A new first

[Ref in PA]

I am the R doing the opening toss at a BV game. One of the jumpers is about 6'5'' 270lb., a lineman in football. I toss with one arm, and as he goes up, his arm smacks my elbow on the underside. Fortunately, I had released the ball, but my arm went numb for the next five minutes and then it hurt like heck. I have been kicked before by one of the jumpers but never hit in the arm.

Anyone else have this happen to you? What do you do to avoid being hit/kicked?