By Kevin D. Klipstein, President & Chief Executive Officer
The start of a typical Wednesday night league match for me sounds like this after the warm-up:
Me: “Do you have your eye guards? In case I accidentally hit you, I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Opponent: “Uh, no, you won’t hit me/I don’t have any/didn’t bring them/don’t wear them.”
Me: “OK, I have an extra pair”
Opponent: “Uhh…”
Me: (upon pulling the extra set of eyewear out of my pocket) “Here you go.”
Opponent: (holding up his hand as if to stop traffic) “No, really, I don’t wear them.”
Me: “You have to, it’s a requirement for participating in the league.”
Opponent: (glares at me)
Me: “I’m the CEO of US Squash, I won’t play you if you don’t wear them.”
Opponent: “Urgh” (looking unimpressed, takes the eyewear, cleans them a few times with shirt, squints through lenses while looking up at the lights, shakes head a few times, picks up ball and pounds a few rails much harder than he was during the warm-up).
Me: “Ready? Want to spin?”
Notes: Name of Opponent was not used to protect the guilty. The author usually wins the first game, though he has yet to win a league match this season…
If reading this issue does not convince adults to act like grown-ups when it comes to eye protection on the squash court, I’m not sure anything will.
