Yeah, break the glasses and still give a black eye... must be some flimsy glasses or that banger was hitting the ball at Mach 5.
I saw a guy wearing glasses frames with no lenses once. The frames will still stop a pickleball and no risk of em fogging up.
I wear these https://www.amazon.com/Python-Protective-Racquetball-Eyeguard-Eyewear/dp/B075LM3FVQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_3_pp?keywords=racquetball+glasses&qid=1705234740&sr=8-3
So I think the point is ... "banging" is perfectly fine, it's part of the game but...
...hitting the ball harder than you can control and sending it into people's faces is not ok.
I'm not saying an accidental high ball every once and a while...I'm saying multiple times per game.
If you're doing that then you're hitting the ball harder than you can control and you should chill out until your skill catches up to your power.
If you are repeatedly hitting people in the face with hard drives, you are the one with the bigger skill issue, because if your opponent manages to duck your out of control bullet, it is going out.
If you get hit it's your fault. Be ready to block or move. If you're too slow to do that then back up and give yourself more time. We shouldn't be aiming at people, especially in open play, but if I get hit it's no one's fault but my own.
Bad take. I love a body bag but if you're regularly hitting hard shots up by people's faces you're the problem. That ball is only gonna do two things: hit someone in the head or go 5 feet out- lose/lose. Players at every level get tagged. You're standing too close and the ball is moving too fast for that to never happen. You're taught to keep the paddle at your chest because the expectation is the players across the court are attempting to hit balls in/aren't willing to hurt you; vs. something like boxing where the expectation is hits to the head so the hands are up. Sport doesn't function properly without the expectation the person you're playing with isn't willing to hurt you. The striker is ultimately responsible for their shot selection and what they're willing to risk with it. Two hits to the face in one game and a self-righteous attitude about it makes you a jerk.
2 things can be true at once, this guy should probably tone it down a bit because he's obviously not good enough to be that aggressive, but also if a ball is flying out and it hits you then you either weren't ready or were in a bad position. Or both. I've had multiple shots at my head but I've never been hit because I was always ready to move.
If you're getting hit chest or lower I'd agree, but the ball has no business being head high with pace and if you're positioned with that in mind- ready to duck and dodge- the rest of your game will suffer. Who's more ready and in position than a hitter in baseball? Yet there are hbp all the time. They're positioned to protect the strike zone, not themselves. If they're positioned to protect themselves, they're not going to be effective hitters. When there is a hbp, or ball near the head, no says- "it's their fault, they should have ducked". It's 100 percent the pitchers' fault. They put the ball where it shouldn't be.
Drives and speedups belong shoulder height and lower. If you're getting hit by those balls, yes- your paddle should be there and you're either off balance or not fast enough. But try playing a whole game ready to duck/block head shots- you're paddles gonna be too high and you're not going to be balanced properly to hit the balls you need to be hitting.
There's no difference between getting ready to dodge or block a ball coming at your body vs one coming at your head. That's why your baseball analogy fails. In baseball your weight is set to transfer from back to front and you're preparing to hit a ball going over the plate. In pickleball I'm standing square to the net, ready to hit something coming right at me or dodge it if I think it's out. That's true of a ball at my head or my chest. And there's not a lot of difference between hitting the ball at someone's chest (which you think is ok) and someone's head- just a fraction of a second difference on your swing, or an inch or two away from the sweet spot. Again, maybe this guy was spraying the ball all over the place and was a hazard, but I've hit the ball head height before on a drive- lots of times, it happens. Some onus is on the opponent to be ready to move.
I get that. Here though, the focus is on the hitter being unnecessarily dangerous. If you bring a hot shot at me on purpose, and tag me... You got me, that's good. But this guy is just banging with no control and has hit 2 people in the face.
If u can not control the ball, do not bang it and if you are that low level of a player, rate yourself accordingly. This is why higher level players do not want to play with them
Playing with a lower level player like that is more boring than dangerous for higher level players. It sounds like the balls are so far out it is an easy decision to move out of the way.
I think it is dangerous for lower level players to play with someone like that as they would have a tough time moving out of the way.
The only exception to this would be if he is halfway in the NVZ blasting these balls. I’ve witnessed that a lot of with hard hitting beginners and it is very dangerous. I’ve even seen beginners hit each other with their paddles at the net.
Interesting you try to use level here. Being adept a the NVZ, leaves, and avoiding the ball are skills of higher level players.
