Wes Agar and Hannah Darlington Swimming for the Starlight Foundation

Wes Agar and Hannah Darlington are among several ACA Members jumping in the pool and swimming laps throughout February to raise money for the Starlight foundation.

The “Starlight Superswim” is run by the Starlight Children’s Foundation, in an effort to raise money for the foundation, which aims to bring happiness to sick kids and young people.

Wes Agar felt compelled to get involved after recently getting the opportunity to visit the “Starlight Express Rooms” at a hospital while with the Sydney Thunder for the Big Bash.

“The thing that hit me most was the smile on these kids' faces who are going through some serious illnesses.”

To see first-hand what kids are going through and what their families go through had a huge impact on Wes.

“It hit me pretty hard, and I was blown away by the effort that people go to, to make their lives better.” He said.

Upon returning to Adelaide and completing rehab – which happened to be swimming laps of the pool – the Starlight Superswim popped up on Wes’s social media. This “sparked a flame” in him to want to get involved and raise much-needed awareness and funds.

From there, he floated the idea with his Player Development Manager Sam Milne, plus teammates and ACA Members Aidan Cahill and Conor McInerney, who were also keen to get involved and set up their own donation pages.

“To have the boys' support has been incredible.

“To see your teammates donate money, teammates’ partners donating money, boys are jumping in the pool with me, it spurs you on and it encourages you to keep doing good things.

“It's not about the gratification that you get personally, obviously, what we're doing is for a greater cause, but it certainly inspires you to keep going.”

Elaborating on what the foundation does and why he’s raising funds and awareness, Wes had this to say:

“I think the Starlight Foundation does the Lord's work in terms of their support of families and children who are going through illness. You can donate on their page if you want to help out. There are monthly donations that you can make to help out sick kids and the families that really need it.”

For Hannah Darlington, it’s not her first time getting involved with the cause. After signing up and receiving a few donations a couple of years ago, a broken thumb derailed her plans to spend the month swimming laps.

Hannah, who is an ACA Delegate, spoke about her experiences as a cricketer and why that motivated her to get involved with the cause, saying:

“As a cricketer you're exposed to a lot of things, and one of those is when you go and visit kids in hospital or you see kids at games - that's the next generation of cricketers that we’re seeing. This is also a broader spectrum of people that unfortunately, are faced with a pretty tough challenge early on in their life. So, it felt like something I'd like to support.”

Hannah has also had other ACA Members helping her in the pool, with Stella Campbell and Elsa Hunter jumping in throughout the month to offer support for Hannah in her quest to swim 32km.

Hannah’s hope for what comes from getting involved is simple - “Spread the word, share that donation page and then looking forward to February next year. Get in the pool and give it a crack yourself!”

So far, Hannah has raised $1,205 - you can donate to her page here.

Wes has also raised $2,030 - and you can donate to his page here.