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by ZACK SHIVELY
The students of Boardman Center Intermediate School participated in an entertaining program where they got to play bubble ball on March 29.
The school’s PTA organized the bubble ball game as a reward to the students for collecting a high amount of Box Tops for Education. The top two fifth- and sixth-grade homerooms who collected the most amount of box tops got to play against each other.
Bubble ball is a form of soccer. The school set out the large, air-filled bubble balls, which the students placed over their heads and wore. The bubble balls allowed the students to run into and bounce off of each other without any harm. The object, like soccer, is to kick a ball into a goal. However, the students had to deal without a full range of motion and other students who tried to knock them over.
The fifth-grade had their championship during a separate time than the sixth grade. In each case, the homerooms of the teams not competing in the game sat in the stands of the gym and cheered on the teams. The students cheered for each goal and chanted names of the teachers.
The fifth-grade competition at 1:45 p.m. saw Melanie Shirilla’s class play against Jennifer Dravecky’s students. At 3 p.m., the sixth grade filed into the gym for the match between homerooms of Ryan Barrett and Cathleen Puskar.
Five students from the two classes played at once. Each child suited up in a bubble ball and chased after an orange soccer ball. Gym teachers Stacey Hunter and Chuck Schiffhauer organized the game to run smoothly. They set up different goals at both ends of the gym using tape. The students scored a goal when they kicked the ball into the goal.
Each student had a chance to play. Throughout the event, gym teachers would signal a time for the five students to switch out with another five students. Schiffhauer also explained safety tips to the students, such as taking off eye wear and diving onto the bubble ball instead of letting their legs get twisted awkwardly.
The school had a fun set up for the game.
They projected a scoreboard with each teacher’s name to show their point total. They played music through the gym speakers and the students sang along and danced to it while rooting for their friends.
Schiffhauer said the school owns the equipment and will bring them out for events such as these. They had a bubble ball game as a reward for Box Tops for Education last year for the first year.