Rules Rule! June 2023
by Dan Horner, National Rules Commissioner
National Rules Commissioner Dan Horner welcomes questions from members and will respond timely along with occasionally featuring a few each month in USAR’s Serving Up the News. Write to Dan at rulescommissioner@usaracquetball.com, and you may see your questions in a future issue of this newsletter! Here is a recent question that came in:
Q1. I’ll be competing in the tournament. I wear corrective lenses, so when I play racquetball I wear Adidas safety frames, these are not designed specifically for racquetball, but they are athletic eyewear, is there a problem if I wear them?
A1. Rule 2.5(a) Eye Protection:
In any USA Racquetball sanctioned event, every competitor, whether they require corrective lenses or not, must wear lensed eye wear as designed for racquet sports by the eye wear’s manufacturer. Selecting protective eye wear that meets or exceeds the latest ASTM-F803 standard is the sole responsibility of individual participants. If questioned by the referee or tournament director, the competitor must produce documentation that proves the protective eye wear meets that ASTM Standard. Street wear spectacles and any un-lensed eye wear do not meet the protective standard. USA Racquetball does not test, evaluate, or certify any eye wear as being compliant or not with ASTM-F803 standards. All players must wear lensed eye wear that has been warranted by its manufacturer or distributor as having:
- Been designed for use in racquetball and
- Met or exceeded the ASTM F803 standard for racquetball protective eye wear that was current as of the date the protective eye wear was made.
The protective eye wear must be unaltered and worn as it was designed at all times that the ball is in play or about to be put into play. A player who fails to wear proper protective eye wear will be assessed a technical foul (loss of a point) without warning and a timeout to obtain proper protective eye wear as covered in Rule 3.17(a)9. A second infraction in the same match will result in immediate forfeiture of the match.
So, the question is, "Were they declared by Adidas as being designed for racquet sports and proven to pass F-803 standards"? If so, then you can wear them. If not, then you must seek out another manufacturer who does and have corrective lenses put in them.
RULES
USA Racquetball’s Official Rules of Racquetball can be found using this link: