Anna Leigh Waters and Anna Bright Partner with Pilla on Game-Changing Pickleball Lenses

What do pickleball and shooting sports have in common?

Yeah, we didn’t expect to ask that either. But it turns out the same kind of visual precision that helps Olympic shooters hit 80-mph clays is now helping pickleball pros read a spinning plastic ball under blinding sun.

Both sports hinge on one thing: how well you can track a fast-moving target. The same company that’s spent decades building eyewear for world-class marksmen is now training its sights on pickleball, bringing its high-tech filtration science to the fastest-growing sport in America.

Pilla has officially partnered with Anna Leigh Waters and Anna Bright to its pickleball line. The two join CJ Klinger and Will Howells, who were among the first pros to wear the brand’s lenses on court.

Why Performance Glasses are Becoming a Cheat Code for Pickleball

Pickleball players spend hours staring into brutal sun, bouncing between shade, glare, and reflections off every color of court. Your eyes are working overtime, constantly dilating, squinting, and refocusing to keep up.

That invisible strain is like lactic acid for your vision. Over a few hours of play, it builds up. Your reactions slow, your depth perception fades, and every speed-up starts looking the same. Ordinary sunglasses don’t help much. Most use gray-tinted polycarbonate lenses that actually flatten color and distort what you see. The world looks darker, but not sharper. You’re protecting your eyes, but at the cost of performance.

Pilla lenses manage lighting conditions while manipulating the way the eye sees color to accelerate athletic reaction time.

Instead of muting light, Pilla’s ZEISS-engineered filtration system manages it. Each lens fine-tunes the color spectrum to make the ball stand out against the background, even in blinding sun or low light. The lenses regulate how much light reaches your retina so your eyes stay relaxed, not strained. No squinting, no visual fatigue, just crisp registration of every shot.

That relaxation is the difference between missing a speed-up late in game three and catching it clean. Your reaction time stays fast because your brain isn’t burning energy compensating for glare and distortion. It’s pure clarity—an optical performance boost that lasts as long as you do.

Philip Pilla, the company’s founder, said he knew the tech was perfect for pickleball after letting ALW try the lenses.

Performance Glasses Should Be Number Two On Your Equipment List

Most players obsess over paddles, shoes, and grips. Pilla wants to add one more must-have to that list: your eyes.

Unlike ordinary sunglasses that dull colors and distort depth, Pilla’s performance lenses are engineered to enhance how the eyes process motion and light. They relax the eye muscles, preserve reaction speed, and maintain hand-eye sharpness through marathon match days.

What Waters & Bright Are Using

Both Waters and Bright have been competing in Pilla’s Razor Series for months, testing the lenses across tournaments and training blocks. Each uses a three-filter rotation: full sun, medium, and low-light to manage color and light so the ball pops against any backdrop without the squinting or eye fatigue typical sunglasses cause.

• Frame: Razor Series — lightweight, panoramic view, interchangeable temples.
• Lenses: Three-filter kit (bright sun, medium, low-light) to adapt on the fly.
• Temple style: Bright favors the Copa Delta temple: wider sides that block glare and wind for a calmer view.
• Prescription insert: Waters plays with a custom insert system that lets her update correction without replacing lenses.

Click here to snag the same lenses.

Who Are Pilla Glasses For?

Pilla sees just as much potential with the everyday player. Recreational athletes are logging longer sessions, playing in mixed lighting, and looking for gear that gives them an edge. Beyond performance, Pilla’s lenses offer true UV and infrared-blocking coatings that protect against long-term eye strain and macular degeneration—issues that matter for anyone spending hours under the sun.