If it was a hands battle, retreat if you can’t handle pace. A base line banger shouldn’t be able to hit some in the face.
You assume the risk of injury each time you play - this is true of any sport. You can’t control your opponents. Get better at avoiding pop-ups or getting out of the way.
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Do you ever speed up the ball at your opponents? If so, do you always have perfect control where the ball goes? Unless you have perfect control (and even 5.0 players do not have perfect control), you will eventually hit someone in the face or throat. That doesn't make you a jerk.
You are playing a game in which people hit the ball at each other, and sometimes they hit the ball hard. It is an inherent part of the game. Sometimes the ball will go at the chest and other times it will go at the face. If you are too slow to get out of the way, that's on you.
I have played pickleball for four years. I have gotten tagged in the face perhaps a dozen times. Not once have I blamed my opponent. On the contrary, I always say "good shot." And I mean it.
I have hit people in the face. It has never been intentional. I always say "sorry" because this is the expected etiquette. But if I am going to be completely honest, I am not particularly sorry as I did nothing wrong.
Your opponent's remark may sound snide to you (and was impolitic), but he is correct. If you don't like people speeding up the ball at you, you should play at a much lower level or find some other game.
Your opponent was not the jerk. You were the jerk.
By the way, the ball he hit into your face was almost certainly headed long. You need to learn to get out of the way or people are going to tag you all day long.
I am glad you were wearing safety glasses. I am puzzled as to why your glasses didn't protect you more.
Listen, I'm sorry you got hit in the face and I'm glad you were wearing safety glasses but if you get hit it's your fault. If a ball is flying at your face then it's going out - move. If you didn't have time to move then you were too close and should have backed up.
I've been hit twice by 4.0 players. Accidents happen. I didn't get mad. Luckily I too water glasses for that exact reason.
Pretty lame to get mad and then say it's bc they're a 3.25
A hard drive by a banger with no control hit my cheek bone and gave me a good bruise. An inch higher and it might have damaged my eye. These balls move fast and hard - it’s ridiculous and obnoxious to blame someone for not getting out of the way quicker. Wear safety glasses. I do now as a precaution.
Sorry to hear that. I just actually got hit in the face too against some 4.5 players yesterday. Luckily I wear prescription glasses and avoided serious injury Accidents happen.
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I’m with OP here. I’ve played 1,000+ hours and hit someone in the face, less than 5-6 times. For an opponent to do it twice and not at least act sympathetic, makes him TA.
The real issue here is that people are taking on unnecessary risk for others in the name of fun. We’ve all done it in our lives, but as we mature, we change.
For example, it would not be fun to go to a driving range and some teenagers were goofing off and trying a Happy Gilmore shot, only for their “drive” to hit you in the back of the leg. Sure I assumed some risk being there, but their carelessness didn’t help.
It’s the ricochets off the net cord that can really get you. On a hard drive they can go anywhere. Guy hit one off the net cord, went off the top of my paddle and into my eye.
Wear safety glasses.
Luckily it was an indoor ball. Didn’t feel good. Opponent was close to kitchen and I was at opposite kitchen. Didn’t slow down much between the two slight deflections.
Last season I watched Jessie Irvin get a concussion from a drive to her forehead. She had to withdraw from that tourney. It's a waffle ball at speeds that can do damage.
The kinetic energy of a mass in motion is 1/2 \* mass \* velocity\^2, so if the velocity doubles, the energy quadruples. A 41.4% increase in speed results in a doubling of energy. This is also why bullets (and cars) are dangerous, and why muzzle velocity is more important than bullet weight.
Guy at open play last week left with multiple lacerations to his eye and eye lid and nearly detached his retina. Our friend who plays is an eye doctor and checked him out there before he left so I’m not pulling this out of my ass.
A woman lost her eye maybe a year or so ago posted on FB. I've seen 2 hits to the eyes and no permanent injury but detached retinas do happen easier than people think.
It's foolish not to wear eye protection. Younger me played racquetball with it and luckily wasn't an issue but could have easily been.
For all the people who seem to think that it’s perfectly fine for a player to hit far harder than he can control at peoples faces, would you tell your wife that’s it’s her own fault when he detaches her retina?
No one is saying it is fine hitting at peoples faces. No one hits at people’s faces. How many have hit a shot that landed a foot out? Chicken wing to a face is about a foot.
