Participants of high-contact sports, such as the USA’s indoor-volleyball team member Foluke Akinradewo, wear eye protection to avoid injury that could happen a couple different ways. One is by contact between the eye and volleyball; another is pokes and scratches from fingers.
Contact between the eye and volleyball can cause retinal detachment resulting in blindness. Contact with a misdirected finger can also cause great damage to the eye including cornea scratches and major globe injury.
Foluke Akinradewo sported her safety consciousness by wearing goggles during some (but not all) of her matches at 2012’s XXX Olympic Games in London. As a top scorer in the games, Akinradewo helped Team USA secure a silver medal for their court skills.