Soap Football
Last week we celebrated Max's birthday in a very Indian way. Max had heard from the other boys at school that Soap Football was the best way to celebrate, so he convinced me that it would be fun to do. Afterwards, I would then take them all out for dinner at a Buffalo Wild Wings place nearby with cake and X-box games to play.
I arranged to collect Max and 9 of his friends from school and drive them in to town and play some indoor cricket and then, the highlight was some Soap Football. The indoor cricket wasn't too popular as it was very hot and even though most of the boys have some Indian heritage, they have mostly been raised in the US. So the cricket became more like a game of tag.
The venue itself was 'very Indian'. As you can see by the photos, it was on the rooftop of a commercial building in the centre of town. The heat from the concrete roof and air-conditioning units was monumental, so running around was not high on the boys list of things to do. The dirt and dust was also a major factor - by the time they got ready to play Soap Football, their feet and hands were black !!
There was a large sign stating that no outside food was allowed, which I was happy to respect if they had some 'inside food' to offer me. However, there was absolutely no food to buy. Luckily I had some snacks for the boys but I had to make them move out of the 'company area' (requested/demanded by 2 different men) and make them sit on the concrete roof top to eat. The 'sir' running the show was not going to be lenient in any way for me. We were the only people in sight, and the only booking for the whole day, and you would think that he would want to make the customers happy, but nah.
I had also brought a few large bottles of water with me to keep the boys hydrated but with the heat, they were gone in about 5 minutes. I noticed the company had a fridge full of drinks, so I asked the 'sir' if I could run a tab for the boys to get some drinks. The response 'yes maam but not cold. We do not plug the refrigerator in'. What the ??? In this heat, all the drinks were in a securely 'locked' fridge but were as hot as a cup of tea……… bonkers !
Anyway, the main event of Soap Football was crazy fun. The arena is an inflated pitched and the floor has a small amount of padding. Note, small amount of padding, when Max's head hit the floor there was a serious thud ! A whole 5 litre bottle of seriously soapy dishwashing soap was used to create the slip and the water added helped with the slide. As expected, the inflatable pitch had some issues with leaking, and needed to be topped up during our one hour session with the noisiest pump ever, deafening us all for about 30 minutes. Outside of the arena, if you fell over, was solid concrete, ouch, and covered in mice/rat dirts, yuk ….. I prefer to not to think about that, even now !
The boys had a blast, but I was terrified that I would be making a trip to a local hospital for a concussion or broken bone before the end of the hour. When you have 10 boys running, sliding and competing to win the game you are always destined for an injury. Luckily, the worse thing we had was toe cramps, oh and Max copped a knee in the 'privates'. Max could not quite get the hang of running on a soapy service - it requires more of a shuffle than running action, so he spent a LOT of time on his butt ! Of course, he still had a smile on his face though.
A couple of hours of fun and laughter had by all for a total of $80 AUD. The boys were hungry and exhausted - just what you want from an 11 year olds birthday party.
I arranged to collect Max and 9 of his friends from school and drive them in to town and play some indoor cricket and then, the highlight was some Soap Football. The indoor cricket wasn't too popular as it was very hot and even though most of the boys have some Indian heritage, they have mostly been raised in the US. So the cricket became more like a game of tag.
The venue itself was 'very Indian'. As you can see by the photos, it was on the rooftop of a commercial building in the centre of town. The heat from the concrete roof and air-conditioning units was monumental, so running around was not high on the boys list of things to do. The dirt and dust was also a major factor - by the time they got ready to play Soap Football, their feet and hands were black !!
There was a large sign stating that no outside food was allowed, which I was happy to respect if they had some 'inside food' to offer me. However, there was absolutely no food to buy. Luckily I had some snacks for the boys but I had to make them move out of the 'company area' (requested/demanded by 2 different men) and make them sit on the concrete roof top to eat. The 'sir' running the show was not going to be lenient in any way for me. We were the only people in sight, and the only booking for the whole day, and you would think that he would want to make the customers happy, but nah.
I had also brought a few large bottles of water with me to keep the boys hydrated but with the heat, they were gone in about 5 minutes. I noticed the company had a fridge full of drinks, so I asked the 'sir' if I could run a tab for the boys to get some drinks. The response 'yes maam but not cold. We do not plug the refrigerator in'. What the ??? In this heat, all the drinks were in a securely 'locked' fridge but were as hot as a cup of tea……… bonkers !
Anyway, the main event of Soap Football was crazy fun. The arena is an inflated pitched and the floor has a small amount of padding. Note, small amount of padding, when Max's head hit the floor there was a serious thud ! A whole 5 litre bottle of seriously soapy dishwashing soap was used to create the slip and the water added helped with the slide. As expected, the inflatable pitch had some issues with leaking, and needed to be topped up during our one hour session with the noisiest pump ever, deafening us all for about 30 minutes. Outside of the arena, if you fell over, was solid concrete, ouch, and covered in mice/rat dirts, yuk ….. I prefer to not to think about that, even now !
The boys had a blast, but I was terrified that I would be making a trip to a local hospital for a concussion or broken bone before the end of the hour. When you have 10 boys running, sliding and competing to win the game you are always destined for an injury. Luckily, the worse thing we had was toe cramps, oh and Max copped a knee in the 'privates'. Max could not quite get the hang of running on a soapy service - it requires more of a shuffle than running action, so he spent a LOT of time on his butt ! Of course, he still had a smile on his face though.
A couple of hours of fun and laughter had by all for a total of $80 AUD. The boys were hungry and exhausted - just what you want from an 11 year olds birthday party.
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| This is how Max spent most of the evening ! |
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| Yes, that is Max lying on the ground 'again' !! |
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