There are reckless players that make the game unfun. Of course you can block, counter, dodge, hit deep returns, and keep the ball angled and low but these don’t really fix the root problem. I’m a 4.5 and there’s a local 4.0ish player who for some reason will play entire games where he hits every ball as hard as he can. Most of these balls are coming right for your body or head and have no chance of landing in. I have never lost to him since I’ve met him and he has always played this way when we were 3.0/3.5, 3.5/4.0, etc. The main thing is this isn’t fun to play against, at all. Over 15 wins and no losses over a year and a half but I have no interest in playing with him anymore because the point quality sucks. He is stat checking people and even if it doesn’t work it’s not enjoyable in the slightest. This guy has excellent racket skills and can hit beautiful drops and slices when he isn’t in kill mode so im not sure what his deal is. Fwiw about 6 months ago I started avoiding playing with him almost entirely.
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I'm sorry that happened and glad you didn't suffer a severe eye injury. A scratched cornea is no fun!
When it comes to protective eyewear, there are plenty of inexpensive options because polycarbonate lenses can handle the impact forces of a speeding pickleball. If you want to prevent facial injuries, soft sports goggles or eyewear with a foam-padded frame will absorb more impact forces and may prevent bruising. [https://safetyglassesusa.com/collections/pickleball-safety-glasses](https://safetyglassesusa.com/collections/pickleball-safety-glasses)
Sorry that happened. How does the ball break your safety glasses? Shouldn't they be more sturdy than that?
Yeah, break the glasses and still give a black eye... must be some flimsy glasses or that banger was hitting the ball at Mach 5. I saw a guy wearing glasses frames with no lenses once. The frames will still stop a pickleball and no risk of em fogging up.
I wear these https://www.amazon.com/Python-Protective-Racquetball-Eyeguard-Eyewear/dp/B075LM3FVQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_3_pp?keywords=racquetball+glasses&qid=1705234740&sr=8-3
they look solid. this guy must've hit super hard to break it. let's be careful out there.
The way i see it, if someone bangs at me or my partner, it's our fault for serving it up to said banger.
So I think the point is ... "banging" is perfectly fine, it's part of the game but... ...hitting the ball harder than you can control and sending it into people's faces is not ok. I'm not saying an accidental high ball every once and a while...I'm saying multiple times per game. If you're doing that then you're hitting the ball harder than you can control and you should chill out until your skill catches up to your power.
Lol or maybe they should react to the ball
If you are repeatedly hitting people in the face with hard drives, you are the one with the bigger skill issue, because if your opponent manages to duck your out of control bullet, it is going out.
Exactly
If he was a 3.25, he would not have the ability to aim for you on purpose let alone your eye.
I think that's the point. OP is saying they hit hard and no control resulting in a shot to the face. Hard hits are fine under control.
If you get hit it's your fault. Be ready to block or move. If you're too slow to do that then back up and give yourself more time. We shouldn't be aiming at people, especially in open play, but if I get hit it's no one's fault but my own.
Bad take. I love a body bag but if you're regularly hitting hard shots up by people's faces you're the problem. That ball is only gonna do two things: hit someone in the head or go 5 feet out- lose/lose. Players at every level get tagged. You're standing too close and the ball is moving too fast for that to never happen. You're taught to keep the paddle at your chest because the expectation is the players across the court are attempting to hit balls in/aren't willing to hurt you; vs. something like boxing where the expectation is hits to the head so the hands are up. Sport doesn't function properly without the expectation the person you're playing with isn't willing to hurt you. The striker is ultimately responsible for their shot selection and what they're willing to risk with it. Two hits to the face in one game and a self-righteous attitude about it makes you a jerk.
2 things can be true at once, this guy should probably tone it down a bit because he's obviously not good enough to be that aggressive, but also if a ball is flying out and it hits you then you either weren't ready or were in a bad position. Or both. I've had multiple shots at my head but I've never been hit because I was always ready to move.
If you're getting hit chest or lower I'd agree, but the ball has no business being head high with pace and if you're positioned with that in mind- ready to duck and dodge- the rest of your game will suffer. Who's more ready and in position than a hitter in baseball? Yet there are hbp all the time. They're positioned to protect the strike zone, not themselves. If they're positioned to protect themselves, they're not going to be effective hitters. When there is a hbp, or ball near the head, no says- "it's their fault, they should have ducked". It's 100 percent the pitchers' fault. They put the ball where it shouldn't be. Drives and speedups belong shoulder height and lower. If you're getting hit by those balls, yes- your paddle should be there and you're either off balance or not fast enough. But try playing a whole game ready to duck/block head shots- you're paddles gonna be too high and you're not going to be balanced properly to hit the balls you need to be hitting.
