Good evening, Barracudas!

Here is your second email with information about the Tom Schumann Memorial GKAISA City Meet Championship this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday! The GKAISA website linked here has a lot of the information and documents I'm mentioning below. When you need to show up each day is towards the bottom of this email. Please read everything.

1) Updated Entries: Our updated entry list is attached to this email. The only changes that occurred are for folks who are aware of the changes already. I'm just putting it here for easy access. Remember, relays are still subject to change. We will let kids and/or parents know if this happens as needed.

2) Family Tent: We are in the same spot as last year! Hooray! We have a second tent attached to our normal one, which means we have more space. Double hooray! New people, the GKAISA website has a map so you can find it. It will be decorated as well. Please note that UT doesn't allow people to set up pop-up canopy tents off to the side. You shouldn't need to do that this year, anyway.

3) Timelines: We had the daily schedule before, but now we have the event-specific timelines for all 3 days on the GKAISA website so you have a better idea of when what kids will be swimming what. It's not 100% precise, but they do a good job at keeping the meet moving.

4) Psych Sheet: The "psych sheet" is what shows the seeds, or rank, of every kid entered in every event. This is helpful for seeing if you might be coming back on Saturday for finals (remember, top 18 for individuals and relays return; not just 16, due to 1st and 2nd alternates). Some kids find psych sheets motivating. For others, it's anxiety inducing. Share with your child at your discretion. It's on the GKAISA website.

5) Clerk of Course (CoC) & Announcements: In previous years, GKAISA has used Twitter/X to "call" events over to CoC. This year, they're using GroupMe. Click here to get connected on that app. They're also going to use it to announce other things like if there's bad weather. If there is bad weather, you're 100% going to want to know what's happening inside the swim center because it can be extra chaotic.

CoC is also going to look a little different this year. Apparently, there will be a "chaos" pre-filter tent where the kids enter before getting seated in the more legit CoC. Parents, you don't need to worry about this, really. Your responsibility is just making sure your kid makes it to the CoC area when their events are called. It's on the tent map. We'll show the kids these tents as well on the way to warm up (at least 10 & Unders).

6) Resting/Tapering: This week, all practice groups have slightly lowered the intensity at practice to allow the kids' muscles to recover. In swimming, when we dial back the yardage, we call it "tapering." We shift the focus from hard work in the form of exercise to hard work in the form of refining technique and race details (starts, turns, finishes, etc.). 

If we go outside and play in the sun all day at Dollywood or Soaky Mountain the day before racing, the purpose of tapering is completely defeated. Boring inside time is encouraged. Yes, this is just summer league, but this is a great opportunity for kids to begin learning about training cycles, and in general, preparing to perform with their best selves!

7) WHEN DO I SHOW UP? Okay, I made you read this far (hopefully). Now I'll tell you when you need to arrive each day since we have our specific warm-up assignments. These "arrive" times are when you need to be under the tent no later than. As always, I need you to text me and keep me updated if you're running late or plans have to unfortunately change—especially this weekend.

• Thursday (10 & Under): Arrive @ 1:30 PM, Warm-up @ 2, Racing @ 3.
• Friday (11 & Up): Arrive @ 7:50 AM, Warm-up @ 8:10, Racing @ 9.
• Saturday (Finalists): We won't have warm-up assignments until after Friday. Warm-up sessions in general begin at 9:10 AM. Racing begins at 10:30.

There may or may not be another email before Thursday. In case there's not, I want everyone to know how excited us coaches are to see all our Barracudas race! The UT pool is an amazing facility to swim in, and it's truly impressive the meet that GKAISA pulls off. City Meet has been nicknamed "The Knoxville Olympics." If you're new to this, you'll see why. Keep your Remind notifications on. Reach out with questions.

Let's party!!! GO CUDAS!!!

Josh