Good evening, Barracudas!

We are entering our last week of practices for the 2025 summer season with the Smoky Mountain Invitational (SMI) on Saturday and Sunday! Attendance at practices last week was a little low. We hope to see you as much as possible this week as we wrap things up! The bottom of this email will have information about SMI weekend.

Smoky Sendoff: This was scheduled for Tuesday evening as a potluck and fun swim event. It has been canceled. Tuesday's practices will be normal. We will have some fun with the kids during the second half of practice at all 3 of the practices on Wednesday instead!

Last Chance for Apparel: Erik Hutchins will be at the pool Tuesday afternoon to sell some of the apparel we have remaining. This year's t-shirts will be half price at $10, hoodies will be $40, and trucker hats $25. Let me know if you need a replacement swim cap before Smoky ($10).

Banquet RSVP: Our awards banquet will be Sunday, August 3rd at 2 PM at Maury Middle School in Dandridge, and we hope to see everyone there! I made it an event on our website in the same place where our swim meets are. Please RSVP sometime this week so we know how many people to expect! We will be providing the bulk of the food, but expect a sign-up to be sent out later this week from Kristen Richardson for sides, drinks, paper products, etc.

Smoky Mountain Invitational: The "last splash" of the summer is upon us! Click here

 to access their website with all the things, including psych sheets and t-shirt preorders. T-shirt orders must be submitted by July 24th.. Bryan Purdom already got y'all to fill the worker positions, so that's awesome! Any further questions about those jobs should be directed to him. This is another huge meet. Whether you're attending 1 day or both days, be prepared for a long, hot day outside. Adults and siblings, bring your swimsuits; they have "spectator swim" for you to cool off. Like City, parents and swimmers sit under a team tent that we rent, and us coaches sit under a different tent poolside. Our tents should roughly be in the same locations as the past several years. Below is our schedule.

• Saturday, July 26th (11 & Up): Be under the tent no later than 7:45 AM. Warm-ups at 8:20 AM. Meet starts at 8:40 AM.
• Sunday, July 27th (10 & Under): Same as Saturday.

Yes, I'm asking y'all to get there 30 minutes before warm-ups. We have a coaches' meeting at 8 AM, and the meet starts directly after warm-ups, so we need to check all the kids in and get things done early. You'll want to get there early for parking, anyway. There's a summer/beach/Hawaii theme to this meet... If any of y'all wanna decorate our coaches' tent on Saturday or buy us coaches themed costumes accordingly so we can try and win pizza, that'd be sweet. Decorating and costuming isn't one of my strengths.

Let me know if you have any questions!

GO CUDAS!!!

Josh