KIDS’ SPORTS SAFETY EYEWEAR

Field of Dreams

If you offer it, they will come. A look at how today’s sports safety eyewear protects a new generation of young, intense athletes

WORDS + STYLING BY AMY SPIEZIO
PHOTOGRAPHED BY DAVID DOUGLAS

PROTECTION, DELIVERED (top to bottom): Liberty Sport’s new Helmet Specs in matte electric blue features a bright and sturdy frame front with anti-slip nosepiece and flexible fabric temples that keep eyewear in place while fitting snugly under helmets. Bollé’s Crunch 52 boasts ASTM F803 compliance for racquet sports, basketball, soccer, handball, and baseball—and poly lenses with anti-scratch and anti-fog properties. Hilco’s Leader style C2 Unleashed is an Rx sport goggle with temporal “view ports” and a soft, conforming nose bridge and adjustable temples that provide a solid fit in a durable, lightweight nylon construction. Wiley X Youth Force style WX Victory has shatterproof selenite poly lenses with a T-Shell lens coating for extra scratch-proofing and comfort factors including a goggle strap with a clip that curves away from the head and temples that can be removed with an easy push button.

Children are playing at a higher intensity than ever before. Backyard baseball games have segued into batting coaches and travel teams, while a bicycle ride in the park now means courses, stunts, and fancy tricks.

More than 40% of parents with children who play organized sports say their children do so year-round, according to a report prepared for The Aspen Institute’s Project Play by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Harvard, and NPR.

Those parents are also more concerned than ever about their kids’ safety while involved in sports—nearly 88% of parents have concerns about risk of injury, notes an espnW and Aspen Institute Project Play survey of parents on youth sports issues.

The optical industry has responded to this call with a full lineup of sports safety eyewear, taking adult models and downsizing and adapting the technology to the stars of tomorrow in training. While the color palettes may be brighter and the looks more decorative, the performance details remain at the heart of today’s designs.

The scope of protective eyewear is also expanding, growing the potential audience beyond children with vision correction and including all participants in sports to meet the need for eye protection. The National Eye Institute notes that while many youth sports leagues don’t require protective eyewear, parents and coaches should encourage its use. “Parents and coaches must insist that children wear safety glasses or goggles whenever they play,” notes the organization.

The health organization also encourages parents and coaches to model safe behavior, during practices and even on the sidelines. This includes pushing schools to adopt eye safety programs and wearing safety eyewear while coaching players on the field.

While the most typical recommendation for children’s safety eyewear is polycarbonate lenses, the product options offered today take other factors into consideration as well. Ventilated frame fronts maximize air flow, and styles that wrap into the temples provide protection from projectiles ranging from fingers grasping for basketballs to hard-hit baseballs skipping on the infield.

In addition, many kids’ styles feature stability as a major factor in their safety eyewear, often offering a strap temple option for comfort under helmets and strap-ready openings in temple tips to keep eyewear where it should be: doing its job and protecting eyes to the max.