The elation Chantique Carey-Payne felt when she was named head coach of the University of Guelph’s swim program came with some trepidation.
At 27 she was young, she was a woman and she was Black.
“It was kind of a triple whammy,” said Carey-Payne, who in 2017 became the first Black woman in Canada to be named head coach of a university swim program. “Taking this position, being 27, being female, being Black, I felt there were a lot of eyes on me. A lot of people were proud of me. I just didn’t want to let people down on any side of things.
“In my head I was like, I can prove that women can do this job and that Black people can do this job, young people can do this job. I put a lot of weight on all of that.”
It was during a competition in Toronto soon after she took the job that Carey-Payne learned the significance of her role extended beyond coaching.
A woman she used to swim with was teaching in an inner-city school and brought her pupils to the meet. She told Carey-Payne the students’ faces lit up when they saw her on the pool deck in a position of power.
The teacher told Carey-Payne seeing her was important for the kids because there were so few faces like theirs at the pool.
“That was a great moment for me,” Carey-Payne said. “Just knowing that being there made a difference for some of those kids and seeing that it’s a possibility for them or that they belong in the space.”
Growing up in Brantford, Ont., Carey-Payne was introduced to swimming at a young age. Both her parents were from the Caribbean and could swim. They were adamant their children should also learn.
Since there were few Black families in the community, Carey-Payne was used to looking different than everyone else.
“Brantford was not a super diverse town,” she said. “At our elementary school there was like two Black families. We were always like one of the few, so it wasn’t much different at the pool.
“It wasn’t until I got a little bit older that I even realized there was the kind of idea that Black people don’t swim. I just assumed there just weren’t any Black people because there was just never any Black people around.”
Carey-Payne had a stellar career at the University of Guelph. She was an Ontario University Athletics (OUA) All-Star in each of the four years she competed for the Gryphons from 2007 to 2011. She earned 11 OUA medals and eight national university medals, excelling in the butterfly stroke and freestyle.
She never experienced “in your face racism” but did deal with “microaggressions.”
“Going into the athletic therapist, people just assumed I was on the track team or the basketball team,” she said. “Or people making comments about my hair or making jokes about Black people can’t swim. Little comments that people probably just don’t really think much of.”
Carey-Payne’s father was a school principal and growing up she wanted to be a teacher. While at university she did some coaching and instructing.
“Coaching and teaching are not too far removed from one another,” she said. “I loved the relationship that I could have with the athletes. I’ve coached everything and taught everything from three-year-old olds up to 90-year-olds.”
Other coaches accepted her and “we really kind” when she took the job at Guelph.
The records she set and medals she won earned her the respect of the athletes.
“Most of them were excited to have a young coach,” she said. “I know a lot of the girls were excited to have a woman coach.
“I think they just didn’t really know how to take the whole Black coach thing.”
Over the years Carey-Payne has seen an increase in Black swimmers, but their numbers are still dispropionate.
“Economically, we know that there’s a lot of Black families who struggle and swimming is not a cheap sport,” she said.
Many Black families still look at sports like soccer, basketball or track for their children.
“Those are sports that their kids are going to do because they are sports they know,” she said.
There’s also a lack of role models for Black swimmers in Canada. Having someone like Josh Liendo, who at the 2024 Paris Olympics became the first Black Canadian to win an Olympic medal when he took silver in the 100-metre butterfly, helps.
Carey-Payne said work needs to be done at the grassroots level.
“It’s going to have to start at the bottom and just get kids into the sport,” she said. “Getting kids to become lifeguards, getting kids to just want to learn those skills and want to be competitive. It’s going to have to start there.”
The job ahead is big and the work needs to be shared throughout the swimming community.
“It’s just a lot of work needs to be put into it and that work does always fall on the few of us,” she said. “I think we still need more allies to help us be able to get it done.”