My Carolina Experience: Candace Cooper
October 7, 2015 | Swimming & Diving
My Carolina Experience: Candace Cooper
By Zoya Johnson, GoHeels.com
When Candace Cooper came to Carolina she had no idea she was making history, but when she joined the team in 2008, she became the first African-American female to swim at UNC. Though the lack of people of color in her sport was something Cooper had grown accustomed to it was also something she knew early into her career she wanted to be a part of changing.
“Being in a sport where you're from a group that is not well represented you have to learn to love yourself and you have to love everything about you that's different. I learned to embrace that at Carolina. At the end of the day when you put on a swimsuit, it's you and the clock, it doesn't matter what color you are,” says Cooper.
Cooper went on to become one of the fastest backstokers in the history of the program and is further solidifying her standing as one of Carolina's elite athletes through her Olympic pursuits after college.
Her goals as a student-athlete at UNC were to get to nationals and help her team take back the ACC crown. As a student, her goals went from wanting to pursue a career in exercise and sport science to her gradually falling in love with her degree program in African, African American and Diaspora Studies.
The classes opened her eyes to how much bigger the opportunity to be at Carolina was outside of her comfortable shell. They gave her a vision to make it so the next African-American female who joins the team feels like they have a legacy to build on, in a place that genuinely wants to nurture their drive. “While I was at Carolina, I realized how much I liked learning about my culture, and what it meant for me to be an African-American in a predominantly white sport.
“In April of 2013, almost a year after I graduated from Carolina, I decided to compete again. Because I was home in the Raleigh area, I reached out to NC State and asked to train with their team. It was a little weird at first because they didn't know my motives, but it came from a very humble place. I still very much loved the sport.”
Due to NCAA rules, Cooper was able to train with the team during the summer but not during the school year, so she looked into graduate school. She received her Masters of Art degree in Management from Wake Forest University in May of 2014 and went back to swimming that summer.
Cooper was feeling healthy and back on track; she was even hitting her Olympic Trials time. It was then that she realized if she was really going to pursue this dream, she had to be all in.
In the the fall of 2014, Cooper returned to her old club to train with the master's team and joined EXOS Sports Performance Gym. She is currently in the best shape of her career and her dreams feel closer than ever.
Now that she is out of school and more understanding of her potential for impact in the lives of others, Cooper has found a new appreciation for the Black Heritage Championship Meet that her family and other families from the state of North Carolina started 13 years ago with just 120 children in Charlotte, N.C.
The meet was inspired from the need for more water safety in the African American community, as well as a desire for more diversity in the pool. Since its inception, the meet has grown to host over 900 children from all over the country. Inclusive to all, for the past eight years the championship has been held in Cary, N.C. and has become an event-filled weekend that kids mark their calendars for at the beginning of their swimming season.
Mixed in with the competition and festivities are educational portions to promote swimming safety as well as chances to meet Olympians like Maritza Correia McClendon and Cullen Jones, who serve as positive representations of who the children can become regardless of their skin color.
Jones himself began swimming after almost losing his life in a drowning incident as child. He has since become a dominant force in the world of professional swimming as well as a decorated Olympian.
As her role in the meet has progressed from participant, to a directing role, Cooper says the meet and her experience have inspired her to create a foundation that would provide less fortunate children with swim lessons year round.
“The goal for the event is to segue into a nonprofit and raise enough to be able to provide opportunities through scholarships for kids in all types of athletics. We'd put on different events and bring in past Olympians, whether they are minorities or not, who just want to be apart of the movement while promoting swim safety across the country.
“Even though we are based out of North Carolina we have kids coming from all over the country looking forward to this meet every year. It's totally worth it because of the positivity it promotes, making sure those who struggle to see themselves in a successful light are praised and uplifted.
“Carolina taught me that your success is really about your mind frame. My experience taught me to be smart about my busines, and my self-image. I have my experience at Carolina to thank for coming to terms with loving myself, loving my curves and loving being different. I love what I'm becoming, and I love what I'm doing. It's been a long, hard road but I'd choose Carolina all over again because it has made me who I am today.”
Players Mentioned
