. I thought to myself I was going to get worse because I hated feeling

like I'm closed in and at that moment I was actually in a bubble where I could not receive air. I

wanted the game to end but it was just the beginning. Everytime I got hit I fell over and rolled

through the field. I felt like a little hamster playing in his ball.

I started to get tired and I couldn't move my feet. What made it worst was that I was all

sweaty and the bubble was even more blurry. I tried not to get out of the bubble, but it was

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impossible. I wanted some air and the only way I could get it was by getting out of it. We all got

tired. Most of us took turns and got out of the bubble to get some air while our game was still

going on. It was a great exercise I can't lie about that. This game could have just started as a joke

and ended out as being a trending sport. I'm not sure if it is a sport but in my opinion, it should.

We were in there playing for twenty five minutes but I thought it was longer. We all could not

survive the twenty five minutes inside the bubble. In the last ten minutes we went all out of our

bubbles and played soccer the usual way. I felt dizzy and sore. Our time had finished, and we

went to clean our hands as it was nasty. All I could think of was getting home to take a fresh

shower.

In the end, I asked Rosa a few questions about the game. I asked her "Do you know how

this game started as? She didn't know about the story of this game, but all she knew the

instructions as she works there. I had to find something to ask her that she could of answer me. I

asked her " viene mucha gente a jugar?(does a lot of people come to play often?)" she replied

back with "si viene mucha gente en especial los fines de semana en la tarde(yes, and specially on

evenings of the weekends)". I also asked her about the ages does she see the most around playing

this sport and responded "la mayoria de la gente que viene son niños o adolescentes, es raro ver

adultos jugando( most of the players were teenagers, it was weird watching adults play." I thank

her and went outside. It was a hard interview because she actually didn't want to be interview,

but did me the favor to respond to a couple of questions. I felt relief after feeling the fresh air

from outside. I was tired and all I could continue thinking was about taking a shower when I get

home. We all started sharing our point of view and my sister even told us "I would totally do it

again." It was weird as she had stayed upside down all the game which was funny and she

wanted to play again.

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It was a great experience getting out of my comfort zone and tried something fun. I think

this game really should be a sport. After that day I went back to San Luis Arizona, and in the

line, I could feel my sore arms. The day later I was totally sore and even have some bruises in

my arms and legs. I think if I have the opportunity to go again I would of totally go. Bubble

soccer is a fun way of playing a different sport and a good way of getting your stress out without

actually hurting someone. The only thing this place should improve is on putting on A/C or more

fans that could provide their players the air they need. At the end I figure out it was not a big deal

of me being claustrophobic because I know how to handle it. I hate the fact we did sweat a lot

and needed air but it was an awesome experience.

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Work cited

Quora. "What Is The Origin Of Bubble Soccer?" Huffington Post. HuffPost, 04 Mar.

2015. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.

Mendez, Rosa. Personal Interview. 8 April, 2017