Dry eyes for referees and coaches

Referees and coaches get dry eyes from hours outdoors in fall and winter wind and cold, staring at fast play without blinking, bright stadium lights at night and long tournament days with few real breaks. Wear wraparound sunglasses when you can, blink fully during stoppages, step out of the wind at halftime, and carry any eye drops in an inside jacket pocket, where they stay within the labeled storage range.

Why officiating and coaching dry the eyes

Watching a game closely means tracking a ball and players for minutes at a time. Referees especially can’t afford to miss a play, so they blink less, and the blinks they make are often incomplete. A football line judge, a soccer referee running the diagonal or a coach pacing the sideline all spend hours with their eyes open and fixed on the action.

Fall and winter sports add weather. Cold, dry wind across an open field strips moisture from the eye surface. A November soccer tournament or a Friday night football game can mean four hours outside in it. Your eyes water from the cold, then feel dry and scratchy once you’re home.

Wind, cold and the open field

You can’t move the game indoors, but a few habits help:

• Wear wraparound sunglasses for day games if your sport and league allow it; they cut wind as well as glare.
• Position yourself with your back to the wind during dead balls and timeouts when you can.
• A brimmed cap helps in sun and light rain, if uniform rules permit.
• At halftime or between games, get out of the wind: a dugout, a car or a press box.
• Bring a water bottle and actually drink from it, even when it’s cold.

Night games under stadium lights

High school football and evening club games bring bright banks of lights. Looking up at a punt or a high ball means staring toward the lights, which makes people squint and blink less fully. Between plays, look down at the turf or toward a darker area of the stands for a moment, and take a slow, full blink. Night games also tend to be colder and windier than afternoon ones, so dress for the hours you’ll actually be outside.

Tournament days and back-to-back games

A youth tournament can mean refereeing four or five games in a day, or coaching from 8 a.m. to dusk. The eye strain adds up. Between games:

• Close your eyes for a minute while you sit; it’s the closest thing to a reset you’ll get.
• Look at something far away, like the tree line or the parking lot, instead of your phone.
• Skip scrolling game film or schedules on your phone between matches; give your eyes a rest from screens too.
• Wash your hands or use sanitizer before touching your eyes, since field dirt, chalk and sunscreen all end up on fingers.

Using eye drops on game day

Quell is designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss, which is exactly what wind and cold accelerate. The label’s Uses line reads: For use as a protectant against further irritation or to relieve dryness of the eye. The directions: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. On a game day, that might mean a drop before you leave home, one at the midday break and one after the last game.

Don’t put in a drop right before you need to make a call; give any brief blur time to clear first. Clean your hands, and follow the handling line on the label: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination. On a muddy field, that means never setting the open bottle down on a bench, clipboard or equipment bag.

Keep the bottle warm enough, not too warm

The carton’s storage line reads: Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). A bottle in a car parked at the fields through a cold November day, or left in an equipment bag on the sideline in freezing weather, can drop below that range. The opposite happens in an early fall heat wave, when a car interior climbs well past 86°F. The easy answer:

• Keep the bottle in an inside jacket pocket, where your body heat keeps it from getting too cold.
• Don’t leave it in the glove box between weekends.
• Bring it inside at home rather than leaving it in a referee bag in the garage.
• Check it before use; the label’s “Do not use” line reads: If this product changes color.

Something in your eye on the field

Turf pellets, dirt kicked up from a slide tackle, chalk from the lines and wind-blown grit are common on fields. If something gets in your eye, don’t rub it. Blink, let your eyes water and rinse with clean water from a bottle if needed. If it still feels like something’s there, or your vision is affected, leave the game to someone else and see a doctor. A lubricating drop isn’t a way to flush debris out. Our guide on dry eyes for outdoor workers has more on working in wind and dust.

Ordering before the season

Quell ships from Brentwood, Tennessee, anywhere in the US. Checkout works as a guest; shipping is $10.00, and orders of 3 or more bottles ship free. We don’t promise a delivery date, so order before tournament season rather than the week of. Unopened bottles can be refunded within 30 days of delivery, with nothing to send back. Order from the home page and read the Drug Facts panel, including the egg and bird allergy caution, before starting.

When to see an eye doctor

If your eyes stay dry, sore or blurry well after the season ends, or if you have pain or vision changes, see an eye doctor. Good vision matters on the field, and working out the cause belongs to them. The label’s rule: Stop use and ask a doctor if you feel eye pain or changes in your vision, if irritation or redness continues, or if the condition worsens or persists for 72 hours.