This week, Dr. Richard Norman will be joined by Rayad Husain of Brampton, Ontario. Ray is the founder of the Guyana Curling Federation and he currently sits on the World Curling Federation Congress. He is also a 2x World Mixed Doubles athlete representing Guyana. Ray’s bio is attached below and we look forward to speaking with him this Thursday evening! #sharethemicnow

Since the age of 7, Rayad has had a keen fascination with the sport of curling. He first saw the sport while sitting on the couch with his mom and dad watching TV. Having only around 12 channels meant that there was not much to choose from, but then curling appeared on the TV, and the lifelong fascination with this Canadian pastime began.

Born and raised in Brampton, Ontario to Guyanese immigrant parents, Rayad had a traditional upbringing. He has a sister, Farzana, who was born in Halton Hills 7 years after his birth. His mother came to Canada in the late 1970’s as did his father. However, his father made his way to Canada through New York where he worked for McDonald’s. He continued with the company in Canada working his way up to head office and eventually ran 4 successful franchises in the Mississauga and Etobicoke area.

The Muslim faith was strongly instilled in him by his parents, attending mosque regularly for Friday prayers, Saturday Quranic classes, and observing the holy month of Ramadaan. Traditional Guyanese meals and desserts were the norm at home made by both parents, but in particular his mother. Not only was she an outstanding stay at home mother, but she also managed clerical operations for the family franchises.

Despite the traditional values, Rayad attended public school and was encouraged to assimilate into Canadian culture. Now 35 years old, attending school during his formative years meant that there were very few people of colour that he could relate to. However, he always had an outgoing personality and loved people.

After watching curling on TV for the first time, Rayad received an information brochure from school offering March Break activities. One of those activities would be curling. Although he begged his parents to sign him up, they were too nervous that he would not fit in and not be able to “skate” on the ice. His persistence continued and one day his father took him to the local Chinguacousy Curling Club. However, the closest he would get to the ice was from behind the glass.

A few months later, he convinced his best friend Adam to try curling with him. Adam’s mother, Joyce, would take the two boys to try the game. The youth instructor took them on the ice for the first time, and both were naturals. It was at this moment that Rayad knew that curling was the sport for him. After completing a full season of little rocks, Rayad would not return to the rink until high school.

Sports were never a huge part of family life other than watching them on TV or the occasional pick up game at the park of cricket. Rayad’s father wanted his kids to be in tennis to become the next Pete Sampras or Steffi Graf. Although tennis is a passion of Rayad today, he truly wanted to be in curling and not gruelling tennis lessons.

The 1997 Brier featured the first person of colour — Rudy Ramcharan from Trinidad curling with Kevin Martin. Their success that year led to Rudy becoming a hit in the Caribbean community as his face would be in the newspapers picked up by patrons at the West Indian Grocery Stores. Suddenly, family conversations were about Rudy and now curling was somewhat palatable to the family.

The interest in Rudy spurred Rayad on to try out for his high school curling team. Although he failed in his first attempt, he made the team on second attempt the following season. Playing in the Regional High School final, Rayad was a key player to the team and it resulted in a Gold Medal. His coach drove him home that night from the club, and told his parents about how well their son played. This would ignite Rayad’s drive towards being a competitive curler.

Since that ROPSSAA title in 2000, Rayad played in the junior league at Chinguacousy as well as OCA and TCA events. After his junior days, he continued with the sport into the adult ranks, and has had success on the Ontario Curling Tour and in OCA and TCA play. In 2009, he was able to convince his sister to join the sport. Reluctant for most of the first couple of years, she stuck with the sport, and now has become highly involved.

One of the hallmarks of Rayad’s involvement in the sport has been his volunteerism. Though still a junior curler, he took on the project to create a website for the Chinguacousy Curling Club. That led to his election onto the Board of Directors in 2006 as Public Relations Assistant. He has also served as Club President and has served on other league boards. In 2010, he became the youngest recipient of the Marv White Award from the club recognizing his achievements in curling and service to the club.

Rayad’s latest project in curling has been the establishment of the Guyana Curling Federation. Founded and accepted by the WCF in 2016, he has launched the sport in Guyana in 2017, and competed internationally in the World Mixed Doubles Championship twice alongside his sister. He has also played the 2018 America’s Challenge claiming a Silver Medal. Rayad continues to have aspirations to grow the federation and bring more curlers from the Caribbean region on board as well as personal ambitions to achieve more in the sport and continue to put Guyana on the map.

EDUCATION
Honours Bachelor of Arts, Political Science (2006) – University of Toronto at Mississauga
Post-Graduate Certificate, Human Resources Management (2011) – Humber College

SPORTING HEROES
Serena & Venus Williams, Usain Bolt, Ato Boldon, and Roger Federer

PASSIONS
Enjoys travelling and tennis

FAVOURITE MOTTO:
“Pain always leaves behind a gift” – Bishop T.D. Jakes