Aquatics Only

What does it take to turn a week of swimming lessons into something a community can keep building on?

Luke heads to Vietnam, where he joins the AWSOM Project — Australian Water Safety on the Mekong — for two conversations about the people behind the work.

First up is Sally, a translator who has been part of the project since 2015. Sally shares how she first became involved, what keeps bringing her back, and why the relationships between visiting volunteers and local teachers matter so much.

Then Luke sits down with co-founder Bev Christmass to explore how the project began, why water safety education reaches well beyond the pool, and what it takes to build a program that local teachers can sustain throughout the year.

From school visits and safe rescue education to swimming lessons for children with disability, this is a conversation about practical skills, shared knowledge and showing up for a community over time. There is plenty of warmth and a bit of poolside humour, alongside a powerful reminder of why this work matters.

In this episode:
• Sally’s journey with AWSOM and the role of the translating team
• How Bev and the team turned an idea into a long-term commitment
• Supporting local teachers through shared learning and professional development
• The Survive and Thrive program for children with disability
• How the aquatics community can get involved

Support the work:
The Survive and Thrive program offers a one-off $62 sponsorship to support a child with disability with regular swimming and water safety lessons throughout the year, including transport to and from the pool.

Sponsor a child: https://www.awsomproject.com/surviveandthrive
Explore volunteering: https://www.awsomproject.com/join-the-team
Learn more about AWSOM: https://www.awsomproject.com/

Content note: This episode includes discussion of child drowning and bereavement.

AO, let’s go!

Thanks for listening to Aquatics Only. If you’re in swim schools, aquatic facilities, lifeguarding, learn-to-swim, programs, products, or anything water safety related, you’re in the right place.

Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, and if this one was useful, share it with someone in the industry.

Want to get involved or have a guest/topic suggestion? Reach out: [email protected]

Aquatics Only is back.

Luke Daly and David Stennett return to the microphones after SPARK 2026 for a conversation that starts on the Gold Coast and quickly gets into something bigger.

What happens when people put their hand up, say yes and create opportunities for themselves? What did a 16-year-old volunteering at SPARK remind two industry veterans about connection, curiosity and getting involved? And what should aquatic leaders be thinking about as the industry moves out of development season and into the pressure of summer?

Luke and David reflect on some of the people and conversations that stood out at SPARK, including Kristina Karlsson and Tiernan Murphy, before looking ahead to five topics Aquatics Only will be digging into:

• Building a roster that survives the sick call
• Preparing staff when patrons become abusive
• Preparing for the hottest, busiest days of summer
• Keeping more water available for our communities
• Getting people swimming, and keeping them swimming

There is also a first look at an interesting challenge emerging in Learn to Swim: enrolments may look healthy, but are we bringing enough new swimmers into the system?

These aren't five problems we're pretending to solve in 20 minutes.

They're five conversations we're keen to have.

Aquatics Only is back. Let's go.

Thanks for listening to Aquatics Only. If you’re in swim schools, aquatic facilities, lifeguarding, learn-to-swim, programs, products, or anything water safety related, you’re in the right place.

Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, and if this one was useful, share it with someone in the industry.

Want to get involved or have a guest/topic suggestion? Reach out: [email protected]

Aquatic facilities are more than pools. They are community infrastructure, water safety environments, health and wellbeing spaces, employment hubs, teaching venues and public assets.

In this episode of Aquatics Only, Luke Daly and David Stennett explore the pressure currently sitting around aquatic facilities, councils, operators and communities.

The conversation begins with an industry round-up, including changes at Australasian Leisure Management, the upcoming World’s Largest Swimming Lesson, and recent facility management movements involving Aligned Leisure, BlueFit and City Venue Management.

From there, Luke and David open up a broader discussion around tenders, local government decision-making, capital expenditure, operating costs and long-term viability. They ask whether tender processes are helping clarify value — or whether complexity is making it harder to focus on what communities actually need.

The episode also touches on ageing aquatic assets, cost-of-living pressure, regional impacts, swim school participation, and the role of industry events such as ASSA Swimposiums and upcoming conferences in keeping the sector connected.

As always, it is a serious industry conversation with the usual Aquatics Only side roads — including braces, learning German, broccoli economics, Aqualadies and just enough cheek to keep things moving.

In this episode:

• Recent aquatic facility management changes across Australia
• The growing complexity of tender processes
• Why capital cost is only part of the facility story
• The relationship between operating pressure and public value
• Cost-of-living impacts on swim schools, operators and families
• The challenge of ageing community aquatic infrastructure
• ASSA Swimposiums, conference season and industry connection
• Why aquatic facilities need to be viewed as essential community assets

Aquatics Only is for the people leading, managing and shaping the aquatics industry — practical, conversational and not afraid to ask what the sector needs to do better.

Thanks for listening to Aquatics Only. If you’re in swim schools, aquatic facilities, lifeguarding, learn-to-swim, programs, products, or anything water safety related, you’re in the right place.

Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, and if this one was useful, share it with someone in the industry.

Want to get involved or have a guest/topic suggestion? Reach out: [email protected]

What does play have to do with aquatics? More than you might think.

In this episode of Aquatics Only, Luke Daly sits down with Lukas Ritson from Wearthy to unpack why play, confidence, challenge and connection matter so deeply in a child’s development and why that should matter to every swim school, aquatic facility and industry leader.

Lukas, known for his work around the ecology of play, brings a fresh but highly relevant perspective to the aquatics space. Together, Luke and Lukas explore the role our industry plays in the wider childhood experience, from building competence and confidence, to helping children regulate, connect and grow.

They also tackle some big questions:

• Why structured outcomes can sometimes get in the way of real learning
• How swim schools can better communicate the value of play to parents
• Why relationships and environment matter just as much as program design
• What leaders can do to create more welcoming, child-centred aquatic spaces
• How to recognise progress beyond just strokes, skills and levels

This is a thoughtful, practical conversation for anyone working in swim schools, aquatic education, leisure facilities or child-focused environments.

If you care about child development, water safety, and creating experiences that genuinely help kids thrive, this one is worth your time.

Connect with Lukas Ritson:

LinkedIn: Lukas Ritson

Podcast: Play It Forward

Website: Wearthy.co

Thanks for listening to Aquatics Only. If you’re in swim schools, aquatic facilities, lifeguarding, learn-to-swim, programs, products, or anything water safety related, you’re in the right place.

Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, and if this one was useful, share it with someone in the industry.

Want to get involved or have a guest/topic suggestion? Reach out: [email protected]

Alright, we’re back on the mic. It’s been… longer than planned. Let’s call it a “quarterly release schedule” and move on. 😅

In this episode, Luke and David kick off with a proper catch-up, a few laughs, and a small detour into David’s latest life update and his ongoing journey to actually learn to swim.

Then we get into the stuff happening in the industry right now. There’s new drowning data out and the trend line is not what most people would guess, especially when you look at age groups. We talk through what’s behind it and what it could mean for how the sector talks about water safety without turning it into doom and gloom.

After that, it’s a quick lap of what’s been popping off across aquatics. International Women’s Day events, facility updates and tenders, a major venue story that’s been brewing for a while, plus a Queensland compliance heads-up that operators will want on the radar.

And we wrap with what’s ahead because SPARK 2026 is shaping up fast. Gold Coast, strong keynote list, and plenty of reasons to get excited.

Hit play for the full rundown.

Thanks for listening to Aquatics Only. If you’re in swim schools, aquatic facilities, lifeguarding, learn-to-swim, programs, products, or anything water safety related, you’re in the right place.

Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, and if this one was useful, share it with someone in the industry.

Want to get involved or have a guest/topic suggestion? Reach out: [email protected]

In this episode of Aquatics Only, Luke sits down with Ben Wilkins, founder of Good Boost and one of the global leaders pushing the boundaries of aquatic rehabilitation. From Atlantic City to the UK to Australia, Ben has been championing a simple but powerful idea. Water works. And with the right technology behind it, it can change lives at scale.

Luke and Ben unpack how AI-driven aquatic rehab is reshaping what’s possible in public pools. They explore how personalised programs, group-based delivery, and smart wearables are giving facilities a viable pathway to deliver genuine health outcomes without relying on clinical staffing. They also dig into Pool Horizons, the movement redefining the role of pools in modern communities.

If you’re curious about the future of health in the water, or you’ve wondered how pools can become community health engines without blowing the budget, this one is well worth your time.

Thanks for listening to Aquatics Only. If you’re in swim schools, aquatic facilities, lifeguarding, learn-to-swim, programs, products, or anything water safety related, you’re in the right place.

Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, and if this one was useful, share it with someone in the industry.

Want to get involved or have a guest/topic suggestion? Reach out: [email protected]

After a short “fortnight,” David and Luke are back in the saddle. We unpack the seasonal switch-on across Australia, celebrate a rare “on time, on budget” pool upgrade, and run through a few notable industry moves.

 Luke recaps SPARK, the joint ASSA x ARI NSW conference and we touch on recent Swimposium and global events on the horizon. 

We finish with a level-headed take on Royal Life’s latest drowning data. Stick around for the debut of “LDS: Leadership Download Snippet,” where a Lisbon monument turns into a lesson on teams, trade routes… and mullets.

Thanks for listening to Aquatics Only. If you’re in swim schools, aquatic facilities, lifeguarding, learn-to-swim, programs, products, or anything water safety related, you’re in the right place.

Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, and if this one was useful, share it with someone in the industry.

Want to get involved or have a guest/topic suggestion? Reach out: [email protected]

Talking Crap, Crypto & Clever Design with Lesley Beech from Splash About

In this jam-packed episode of Aquatics Only, Luke flies solo (with David off enjoying Bali) and welcomes the show’s first international guest. Lesley Beech, Managing Director of Splash About, joining from the UK with a glass of Savvy B in hand.

From morning sunrises in Brisbane to dusky evenings in Yorkshire, this global chat dives deep into what makes Splash About’s iconic Happy Nappy such a game-changer for swim schools, recreational pools, and the planet. Lesley shares the wild journey behind creating the Happy Nappy DUO, a four-year science-backed mission to combat cryptosporidium outbreaks, reduce pool closures, and keep kids (and water) safer.

We also chat business smarts, sustainability stats that’ll make your stomach turn, and the surprising environmental toll of disposable nappies (spoiler: it's a lot). There’s plenty of laughs, a few poop jokes (naturally), and even a “poonami” reference or two. If you’re in aquatics, parenting, or just love a story where science meets entrepreneurship, this one’s for you.

Plus, Lesley and the Splash About Australia team are headed to SPARK Conference, so listen in for a sneak peek at what’s to come.

A-O? Let’s go!

Thanks for listening to Aquatics Only. If you’re in swim schools, aquatic facilities, lifeguarding, learn-to-swim, programs, products, or anything water safety related, you’re in the right place.

Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, and if this one was useful, share it with someone in the industry.

Want to get involved or have a guest/topic suggestion? Reach out: [email protected]

In this podcast episode, Luke Daly interviews Shane Vardy from Atlantis Liquid Dynamics, discussing the importance of local manufacturing in the aquatics industry, innovative designs for splash pads and aquatic facilities, and the technical challenges involved in creating engaging water experiences. 

Shane shares insights into various projects, the creative inspirations behind them, and the engineering processes that ensure functionality and safety. 

The conversation emphasises the significance of community impact and pushing the boundaries of traditional aquatic design.

Thanks for listening to Aquatics Only. If you’re in swim schools, aquatic facilities, lifeguarding, learn-to-swim, programs, products, or anything water safety related, you’re in the right place.

Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, and if this one was useful, share it with someone in the industry.

Want to get involved or have a guest/topic suggestion? Reach out: [email protected]

Luke Daly and David Stennett are back together on the mic for a jam-packed episode covering everything from iconic pool project blowouts to the rising tide of aquatic aggression. They dive into:
– The $64 million North Sydney Pool drama
– Sea hare invasions and $2 swims in Newcastle
– Real talk on infrastructure, investment and innovation
– Harassment stats making waves across lifeguard teams
– New builds, new jobs and swim school success
– Plus, Dave’s vulnerable (and hilarious) first steps in learning to swim as an adult

It’s insight meets irreverence—with serious industry updates and just the right amount of splashy banter.

Listen now—and maybe send Dave some encouragement.

Thanks for listening to Aquatics Only. If you’re in swim schools, aquatic facilities, lifeguarding, learn-to-swim, programs, products, or anything water safety related, you’re in the right place.

Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, and if this one was useful, share it with someone in the industry.

Want to get involved or have a guest/topic suggestion? Reach out: [email protected]