A
SIGHT
FOR SORE
EYES
Eyewear not only protects players’ eyes from the ball or a partner’s paddle,
it can protect you from long-term overexposure to the sun’s UV rays.
Across the sports landscape, eye health
and eye safety during play has become an
increasingly serious topic of discussion.
Not surprisingly, this discussion has
recently come to pickleball. The ability to both play safely
and win is affected by how players see the ball, the court,
their partners, and their opponents. As with many other
ball sports that are played mostly outside, pickleballers
face two distinct hazards to their vision when they play:
impacts to the eye from the ball, their partners’ paddle,
or their partners themselves; and overexposure to
UV rays from the sun. Over time, exposure can result
in cataracts (clouding of the eye lens) and macular
degeneration (deterioration of the central portion of the
retina), both of which can lead to loss of vision.
A lot of play happens at the kitchen line, which
means that players are usually only 14 feet from their
opponents’ next shot. Even a speed-up moving at just 20
mph in the kitchen leaves a player with 0.5 seconds to
react. If players don’t have protective eyewear, all they
have is their reactions to keep from getting hit. Most
people seem to think that eye injuries happen, but not to
them. The problem with this kind of thinking, though, is
that oftentimes getting hit in the eye is out of a player’s
control, and when it happens, it can be incredibly
serious—from detached retinas, to orbital blowout
fractures, to even ruptured eyeballs.
The immediate solution to these problems is highquality
eyewear with polycarbonate lenses. While eye
injuries from impacts can be serious, the good news is
that 90 percent of these injuries can be prevented by
wearing the proper eye protection (i.e. polycarbonate
lenses). Not only that, but these lenses also block 100
percent of harmful UV rays. If the sunglasses are wrapstyle,
it’s even better. This extended curve helps prevent
UV rays from reflecting off the inside of the lenses
directly into a player’s eyes.
While protecting players’ eyes, the right eyewear can
simultaneously enhance performance if its features are
suited for the pickleball environment. Eye protection
does not mean players should sacrifice on performance.
With the proper tint, players can enhance the ball’s
contrast against the court, improving their depth
perception, timing, and reaction speed.
Recently USA Pickleball has partnered with RIA
Eyewear, a startup based in New York that launched
earlier this year. The new company’s first sports
sunglasses line features polycarbonate ZEISS™ lenses
that enhance the contrast of the pickleball against
the court and blocks 100 percent of harmful UV rays.
These proprietary lenses are housed in Italian-made
frames that weigh less than 1 ounce and feature an
interchangeable lens system to account for different
light conditions.
RIA’s mission is to prove that eye protection doesn’t
have to come at the expense of performance and, in fact,
it can help players perform better. Its products have
already gained traction with top professional players,
partnering up with Michelle Esquivel and Rob Cassidy,
founders of Ultimate Pickleball Academy, as well as
Aspen Kern. “As an instructor, teaching long consecutive
days under the sun can be brutal on the eyes. Quality
sunglasses are essential,” said Cassidy. “From a player’s
perspective, part of playing your best is playing without
fear. Proper eye protection truly allows you to play with
no fear.” •
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