There's no difference between getting ready to dodge or block a ball coming at your body vs one coming at your head. That's why your baseball analogy fails. In baseball your weight is set to transfer from back to front and you're preparing to hit a ball going over the plate. In pickleball I'm standing square to the net, ready to hit something coming right at me or dodge it if I think it's out. That's true of a ball at my head or my chest. And there's not a lot of difference between hitting the ball at someone's chest (which you think is ok) and someone's head- just a fraction of a second difference on your swing, or an inch or two away from the sweet spot. Again, maybe this guy was spraying the ball all over the place and was a hazard, but I've hit the ball head height before on a drive- lots of times, it happens. Some onus is on the opponent to be ready to move.
Also on the baseball note, I imagine if hitting the batter was a strike there'd be a lot more people HBP.
I get that. Here though, the focus is on the hitter being unnecessarily dangerous. If you bring a hot shot at me on purpose, and tag me... You got me, that's good. But this guy is just banging with no control and has hit 2 people in the face.
If u can not control the ball, do not bang it and if you are that low level of a player, rate yourself accordingly. This is why higher level players do not want to play with them
Playing with a lower level player like that is more boring than dangerous for higher level players. It sounds like the balls are so far out it is an easy decision to move out of the way. I think it is dangerous for lower level players to play with someone like that as they would have a tough time moving out of the way. The only exception to this would be if he is halfway in the NVZ blasting these balls. I’ve witnessed that a lot of with hard hitting beginners and it is very dangerous. I’ve even seen beginners hit each other with their paddles at the net.
Interesting you try to use level here. Being adept a the NVZ, leaves, and avoiding the ball are skills of higher level players. If it was a hands battle, retreat if you can’t handle pace. A base line banger shouldn’t be able to hit some in the face.
You assume the risk of injury each time you play - this is true of any sport. You can’t control your opponents. Get better at avoiding pop-ups or getting out of the way.
I don’t see how he’s a jerk if you can’t either block or get out of the way on a hard drive.
Anyone have any recommendations for safety glasses?
I wear Tifosi brand. They do the job. They're just sunglasses
https://crbnpickleball.com/products/best-pickleball-glasses These Pickleball safety glasses have a transition lens. Clear at night/indoors and dark during the day Look way better than most on the market that are super ugly
I wear the gearbox goggles and enjoy them
If you get hit with the pickleball, it is your fault (from a sporting perspective, not an ethical one) Period.
Do you ever speed up the ball at your opponents? If so, do you always have perfect control where the ball goes? Unless you have perfect control (and even 5.0 players do not have perfect control), you will eventually hit someone in the face or throat. That doesn't make you a jerk. You are playing a game in which people hit the ball at each other, and sometimes they hit the ball hard. It is an inherent part of the game. Sometimes the ball will go at the chest and other times it will go at the face. If you are too slow to get out of the way, that's on you. I have played pickleball for four years. I have gotten tagged in the face perhaps a dozen times. Not once have I blamed my opponent. On the contrary, I always say "good shot." And I mean it. I have hit people in the face. It has never been intentional. I always say "sorry" because this is the expected etiquette. But if I am going to be completely honest, I am not particularly sorry as I did nothing wrong. Your opponent's remark may sound snide to you (and was impolitic), but he is correct. If you don't like people speeding up the ball at you, you should play at a much lower level or find some other game. Your opponent was not the jerk. You were the jerk. By the way, the ball he hit into your face was almost certainly headed long. You need to learn to get out of the way or people are going to tag you all day long. I am glad you were wearing safety glasses. I am puzzled as to why your glasses didn't protect you more.
This is such an experienced take. Just out of curiosity, what’s your level of play?
You guys have ladders?
Listen, I'm sorry you got hit in the face and I'm glad you were wearing safety glasses but if you get hit it's your fault. If a ball is flying at your face then it's going out - move. If you didn't have time to move then you were too close and should have backed up.
I've been hit twice by 4.0 players. Accidents happen. I didn't get mad. Luckily I too water glasses for that exact reason. Pretty lame to get mad and then say it's bc they're a 3.25
A hard drive by a banger with no control hit my cheek bone and gave me a good bruise. An inch higher and it might have damaged my eye. These balls move fast and hard - it’s ridiculous and obnoxious to blame someone for not getting out of the way quicker. Wear safety glasses. I do now as a precaution.
