Field hockey is one of the most dangerous sports played. Over 10,000 injuries occur in a year from the sport. Over 40% of these injuries are to the head.

In 2011, goggles in field hockey became a requirement due to the amount of harm that the sport caused to the head, and more specifically, the eyes.

In 2020, this rule was revoked, and players could choose if they wanted to wear goggles or not.

Jenny Leffler, the head field hockey coach, agrees with the change.

“I feel like the rule to get rid of goggles was actually a safety one,” she said,“I felt like the goggles weren’t doing what we were hoping they would do.”

There was no evidence that the use of goggles decreased eye injuries in the sport, and different types of injuries began to show up. This includes scratches on the face and headaches from the goggles pressing up.

“The goggles would have protected against a harsh hit to the eye, but as far as cutting, the goggles oftentimes did cause cuts. Like the goggles themselves,” Ms. Leffler said.

Because the field hockey ball stays on the ground for 90% of the game, a player needs to use peripheral vision to look down while running to see the ball.

“Different goggles are just like a wire cover, like penal crosswords. They can prevent severe eye injury, but it’s going to limit your peripheral vision.” Hackley Athletic Trainer, Whitney Vail said.

The main reason there was even a requirement for goggles from the beginning was because of the intensity of the game.

“Injuries to the face don’t happen as much since we’re on turf. When I first played, we were on grass, and a lot of times the ball would take weird hits, and fly up in the air way more,” Ms. Leffler said.

Playing on grass led to more concerns with injuries to the head. Now the primary concerns are the risks to the eye. This was due to the unevenness of the grass fields and the unpredictability of the balls’ direction players were faced with. These erratic bounces would lead to the ball flying high and hitting players’ heads. The rougher surfaces also made stick control less precise and increased the chances of players mis-hitting the ball and accidentally hitting other players in the head.

“Every once in a while, you’ll have somebody who gets into a collision and gets an eye injury from that,” said Vail, “One would be an orbital fracture. Which is in the bone surrounding the eye. If you break that, it can affect eye tracking and eye movement, which could be problematic for vision purposes.”.

Because of injuries like this, goggles were beneficial. However, even though they were meant to help protect your vision, they were restricting. “I also think it limits your views in a way when you’re looking down at the ball,” Ms. Leffler said.

After the rule changed from being a requirement, it is now the choice of the player if they want to play in goggles or not. However, the most popular choice is not to try them out.

“I don’t think it needs to be an all-or-nothing. But I think people aren’t actually giving it a good try. I think it would be beneficial for coaches to have a few different options for players to try out to see if they’re comfortable with it or not,” said Vail. This option could potentially prevent injuries and allow players to see if they feel safer with them on the field.