Happy Friday!

Next Week's Practices
If you've been obsessively checking the weather forecast like me, then I'm sure you've seen that the weather is supposed to be awful for almost all of next week. Hopefully, that'll change! Like I said at the kick-off party, canceling practice due to weather will always be a gametime decision. If it's raining without lightning, we will swim (as long as the lifeguards can still see the bottom of the pool). If there's lightning within the area, we can't swim—even if there's no rain.

I'll always communicate if practice is canceled through Remind, but usually not through email. I know some people have struggled to get signed up for Remind notifications. If this applies to you, just text me or show up to the pool to see what happens. I'll be making the call, or waiting for the lifeguards to make the call for us, from the pool for every practice.

Time Trials
Our first meet of the year will be a practice meet where we will only be swimming against ourselves without any other GKAISA team present. Time Trials will be at the Jefferson City Outdoor Pool on Tuesday, June 2nd with warm-ups at 5 PM and the meet starting at 6. With us having to cancel this week due to the city not having the pool ready, and next week's weather looking no bueno, I imagine some might be concerned about this first meet happening so early into the season. We're still going to plan on having it! If any swimmer hasn't been in the water much recently, us coaches will put them in a lesser number of events that's appropriate for their current fitness and skill level; so, don't worry.

Time Trials is now on the meet calendar on our website. Please go to it and RSVP to declare your attendance. This is what we do for every meet of the season, and us coaches need you to mark "Not Attending" if you can't make it as well. RSVPing for meets in a timely manner helps us out tremendously. I'll always reach out if attendance hasn't been declared before we complete entries, but you doing it yourself saves us a lot of time!

GKAISA City Meet Sponsorships
I'm copy and pasting an email below sent by our league for any local businesses interested in becoming sponsors for the Tom Schumann Memorial GKAISA City Meet Championship. The sponsorship levels will be in the attachments.

"Dear Swim Families, Coaches and Team Representatives,

As we prepare for the start of the 2026 GKASIA swim season, I’m reaching out to ask for your help in continuing to grow support for this year’s Tom Shumann GKAISA City Meet Championship.

Our sponsorship program is a key part of keeping City Meet affordable for teams and swimmers while maintaining a strong championship experience. We offer a variety of sponsorship options at multiple price points, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes.

Why City Meet is a strong community opportunity

• 2,000+ swimmers and 5,000+ spectators over the course of the event
• Livestreamed on YouTube across all three days
• First year of streaming generated 1,400+ views and 250+ hours of watch time

In addition to in‑person visibility, the livestream helps extend the event’s reach well beyond the pool deck and allows sponsors to connect with families throughout the greater Knoxville area.

How you can help
Please share the attached sponsor packet with local business owners or contacts in your network. As an added incentive, any team that secures a Gold‑level sponsor will have the cost of one team tent covered for City Meet. Once a sponsor is interested, ask them to email me and complete the Google Form linked below.

https://forms.gle/pHNdwGU1X7ERiaqN9

Thank you for your continued support and for helping keep City Meet accessible and affordable for our swimmers and teams.

Mike McCay
GKAISA Treasurer
[email protected]"

Thanks for reading! Reach out if you need anything!

Coach Josh