Eye Injuries
 

We all may think that volleyball is probably one of the safer sports for officials. But this is what happened to me at a tourney last Saturday.
Two courts set up crossways in the high school gym, but they using the scorer's table set up where it would be with only one court set up. So it is located at the end of the courts in between the two.
During warmups before the first match of the day I was at the scorer's table. I turned around and took a volleyball to the eye. Never saw it coming.
The trainer looked at it at washed it out with saline. Some blurriness and pain, but I continued with the day. Later that day I had a bunch of floaters show up in the eye but they dissipated. By the end of the day, the vision was still a little blurry in the eye, but no pain. Sunday I just kind of layed around and didn't do much.
Monday morning I was at the ophthalmologist at 8:00 in the morning and was told to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Seems I had a torn and partially detached retina. They did surgery that day to repair it. Should have a full recovery. Told me it was a good thing I didn't wait any longer or it could have been much worse.

Moral of the story. If you ever take a shot to the eye or head, and you have any symptoms. SEE A DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY!!!!

My doctor is going to allow me to work my match this Thursday night. And, yes I can see. Vision was 20/20 the next day. Just have a gas bubble in that eye they injected during the surgery to hold the retina in place while it heals.

I will wearing racquetball goggles during warmups and during the match under advice from the Dr. Might look goofy but not taking any chances.
Don't want to have that procedure done again.

Be careful and enjoy your season.

If the racquetball goggles don't work, I can loan you my softball umpires mask! :)

Seriously, though, I'm glad to hear that you came through the surgery OK and will likley make a full recovery. a good lesson for all of us when we are in a gym full of flying volleyballs.

In the immortal words of Frank Barrone (or Peter Griffin, if you like a more recent reference): "Holy crap!"

Thank goodness you got it looked at in time. Definitely go with the goggles for as long as the doc says. Good luck with the rest of your season.

If you wear glasses, you could also consider rec specs. My son wore them in all sports until he was old enough for contacts. I've never worked with him, but I have seen one soccer referee who wears them every game.

Ouch!

Had a fellow coach suffered a head concussion taking a direct hit to the head from a volleyball. Injuries are absolutely no fun and I totally respect those who may appear to be big babies about it. I've had my share of volleyball related injuries.