What Your Goggles Say About You

Retta Race
by Retta Race 3

December 11th, 2018 Lifestyle

Swimmers love to express themselves in and around the pool, as reflected by the myriad types of training suits, gear and apparel in any given swimming scene. Even something as small as a pair of goggles can say a lot about the person on whose face they appear. What do your favorite goggles possibly say about you?

Swedes

  • You’re independent, selective and exact. Like your simplistic, yet customizable Swedish goggles, you prefer to be deliberate and focused with every move you make in life.

photo: @RettaRace

Clear Lenses

  • Confidence surrounds you and you’re not afraid to show your true self. You approach the world wide-open and like to see things with your own eyes unobscured.

photo: Tim Binning, The Swim Pictures

Mask-like Goggles

  • You like feeling secure both in the water and out. No leaks of water are headed into your frame of sight, just as no leaks of procrastination, laziness or doubts enter your frame of consciousness.

photo: Speedo USA

Mirrored Lenses

  • A stealthy panther is your spirit animal. Your primal instinct is to study your prey under cover, staying hidden just long enough to pounce on the competition without warning when the time is right.

    Marcelo Chierighini has pools in his goggles. Foto: Satiro Sodre/SSPress.

Colored straps, etc.

  • Not stopping at tinted lenses, you go all the way with colorful straps, gaskets and nose pieces. You like to live on the wild side and express yourself through style, so why not do it in the pool?

photo: Kiefer Sports

Foam Gaskets

  • Throwback is your middle name. You relish the ‘good old days’ and live by the saying, ‘if it ain’t broke’….You’ve lived your far-back, glorious age group days in lenses surrounded by foam, so why change now in your golden years?

Traditional Goggles

  • Your practice and race strategy are centered on ‘controlling the controllables’, so why rock the boat with fancy, extremely-engineered goggles? You prefer to keep to a design you know and trust, so you can focus on the million other things you need to get done in the pool.

photo: Tim Binning, The Swim Pictures

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Jay ryan
5 years ago

Clear goggles foam cups. Old guys don’t care what we look like.

Joel Lin
5 years ago

Swedes mean you are wicked awesome & you are also humble enough to be ok with being wicked awesome.

BaldingEagle
5 years ago

Mask-like goggles: you are an adult-onset swimmer, most likely a triathlete. You think it’s worth it to spend 4-5 times the amount of money that a “real” swimmer would pay for goggles that she/he wears 20 hours per week. You wear those goggles 2-3 times per week for a total of < 4000y.

Swedish goggles: you're an iconoclast and an individualist. Those look painful to swimming outsiders, and that's part of the allure. But are solely customized to you. You tied your goggles just right, meaning no one else can share. You also have no idea why spending more than $8 (goggles plus bungee cord) is even necessary. Good enough for Sjostrom, Hosszu, Thorpe, Biondi, and Hackett, means good… Read more »

About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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