Good morning RAY nation!

This is Coach Gabby and I am so excited to be sending out this email and kicking off our 2026 season! To all of our families, welcome to our team! We are so grateful to have each of you on our team and hope and pray you will have a wonderful season with us.

I am honored to introduce myself as Gabby Hwang, the new head coach of SWSR! I have been with the Stingrays for five years now and am looking forward to stepping into this new role with the mentorship of our own Coach Jodi. I can’t wait to meet all of our new families and get to know the old ones better, and I am excited to work together to have a fun, fast summer!

Team Suits and Swim Gear: This Friday, April 3^rd, is our team suit fitting, at Michelle Bell’s home (12111 Butternut Circle, Knoxville, TN, 37934).

We do not require any swimmer wear our team suit, but we do offer one. These are versatile and affordable suits that can be worn for practice and meets, so they're a great option if you don't have a suit or just want our team suit. No other team suits may be worn during a meet. We will have a range of all the styles of our suit, and you can then order through our team store. 

If you would like to come, the signup link is below. Please choose one slot per family, even if you have multiple swimmers. If none of these slots work for you, please reach out to me at (865) 371-5050 and we will make something work!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C044BAEAC2AA3F9C...

All swimmers are required to wear a competition style suit – a one piece for girls and either a speedo brief or jammers for boys. Please don't plan to wear board shorts, swimming shirts, or 2-piece swimsuits, as this makes is very difficult for swimmers to complete workouts efficiently.

The swimmers will need to purchase and bring at least one pair of competition style goggles, and we highly recommend a second back up pair as well. For safety and cleanliness, we don't loan these out. There are some suggested options on our store link on our website as well. We highly suggest the bungee cord straps as well, as they are more comfortable and allow our swimmers to adjust them independently, as well as reducing the likelihood of traditional goggle straps that break at inopportune moments.

All swimmers will receive a new SWSR silicon cap the first day of practice. If you have long hair or your hair hangs in your eyes or over your goggles, a cap must be worn for all practices and meets. All caps worn at meets must be one of our SWSR caps.

We are partnering with Swimoutlet for our team suits (and additional gear) again this year. They are extending a free swimoutlet + membership as well as discounted suits and other items to each member on our team. In addition, Swimoutlet donates a percentage back to the Stingrays. You will be receiving an email with more information on how to do this soon. There are some "tech suits" at the bottom of our store link, more info on these later, but for those newer to swim, these are not practice or dual meet suits, and there are some specific parameters on them as well, and we save these to use at the larger meets. Below is the link to our team site where you can click on "Shop Our Team Store" to access our SWSR merchandise. There is a lot of helpful info on here, so be sure to look around for schedules, helpful tips, contacts, etc.

SWSR Swim Outlet Link: https://swsr.swimtopia.com/swim-outlet

The swimmers will also need to bring a labeled water to practice each day as well.

Again, welcome – we look forward to seeing you all soon! If you have any questions, please reach out! My cell phone is (865)371-5050. Please go ahead and save my contact info.

Thank you!

Coach Gabby