“Oh, I’m going to fail,” JeLena Fleming said with a laugh, as people in athletic shorts squeezed into giant, round inflatables on Matteson Square Garden‘s AstroTurf field.
Fleming is an athlete—she swam competitively for 14 years and is now a long-distance runner. But when it comes to bubble soccer, she’s out of her element.
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It’s understandable: Bubble soccer is not your typical sport.
Players follow standard soccer rules, but must do so while wearing giant, spherical inflatables. When hit, players bounce and roll, their legs flailing in the air. Also known as bubble football or zorb football, the sport was invented by Norweigans Henrik Elestad and Johan Golden. It was first seen when the game made an appearance on their TV show, Golden Goal. Today, the sport is widely played in Europe and Asia, and it’s slowly gaining traction in the U.S.
St. Louisan Joel Lutfiyya discovered the sport while watching Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The episode featured a segment in which Fallon and several other celebrities (NFL players Anquan Boldin and Justin Tucker and The Good Wife‘s Josh Charles) played bubble soccer in a hallway, with the elevators operating as goals.
“I thought to myself, ‘Man, that looks awesome,’” says Lutfiyya. “I would definitely like to try that.” But it wasn’t until a year-and-a-half later, when he saw a video about bubble soccer on Facebook, that Lutfiyya decided to act. He soon discovered there were no opportunities to play bubble soccer in the St. Louis metro area. “I said, ‘OK, there’s a void in the market. I’m going to fill that void.’”
The result: Ball Busters Bubble Soccer.
Lutfiyya’s business rents bubble soccer equipment for private events. To get the word out about the new venture, he held an open-to-the-public event at Matteson Square Garden this summer.
“It’s a lot harder than you think it’s going to be,” said participant Ryan Atwood, who came with a group of friends.
“You got that bubble plastic in your face; you cant’ breathe,” said his friend, Derrick Young. “And it smells a little like baby wipes. They got to keep it sanitary, you know?”
It was the first time either had played the sport. The games were co-ed, and smaller players soared when they collided with other players.
So did Atwood ease up when approaching a lady on the pitch?
“No,” he said with a smile. “Especially if it’s my girlfriend.”
