Why more pickleball players are wearing weird goggles

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In 2023, after noise complaints from neighbours, the City of Ottawa told the Manotick Tennis Club that pickleball would no longer be permitted on the club’s converted outdoor courts at Centennial Park. Noise complaints have been a feature of the rapid growth of pickleball across North America.

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Eye injuries are not the only ones related to the rapid growth of pickleball. Other injuries, including those from falls, are also on the rise as more people take up the sport.

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But eye injuries are grabbing attention because they are largely preventable—and the outcome can be life-altering.

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Diana Dowthwaite, who is president of the Ottawa Pickleball Association, has seen the rapid growth of the sport up close. The organization, now in its 12th year, has 650 members, but its membership “could be in the thousands” if there were more places to play in the city.

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“The biggest issue is a lack of venues.”

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The Ottawa Pickleball Association does not have a formal policy mandating safety eyewear for players, but Dowthwaite says wearing protective eyewear is highly recommended. The organization even helps members by ordering glasses and offering member discounts.

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“We have not mandated it, but we extremely strongly recommend that people where safety glasses. We make them aware of the risks.”

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Dowthwaite said an incident involving a friend’s husband helped convince her of the necessity of protecting her eyes during games. The man in question always wore protective eyewear. One time after a break, though, he forgot to put his back on and took a ball to his eye. That injury cost him 50 per cent of his vision in one eye, she said.

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“I wasn’t a glasses wearer before that. But now I put my sneakers on and I put my glasses on. I will never play without my glasses. Ever.”

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Diana Dowthwaite is president of the Ottawa Pickleball Association. She proudly wears her protective glasses due to the rise in eye injuries in the sport of pickleball. Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia

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Dowthwaite said there have been some eye injuries among members and many close calls.

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“There definitely have been people who have been hit in the eye.” Even some of those hit while wearing glasses have ended up with bruises around the eye, although no direct damage to the eye, she said.

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She said increasing numbers of players are using protective eyewear.

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“If I show up to an Ottawa Pickleball Association event and there are 15 people playing, 13 for sure are wearing glasses.”

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That is a positive trend, she said, because the risks are likely to grow.

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“Paddles are getting more sophisticated. They are faster and have more power, so balls are coming off (the paddles) faster and everybody is very close to each other. If your reflexes aren’t 100 per cent — or maybe you turn your head or the ball comes off your partner — and you don’t have your glasses on, that is not good.”

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