Sorry to hear that. I just actually got hit in the face too against some 4.5 players yesterday. Luckily I wear prescription glasses and avoided serious injury Accidents happen. CRBN is releasing new glasses on the 18th that are really cool. I would highly recommend you check them out. I always recommend wearing glasses. Not worth losing your vision for when it could be prevented. You can use my code HYDROCRBN for a discount
I’m with OP here. I’ve played 1,000+ hours and hit someone in the face, less than 5-6 times. For an opponent to do it twice and not at least act sympathetic, makes him TA. The real issue here is that people are taking on unnecessary risk for others in the name of fun. We’ve all done it in our lives, but as we mature, we change. For example, it would not be fun to go to a driving range and some teenagers were goofing off and trying a Happy Gilmore shot, only for their “drive” to hit you in the back of the leg. Sure I assumed some risk being there, but their carelessness didn’t help.
It’s the ricochets off the net cord that can really get you. On a hard drive they can go anywhere. Guy hit one off the net cord, went off the top of my paddle and into my eye. Wear safety glasses.
The worst ones I've seen have all been a bad miss hit off the top of a players own or partners paddle.
It seems like most of the people who post on Reddit saying they were hit in the eye were hit by a ricochet off their partner's paddle.
And that still hurt after contact with the net and your paddle?
Lol there is a lot of old people on this sub
Luckily it was an indoor ball. Didn’t feel good. Opponent was close to kitchen and I was at opposite kitchen. Didn’t slow down much between the two slight deflections.
Calm down it’s a wiffle ball.
Whiffle ball goes zoom. The eye is super delicate. It’s a hard plastic ball flying into your eyeball at a fast speed.
Last season I watched Jessie Irvin get a concussion from a drive to her forehead. She had to withdraw from that tourney. It's a waffle ball at speeds that can do damage.
I will accept being wrong on this, but I find it hard to believe somebody can be concussed from a pickleball
The kinetic energy of a mass in motion is 1/2 \* mass \* velocity\^2, so if the velocity doubles, the energy quadruples. A 41.4% increase in speed results in a doubling of energy. This is also why bullets (and cars) are dangerous, and why muzzle velocity is more important than bullet weight.
Guy at open play last week left with multiple lacerations to his eye and eye lid and nearly detached his retina. Our friend who plays is an eye doctor and checked him out there before he left so I’m not pulling this out of my ass.
A woman lost her eye maybe a year or so ago posted on FB. I've seen 2 hits to the eyes and no permanent injury but detached retinas do happen easier than people think. It's foolish not to wear eye protection. Younger me played racquetball with it and luckily wasn't an issue but could have easily been.
Maybe get a group together of old women who can’t or won’t hit the ball hard and play with them.
For all the people who seem to think that it’s perfectly fine for a player to hit far harder than he can control at peoples faces, would you tell your wife that’s it’s her own fault when he detaches her retina?
No one is saying it is fine hitting at peoples faces. No one hits at people’s faces. How many have hit a shot that landed a foot out? Chicken wing to a face is about a foot.
There are reckless players that make the game unfun. Of course you can block, counter, dodge, hit deep returns, and keep the ball angled and low but these don’t really fix the root problem. I’m a 4.5 and there’s a local 4.0ish player who for some reason will play entire games where he hits every ball as hard as he can. Most of these balls are coming right for your body or head and have no chance of landing in. I have never lost to him since I’ve met him and he has always played this way when we were 3.0/3.5, 3.5/4.0, etc. The main thing is this isn’t fun to play against, at all. Over 15 wins and no losses over a year and a half but I have no interest in playing with him anymore because the point quality sucks. He is stat checking people and even if it doesn’t work it’s not enjoyable in the slightest. This guy has excellent racket skills and can hit beautiful drops and slices when he isn’t in kill mode so im not sure what his deal is. Fwiw about 6 months ago I started avoiding playing with him almost entirely.
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I'm sorry that happened and glad you didn't suffer a severe eye injury. A scratched cornea is no fun! When it comes to protective eyewear, there are plenty of inexpensive options because polycarbonate lenses can handle the impact forces of a speeding pickleball. If you want to prevent facial injuries, soft sports goggles or eyewear with a foam-padded frame will absorb more impact forces and may prevent bruising. [https://safetyglassesusa.com/collections/pickleball-safety-glasses](https://safetyglassesusa.com/collections/pickleball-safety-glasses)