Pool Rules?

We have a beautiful swimming pool at our apartment complex. We have a lifeguard. We also have rules to make sure that no one has any fun. There are no noodles or floating things allowed. I can understand not having giant rafts floating and bumping into people because someone could get stuck under a raft and not be able to come up for air. I have seen that happen and it is damn scary!! But no noodles? Even I like to balance on a noodle!

Since the rules are so very strict I was surprised when 2 brothers got into the pool (ages 7 and 10 approximately) and began to WHIP a tennis ball clear across the pool to one another. There was one, "Be careful boys," from the lifeguard and that was it! Their mom chatted in oblivion on her cell phone the whole time.

Let's compare, shall we? Let's say I am sitting on a noodle and it gets out from under me and bumps someone's back. "I'm sorry," I would say politely and then move away. Now let's say I am hurling a tennis ball clear across the pool and it strikes someone in the eye! Hey, I work at EYEBALLS so I know what kind of things can happen. There is no polite "I'm sorry" in this scenario. There is the victim who is covering his eye with his hands crying out in pain. Then there is the frantic ride to the ophthalmologist's office for a diagnosis. Maybe some blurred vision is noticed if the victim can even open his eye at this point. I will stop it here because it can go on for quite some time but I think you get the idea. So I ask you, which is safer: a noodle or a tennis ball?