Team Reps and Head Coaches,

It is hard to believe that City Meet is next week! Thank you for everything that you continue to do for your teams and for helping us all make City Meet a success. As always, we appreciate your help in securing Heat Sheet ads. With rising costs, you are playing an integral part in helping us keep swimmer registration fees down. We also appreciate your chipping in with Hospitality. The restaurant industry has been hit harder than almost all others during the pandemic, and it is more difficult to secure food donations for Hospitality. Thank you to KRC for your work in Hospitality and providing 6 meals and snacks for our coaches, officials and marshals. We appreciate all of you!

PARKING PASSES

Parking passes are available for pick-up, beginning tomorrow, Sunday, July 17. Please give Angelia Nystrom at call at 865.851.0262 or send an email to [email protected] to make arrangements to pick up the passes for your team.

Also, if you did not pick up your SMI ribbons, Angelia will have those available for you.

GKAISA CHAMPIONSHIP MEET DETAILS

City Meet will take place Thursday, July 21 through Saturday, July 23. Preliminaries for swimmers 10-Under will be held on Thursday, July 21. Warm-ups will begin at 1:00 pm, with a meet start time of 3:00 pm. Preliminaries for swimmers 11-Up will be held on Friday, July 22. Warm-ups will begin at 7:00 am, with a meet start time of 9:00 am. Finals will be held on Saturday, July 23. Warm-ups will begin at 7:00 am, with a start time of 9:00 am. Additional details may be found in the Meet Invitation, which is under the City Meet tab on the GKAISA website.

https://gkaisa.swimtopia.com/2022-gkaisa-city-championship

HOSPITALITY

If you did not pay for the purchase of soft drinks, your team can drop off on Wednesday, July 20 between noon and 3:00 pm or Thursday morning, July 21. As always, we are asking each team to please bring 3 boxes of 12-count cans of soft drinks to Allan Jones.

NATIONAL ANTHEM AND TOP QUALIFIER MUSIC

If anyone on your team is interested in auditioning to perform the National Anthem, please have him or her contact Harry Whiteside at 865.936.5454. Auditions may be carried out in person, over the phone or by video audition (preferable) sent to [email protected]. For more information, see the City Meet tab on the GKAISA website. Deadline to submit is Monday, July 18.

Also, we will again be asking each top qualifier from the 15-18 age group to choose “walk-out” music for Finals on Saturday. This music will be played over the indoor speaker system after the Consolation heat has been swum and before the finalists are introduced. Please note: This music must be appropriate for all age groups. Any style of music is allowed, but absolutely no lyrics containing sexual content, profanity, or references to violence will be allowed. All music will be screened for content.

If you have a swimmer or relay that is top-qualifier, please email the title of the song and name of the artist to Harry Whiteside at [email protected] no later than 5:00 pm on Friday, July 22. Please put “GKAISA Heat Winner Music” in the subject and include your name, your team, your event, and your event number in the email. Also, please include any cueing instructions (i.e., “start at 1:32”). Approximately, 30-45 seconds will be played.

SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION

2022 GKAISA Scholarship Information is available on the GKAISA website. We will award four scholarships this year: the Tom Schumann and Bill Lauer Service Awards, the James Rich Courage Award, and the Terry Gardner Memorial Scholarship.

For the Tom Schumann and Bill Lauer Service Awards, only one girl and one boy from a team may be nominated. The nomination must be signed by the head coach and must include an essay from the swimmer.

The James Rich Courage Award is given to a swimmer in the 15-18 age group who has either demonstrated great courage in the face of adversity or who has shown exceptional leadership in a difficult situation. The nomination must be made by the head coach.

The applications for these three awards are due by July 18 to GKAISA President Breckenridge Morgan at [email protected]. Please include a photo (head shot) of the nominee. Scholarships will be awarded during Finals on Saturday, July 23.

Photos of all winners will be displayed on the scoreboard at City Meet, and recipients will be recognized in the Heat Sheets.

ATHLETE PROTECTION AND OTHER POLICIES IN PLACE AT AJIAC.

The Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Program (MAAPP) is in effect at City Meet. UT’s Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center will enforce this policy. At all times during City Meet, the UT team locker room will be used for coaches, workers and officials ages 18-up. The visiting locker rooms will be used for athletes under 18 years of age. There will be signs posted during the meet to direct people, but we thought it would be helpful to advise you of this prior to the meet.

Marshals will be doing periodic sweeps of the locker rooms to be sure that proper behavior is taking place. ABSOLUTELY NO CELL PHONES OR CAMERAS IN THE LOCKER ROOMS AT ANY TIME.

Also, the diving well at Allan Jones will be closed on Thursday and Saturday of City Meet. We have been requested to advise that absolutely no one will be allowed in the diving well on these dates.

PARKING

If you have parents who did not purchase parking, parking will be available at the Metron Center lot off Kingston Pike (approximately 1 mile away near Tyson Park). No shuttle service will be provided.

IMPORTANT DATES

July 18: Tom Schumann and Bill Lauer Service Award nominations due

James Rich Courage Award nominations due

National Anthem Audition Deadline

July 20: Drink delivery to Allan Jones (noon-3:00 pm)

Coaches’ Packets Available for pick-up (TENTATIVE 5:00-7:00 pm at SAC pavilion)

July 21: City Meet Preliminaries (10-Under)

July 22: City Meet Preliminaries (11-Up)

Senior Walk-out Music due 5:00 pm

July 23: City Meet Finals (All Ages)

Scholarship Recognition

Hall of Fame Recognition

… AND FINALLY…..

We look forward to seeing you at the GKAISA Championship Meet. In the meantime, we hope you have a great final week of the season. Good luck as you wrap up your meets and practices. See you at the Championship!

Happy Swimming!

GKAISA Board