PARENT: I'm convinced goggles and crazy bar on them contributed to my daughter getting 30 stitches in chin recently. View downwards was obscured when jabbing for ball. Actually impacted opposing players stick which rode up and full follow through hit her in chin through to bone. Without impaired downward vision she would not have had to guess where ball was.
The following video was submitted by the parent of the player who suffered the injury described above.
OTHER COMMENTS FROM INJURY REPORTS PARENT: A middle school* girl with goggles could not see that my daughter was chargin to defend, rammed right into her forehead. My daughter immediatley went to the ground. The girl with goggles did not flinch. My daughter had a BIG goose egg on her head that was still noticiable for five days after. She complained of a headache and sensitivity to bright lights for 24 hours. HUGE mistake to have goggle on because of the loss of vision for the girl playing with goggles. She never would have butted heads with my daughter otherwise.
* GoggleInjury.com: Please note that middle school athletes are NOT forced by rule to wear goggles. The NFHS rules ONLY apply to high school age players when they are playing in games between high schools.
COACH: Two players collided because their peripheral vison was blocked. The officals at the game are the ones that came up to us coaches to let us know that it was the goggles and lack of peripheral vison that caused the accident. My player had a bleeding chin and now has a concussion due to this incident.
UMPIRE: Player hit defender's foot and defender lost sight of the ball that I attribute to googles. Attacker came in to gain possession and, in my opinion, misjudged where the defender was due to goggles. She was launched up and over the defender and landed on her head.
PLAYER: Both attacker and defender went for the ball and did not see the other person going for the ball due to impaired sight. The defender's nose and the attacker's head hit together causing a concussion that needs doctor's treatment and a bruised nose.
COACH: Two athletes were running on towards the same ball. They were looking at the ball, not each other. My player had a lack of pereipheral vision due to the goggles. Had she not been wearing goggles, she would have had peripheral vison and, in my experienced opinion, likely avoided an impact of such velocity. More importantly, the other athlete's goggles went into my player's collar bone upon their collision. My player had a bone bruise and huge swelling and bruising diretly to her collar bone, that we initially thought was a broken clavicle.
COACH: Two players collided head first into each other. One got a concussion and the other required 8 stitches from a head wound from the goggles. When asked what happened, they both replied that they could not see the other player because their peripheral vison was skewed by the goggles. I believe that they would have avoided the collision had they not been wearing goggles.
PARENT: During the second half of a game, my daughter was in pursuit of a ball as was an opposing player. It appeared they did not see each other as they collided with one another. Both girls were knocked to the ground although my daughter popped right back up. As I went out onto the field, I could see her wiping blood from her face. I figured she had a bloody nose possibly but was shocked once she turned around; she had blood gushing down her face. I couldn't even tell where it was actually coming from until we cleaned her face and discovered a 2 inch long (at least 1/8" to 1/4" deep) gash starting at the top portion of her forehead going into her hairline. The wound kept bleeding although we applied ice and pressure. The trainer on-site applied heavy gauze and wrapped a bandage around her head to maintain pressure before we went to the Emergency Room at the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters. Five hours in the ER and 10 stitches later, we arrived home.
COACH: Player #1 was flier on defensive corner. Player #2 was the receiver of the corner on the opposite team. Player #1 went to the ball and collided with player #2 due to obstruction of vision caused by goggles. Both players fell to ground. Player #1 received a laceration on her right shoulder caused by Player #2's goggles
COACH: Both girls were going for the ball and did not realize how close opponent was. Athlete was not able to avoid the collision due to reduced vision.
COACH: During practice 1 v 1 drill the athletes peripheral vision was reduced and collided with teammate.
PLAYER: A teammate drove the ball towards cage, I went to deflect it to the corner, but I lost sight of it and got hit in the knee. The ball was hidden by the wires and plastic outside of the goggles. This has happened multiple times.
COACH: From a free hit the opponent hit and raised a ball dangerously, my player could not see the ball was raised and ball hit her in her cheek and pushed goggles up and back onto forehead and caused a cut on her forehead. She is suffering from a fracture, laceration and concussion.
PARENT: Injured athlete was collecting a loose ball in the circle, and the collided with the shoulder (forehead upper nose to shoulder) of the defending player whom was also lunging for the ball. Injured player commented she could "not see" the other player also lunging for the ball due to visual obstruction of goggle edges.
UMPIRE: Collision of athlete with another. Unable to see in front when dribbling due to visual impairment from goggles. Did not see approaching player and ran into her.
COACH: Two players were going for the same ball with their heads down because of the goggles. The goggle of the one player hit the other player in the head and cut it severely (15 stitches) The player whose head was not cut suffered a black eye because the goggles pressed into the side of her head. Both went to the hospital, one suffered a black eye and one needed 15 stitches. If the goggles were not worn, neither injury would have occured.
PARENT: My daughter collided with teammates shoulder resulting in a laceration below her eyebrow requiring an ER visit to close the wound with 5 stitches. She wasn't aware she was even injured until the blood started dripping. They were both running for a loose ball during the game where they did not see each other because their vision was impaired therefore, they collided. Both were injured, my player split her forehead open from the goggles and required stitches immediately. The other girl was taken out of the game but I am not sure of her injuries.
COACH: We were scrimmaging ourselves, when two players went for the same ball. Neither of them saw each other due to the lack of peripheral vision. The player that was not injured slammed into the side of the face, of the injured player, with their body. This caused the goggles to slide and ram into the temple of the injured player. She went down, was woozy, and had to sit out for the remainder of practice.
COACH: I had two players each dribbling a field hockey ball (doing a drill they had been doing for years) and because they could not see due to the goggles they ran head first into each other. Both players suffered a concussion and goggles actually not only caused the injury, but made it even worse. The goggles of one player hit the other player first and caused a severe cut on her forehead instead of just a bruise if the players had just hit heads. Both players have to sit out for two weeks and then get re-evaluated to see if they no longer have a concussion and then will come back to playing as drills first - then contact.
PARENT: When heading to strike the ball the player's stick impacted another player in the face on backswing because the player reported she could not see the player approaching due to reduced field of vision....treatment - stitches to lip area and face.