There were two images in my head when we were told that we were going to play bubble soccer: hamster balls and bubble wrap. I am pleased to say that it was a mixture of both. Students climbed into a partially hollowed out ball, strapped themselves in, and gripped the handles in front of their faces in hopes that their faces wouldn’t sustain any injuries.

After that, we were told to “Go loose.”

As high school students do after a long day of sitting down and receiving information, we did. Within seconds of being in the bubbles, there was someone on the floor.

We sprinted across the gym in the student center and met in the middle, slamming our bubbles against each other and ricocheted five feet back from the point of impact.

One student volunteered to be a shark and the rest of us avoided him like the plague.

The next game was King of the Hill, in which we all clustered in a box and were told, “Don’t fall outside of the lines!” One by one, students were knocked over the lines until two of us were left: me and the college student who rammed into people without mercy.

We went on to play several more games: human bowling, soccer, paparazzi, and so on. It was one of my favorite things out of the whole camp experience.

Now, an explanation for the name of this entry. Sometimes, the best way to end a conflict is to just duke it out a little bit. However, the problem with that is the “duking it out” part. The goal is to avoid injuries, so why not just throw the offended/offending parties in some bubbles and tell them what we were told, “Go loose!”

And thus, the new Sock ‘em Boppers are born.