Hi - I was wondering if anyone knows if anyone has ever gotten blinded by a high-speed birdie smashed by an opponent? I was playing this past weekend. My partner returned a semi high shot close to the net and I was the netman at that time. I didn't withdraw to the back as I should have, so the birdie hit me right on the face. Fortunately it did not hit me right on the eye. It hit the outer corner or my left eye. It got swollen for a while but went back to normal after a day. That made me wonder what the consequences would have been if the birdie had been half an inch toward the center of my face. It would have taken my eye out! Anyone knows any instances like this? Thanks.
it happens. the current Olympics Silver medalist, Shon Seung Mo of Korea has only partial eyesight on his left eye after a shuttlecock hit it.
But that is not to say that you can play singles like him if the same happens to you!! Otherwise this will be moved to the "techniques" forum.
My partner that I play with during the week wears a set of squash goggles. He almost had his eye taken out by a racquet once. I always wear my glasses when I play, and it has saved me from a direct impact on my eye more than once now.
I've seen this many times at training camps, the registration forms always tell you that wearing eye goggles is highly recommended, yet no one does....
well all i can say is that i had a close call to close rather, i was playing doubles with these three other guys they were all around 28-30 and i served it then out oh know where he charges the net unfortunalty my serve was a bit to high and he just killed it right back at me before i coudl react and bam right into my left eye it was scary at first because the last thing i saw was the shuttle and then i managed to close my right eye(yeah that dident do any good) but the stuttle hit my left eye and all i saw was a flash of white light and that was it i opened my eyes but i coudl only see out of my right eye aftre about 10-15 seconds the vision started to come back it was blurry at first but returned to what it was before within the minute i was starting to get scared the moment aftre i opened my eye and dident see anything. i was lucky that time but might not be next time so it is a fact that thet shuttles can cause serious damage.
Some people do but I think for some it is convenience of not having to clean glasses and contact lense use.Sometimes I will wear glasses when I am tired or seeing the bird is difficult.In Manitoba Canada I believe it is mandatory to wear goggles in Provincial tournaments.Some also claim the loss of peripheral vision when wearing glasses or goggles.I see alot of ladies who play mixed with goggles though.But being the target of smash crazy men I can't say I blame them.I have gotten popped once but luckily all I saw were stars for an hour or so.It is scary though and I can sympathize with you but I wish they could come up with better goggles to deal with the sweat.The headband works for some I know but in my case I still manage to get them dirty.
it gets me thinking. wearing goggle certainly provides complete protection and guaranteed to be 100% secure, it was also pointed out that it is an inconvenient and probably why most do not wear them. the more i think about it, perhaps badminton doesn't need the 100% coverage. afterall, we are facing the net most of the time, any impact from a shuttlecock will likely come from the frontal direction. if you try to feel the size of your eye socket, you will find that it is around 1.5inch high and 2inches wide. this is where the eye is most vulnerable and needs the most protection. if the shuttle hits the skull part, well, it is gonna hurt a little bit, but there will unlikely be any permanent damage. now, to protect a region of 1.5 x 2 inches isn't very difficult, in fact, i wear one every day! my prescription glasses are exactly that size and i wear them to badminton feeling quite secure that there is a dense piece of plastic sitting between the fast flying shuttlecock and my delicate eyes. for those who are not wearing prescription glasses, they are actually not difficult to buy, you can buy ones with neutral plastic lenses that do not have eyesight correction. they are not inconvenient as many ppl wear them everyday!
Ouch!!! I've got hitten several times. Once in the eye, and on the nose, an forehead. The eye hurts the most...
yeah thats actually not a bad idea i should wear my glasses when i play i mean there lite weight and there rimless to so thats all good...there kinda a bit thick but thats just because there plastic, better than getting another one in the eye i never want to expeirence that again.
i wear my glasses every time i play but with glasses you have to be careful as well. the glare from the lights might blind you. i remember this one time i tried to return my friend's drop shot but it was really high above the net and he smashed it back into my glasses. my glasses broke in half and i had a cut just below my eye lids.
Wearing eye glasses is a good idea, but is not a complete protection. If your glasses is made from a polycarbonate, then you can feel invulnerable wearing them (save for the occasional racquet-to-face contact.) People with glass eyewear should be careful however. I've seen a gentleman at my club had their glassess shattered by the impact, leaving glass debris in his eye. An extremely unfortunate incident, but not one that is completely unthinkable. Ask about the strength of the lense next time you go eye-wear shopping. A glass lense is too heavy for use in sport anyway. Go plastic!
This might not be the case with plastics, fitted into the frame of the glasses or goggles, but it might apply to most of those ones which have a glass piece there. When shuttle hits at a great speed on those glass pieces, they will break and can cause more damage to eyes then anything if eyes get pierced with those tiny pieces.
I got a pair of racket ball goggles that are made of "high density polycarbonate lenses". They should do the trick of protecting my eyes and not breaking upon the impact of a high speed birdie, shouldn't they?
if its made for racquet ball then it will protect your eyes from a powerful smash plus its made from a high density polycarbonate which would provide good protection i think.
I was playing MXD once and there was an opportunity for a big kill in front of the short service line, I took it, but the women opponent on the other side squated down as I hit the shuttle and took it straight in the right eye. They defaulted the match and I have not seen her playing anymore since. That was four years ago and I don't know if she stoped playing because of me, it would be terrible if it was the case.
I wasn't blinded , but I did got hit by the bird right on my right eye once . It was the only time when I didn't wear my goggles for a tournament ... and look what it got me .... a bruised eye
