I started playing soccer when I was only 3 years old and was diagnosed with myopia at 8. Since then, I’ve been struggling using glasses and playing the sport at ALL TIME. For over 10 years I have tried all the different vision correction methods out there and have had many experiences where I desperately went out to play soccer with my regular glasses (and failed). I’ll tell you everything I did to try to play soccer without glasses during my life.
First of all, I would not recommend at all to play soccer with regular glasses at any cost. It represents a danger not only for you but may also make feel uncomfortable your teammates. Glasses are not cheap, and they will probably fall and have the risk that someone kicks them or steps on them accidentally. At official, federated soccer games, referees will tell you to take them off before starting the game. Average glasses for me cost around 150 to 200 dollars, meaning that if they break I will have to go on and buy new ones, plus, I run the risk of getting a serious injury.
Don’t freak out, it’s not impossible to play soccer if you wear glasses, I’ve done it for years and here I am. I know it feels bad wanting to go out and play with wearing glasses being an obstacle. Many times I just go out and play with them but always end taking them off because of the risk of them falling or braking apart.
The dangers it represents for everyone
Obviously, the one who is most in danger is yourself. Imagine receiving a ball directly to your face at 70 miles an hour… wearing glasses. Without them it’s already painful enough. Just imagine all the possibly wrong scenarios.
There is a high risk from the glasses breaking and getting them encrusted into your eyes. Your nose can also be seriously affected most of the times. You would probably say, but what are the chances from the ball hitting my face?
When you put your glasses on happens what I call: “The face magnet phenomenon”. The ball never hits me in the face when I am not wearing glasses, but suddenly, somehow, when I put them on, all balls are coming directly to my face. There is no scientific explanation for this.
Also, you can make your teammates and opponents feel uncomfortable. Many times when I decided to go out and play soccer with the glasses on, they start to ask me if I could please take them off as they are afraid of hitting me by accident.
It sounds dumb, but it totally deconcentrates the people playing around you, making the essence of the game to be lost. This is why it is prohibited to use them in an official game if they are not glasses specifically made for soccer.
You may think your glasses are firm in your face right now and that they will not fall during a game. However, when the game starts and you start sweating you will not feel them as firm. It is very probable that they fall and get stepped over by accident. You will then have to pay a considerable bill for buying new ones.
Possible solutions
Vision problems should not be something that restricts you from playing the sport that you love. In fact, many soccer players have vision problems and that doesn’t stop them from playing the game. I’ll talk to you about 4 things that soccer players do to play the game with vision problems. Going from the easiest one to the toughest and best solution.
Not wearing anything at all (the quick one)
If you have a soccer game NOW and you don’t have time to do anything I would just recommend to go out and play without the glasses. You may be thinking, but how am I going to see the ball and my players? Let’s be realistic… you will see your teammates, the ball, and your rivals well. Obviously not with the same precision as you would with the glasses but you’ll get the job done.
For those of who may be asking yourself, I am diagnosed with a -4.25 myopia (which is very high) and a .75 astigmatism and when I take off my glasses and go out there to play I am capable of doing it pretty well.
If you’re a good player, you know that soccer is not only about vision but also about feeling where your opponents are and thinking the quickest. A good soccer player knows all the pitch, his teammates positions, and the goals inside his head; vision is just a complement. Just be confident about your abilities.
However, I would just recommend doing these if you’re at training or in a soccer game with you’re friends. If it is a very important game coming up, you would rather choose one of the other solutions I’ll give you.
The super glasses (ideal for kids)
I like to call the super glasses to the glasses that are specially made for playing sports, and soccer. Here is a picture of mines from when I was 12 years old.
As you can see, the glasses have a string that makes them stay attached to your head. They are made with a special glass that won’t brake into small pieces as the ones in some normal standard glasses. The plastic that holds this special glass together is totally flexible and has lots of cushioning in case you receive a ball hit directly to the face thanks to the “face magnet phenomenon”.
In the other hand, I didn’t feel comfortable when using them. Most of the times my ears hurt a lot because they were heavy. I also felt like they restricted my vision in some way because of their thickness. When I started using contacts I had a much bigger vision range than I had with the super glasses.
However, I would truly recommend this for kids because they are so practical and contact lenses are too much of a responsibility for them. They will certainly look different and call the attention of everyone. This is a totally normal part of the super glasses. You’ll get use to everybody asking you questions like: “What are that for?”.
Here are ones for kids I found online (Click here to see on amazon). Tell your optometrist to change the default glasses for prescription glasses.
Using Contacts (reasonable solution)
I’ve been using contacts for over 2 years now to play soccer and I’ve been doing pretty well. Contacts are very practical and sometimes you don’t even feel you have them on when playing soccer. They offer a bigger vision range than with glasses, which is great when defenders are attacking you from the side. There are contacts to use for only one day and contacts that last a month.
During my whole time using them I have never had an experience with them falling outside of my eye when playing. But, not everything is good about them, sometimes I had to quit training because they were irritating my eye. One time I was at a soccer camp and they had to kept me isolated because the contacts caused me a pink eye. Don’t get scared, this depends on each individual.
Contacts are not for everyone. Just go to your optometrist and ask them if you could try some contacts and see how your eyes react to them.
Wearing contacts requires a big responsibility. You have to always be aware of having your hands clean when touching your eyes and having your contacts in a clean case to prevent any infections that could affect your eyes. If you are a messy and lazy person, I wouldn’t recommend using them.
Laser surgery (expensive but definitive solution)
If you are a soccer player that trains everyday and is very in to the soccer world, this is the way to go. Wearing contacts after a while may become tedious and quite stressing passing through the process of having to put them on and then taking then off again and again. As well as possible allergies and complications that your eyes may develop towards them.
The eye laser surgery may cost from 2500 to 5000 dollars to completely correct your vision problems. It is expensive but for me it is totally worth it because you will never ever worry again about vision problems. I’m looking to do this one in the future to end the struggle definitely.
Ask your doctor about this option to enter a lot more in detail before taking action.
Conclusion
Wearing standard glasses to play soccer is not recommendable at all as you run the risk to have a serious injury and your glasses run a big danger to fall and brake while playing. It may be uncomfortable for other players and it is prohibited in official matches to use them.
If you’re in a hurry, it is just better to not wear anything at all and play with your normal vision. For kids, the best solution are the super glasses (special goggles for sports) because of their practicality and because kids are too small to handle the responsibility from wearing contacts.
The common way to go for most people would be buying some contacts. After some time, if you are consistently training, it is best to go through the laser surgery to correct your vision problems definitely.