‘Pain, but fun’: Students bump into each other in games of bubble soccer

“Keep your eyes peeled, and stay low.”

That was the advice of Tom Stevens, an aircraft maintenance technician student, after playing a game of bubble soccer at the Varsity Gym in the Jack Doyle Athletics and Recreation Centre.

The Algonquin College Students’ Association brought back bubble soccer for the 2023-2024 academic year. The game is a mix of soccer and football. Students are allowed to bump into each other while wearing a large inflatable bubble that helps protect them from the waist up.

Events like bubble soccer are an opportunity for students to meet people on campus, according to the SA’s events coordinator Amanda Logan.

“I always try to keep in mind when programming events to have events where students can meet other people on campus and make friends,” Logan said. “And this is a great opportunity for them, right? All of the people playing bubble soccer right now, some of them know each other, some of them are strangers, and they’re all playing a friendly game of bubble soccer.”

After finishing the first round, the Algonquin Times spoke with a couple of students about their experience and asked if they had any tips when playing the game.

“I am the lightest person in there,” Steven Julian, an aircraft maintenance technician student, said. “Make sure you don’t have anyone as big as this guy,” Julian joked while pointing to his fellow teammate Stevens. “Don’t play with anyone who has rugby or football experience.”

Stevens described his experience in plain terms and concluded by saying it was worthwhile.

“Pain, but fun,” Stevens said. “I’ve never tried it before, so I thought: why not? You know, (bubble soccer was a) pretty good time.”

Bubble soccer was originally supposed to be held during AC Day 1 on Sept. 5. However, the SA postponed the event to October due to hot weather. On the day of the event, bubble soccer was relocated from the Z-building to the Varsity Gym due to rain.