You might be wondering, What is Knockerball? Well, my adventurous friends, it is a recreational sport that allows you and your friends to knock each other down while semi-strapped into a plastic ball. Sounds fun, right? Yeah, it is!
My friends and I came across Knockerball after leaving Regal Atlas Stadium 8 in Glendale, New York (for everyone else, it's in Queens; for whoever is familiar with the area, it's Atlas Mall). We were just trying to find a way to shrug off some of the frustrations from watching "Alice Through The Looking Glass." To avoid spoilers, I'll just say that it's nothing like Lewis Carroll's novel, "Through The Looking Glass," so prepare for some disappointment if you already read his novels from start to finish. On the other hand, I can say that it was entertaining, the puns, even more so.
Moving on! Back to the topic of Knockerball! You have these human-size plastic spheres (sort of), with the top and bottom cut off. Also, the middle of the sphere has a small little cylindrical shape. The spheres themselves aren't a full sphere, since the segments look like orange slices. There's reinforcement on the inside to make sure you bounce back from being knocked down. I know I probably lost you here trying to describe what it looks like but here are the visuals to help:
There's straps inside the orange slice balls so you don't go flying out when your friends, or the strangers there, decide to charge at you and knock you into kingdom come. If you ever dreamed of being in a plastic bubble, this is pretty much a perfect opportunity to; only this plastic bubble, is human go-karting.
The bigger question here is, how do you survive in that thing? Easy. Well, sort of. After the first two or three times you get knocked down, it's easy to get up considering the adrenaline is pumping through your blood. However, like my friend, Iman, who had trouble getting up (and eventually me later on), the bubble itself gets pretty heavy, and inside the bubble, you start sweating up a storm. It gets harder and harder to get up. The five to 10 pound bubble now suddenly feels like 20 pounds.
This is in no way to discourage you from trying this out. I actually encourage you to try out Knockerball and get some friends to join in as well. It's $5 for five minutes. You may think it's too short for time but it's really not; not when it's 80-something degrees and inside the bubble feels like 90 plus. I recommend having sneakers on. I had sandals on that day and although it was doable, I wasn't a fan of having dirt between my feet and toes. This is more for comfort.
Overall though, go on, give it a try! Knock your friends over! Have a great summer!
