With an echoing smack, Mariana Miranda was toppled by her opponent. She went literally head over heels.
Luckily, she was encased in a protective inflatable sphere. So, after wiggling her body from side to side, she was able to get back on her feet, and back into the game.
Miranda, 22, was one of 50 people who signed up Tuesday for a bubble soccer match on Boston Common.
Social Boston Sports and BubbleBall Me teamed up to host a series of five-on-five matches and introduce people to the activity.
“We are really happy with the turnout,” said Emily Walsh, a spokeswoman with Social Boston Sports. “People really want to try this.”
The full-contact sport, which involves players slipping into the blow-up balls and bashing their competitors while playing soccer, proved exhausting.
After being sealed inside of the bubble for just a short time, Miranda was winded.
“You don’t expect it” when you get hit, she said, catching her breath. “It’s hard to get up.”
She had to learn that the hard way — twice.
The dense humidity and rain-soaked grass at the baseball field on the Common, near the corner of Boylston and Charles streets, didn’t help.
“You’re not as light and fast,” said Victor Aparycio, who has been playing traditional soccer for 12 years. “And you can’t stay a long time in the bubble. It’s too hot.”
Tim Greenfield, who was working at nearby Emerson College when he decided to walk down to the park to play, described the bubble soccer experience as a mix of “bumper-cars-meets-soccer-meets-hockey.”
“I was getting winded just trying to put the thing on,” he said of the bubble. “Being aware of your surroundings was also hard, because you feel like you’re going to get blindsided.”
Games were limited to five minutes.
While some people stumbled upon the quirky pastime and decided to play, others had planned ahead.
Newton resident Burt Glass packed away a change of gym clothes to slip into after his business meeting downtown Tuesday. He said his daughters tipped him off about the bubble soccer event, and he couldn’t wait to try it.
“I made my business pitch, changed in the garage, and came down,” he said, sweating from his time on the field.
“We just came back from the Women’s World Cup — it was just like that,” he quipped. “But with absolutely no grace.”
Tuesday’s games were free and open to the public. As dozens gathered on the field, others watched from behind a fence.
Marco Fauchel, who was working at a nearby hotel, stopped by on his lunch break and gazed at the mayhem.
If he had had more time, he would have played, too.
“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “But I have to get back to work.”
Check out a Periscope video of the bubble soccer action here.
