There are a lot of exciting initiatives to grow the sport of water polo, both in Australia and New Zealand as well as globally. For water polo and aquatic sports in general, many nations across the world lack the resources to be able to experience the full joy of aquatic sports.
Simon Daley, most well-known in the aquatic world for his page @Academy Water Polo as well as being a coach of the QUT Water Polo club has started The Goggle Project with the aim of sharing the joy of aquatic sports with those in low socio-economic regions.
We sat down with Simon to hear about what inspired him to start this initiative and where it’s going.
Can you please describe the Goggle Project?
At the Goggle Project, we are all about giving kids the opportunity to swim with a pair of goggles and experience the wonders of under water.
How did you come up with the idea/what was the inspiration?
We were amazed at the abundance of lost and found swimming gear at local swimming pools around the country and decided that there is certainly a way that this equipment could be redistributed around the world and put to use in lower socio-economic regions.
Our main aim is to give kids an opportunity to swim with a pair of googles for the very first time and experience the wonders of under water, that being in a pool, river or ocean.
What's next for the Goggle Project?
We are planning on heading back to Samoa in early 2020 so we can expand our vision of getting more kids water safe in the country. We have had a tremendous response to our adventure this year whereby we swum 30kms to access some remote islands and distributed our goggle collection to kids on islands of the South Pacific.
Added to this we intend to broaden our vision to far regions of the world and give all kids an opportunity to own a pair of googles and swim in the waters that surround them.
We have exciting adventures in the pipeline for 2020 with our Goggle Project Ocean Swimming Campaign and we would also like to thank all the people who have supported us thus far on our journey of 'Swimming the World for Good'.
If you are interested in following the Goggle Project’s journey and impact make sure you like them on Facebook @goggleproject or follow them on Instagram.
