It appears that in starting a new level, sometimes the shoot button stops working. I got stuck on level 2 the first time and level 3 the second time... But it does seem like a cool idea beyond that!
OH I figured out what happened! The mechanic where you get the ball back if you catch it again is carried over to the next level, so you have to catch the ball in order to be able to start the next level. If you don't catch it, it's gone forever.
Not sure if that's a mistake or intentional, but if it's intentional you should prevent it from loading the next level until the player catches the ball.