GUELPH, Ont. – Chris Scott never played a varsity basketball game in the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre. During his days as a student-athlete at the University of Guelph, where he competed on the men's basketball team (2008-09) while pursuing a certificate in Leadership, it was still the old W.F. Mitchell Centre which served as Guelph's home court.

But the former Gryphon certainly looks at home in the new facility, shooting baskets with his wife (Regina) and their three children (Mia, Marcus and Jeremy) on a quiet December afternoon.
 
Scott has put that education to good use – and it's been his youngest child, Jeremy, who has inspired he and Regina's latest undertaking. Jeremy, set to turn three in the new year, was born with dwarfism. His arrival gave the couple a new perspective and prompted them to get the once-common term 'midget' removed from use in the Guelph Youth Basketball Association, where Chris coaches. The change at the local level, as well as with the Ontario Basketball Association, will be implemented next year. And the Scotts' attempt to achieve greater acceptance is picking up momentum with other sporting organizations throughout Canada committing to removing the offensive word.
 
"It's been great to see the sort of snowball effect that seems to be taking place across the province and country," said Scott. "There are so many voices out there who have been pushing for this even longer than we have. We're certainly just one of the many voices, but it's great to see it moving in the right direction."
 
 
Armed with a better understanding of the impact the word 'midget' truly has, Regina cringed whenever she heard it.
 
 
"It was one of those things where, we didn't start out intending to go on some sort of crusade against the world," she said.

"It was just a simple conversation we wanted to have and it has been really well-received. I just mentioned, 'Oh, you know, we have Jeremy and he has Dwarfism and did you know that that word is really derogatory and hurtful towards little people,' and we just wanted to know who we could talk to or how we might be able to go about getting it changed. In the back of our minds, we always kind of assumed that something like this would either be rejected or could take a really long time to be put into place, so to see the way it has been embraced so quickly has been amazing."
 
 
The Guelph community has been important to the family, which now resides in nearby Puslinch. Scott attended St. James high school before going on to Laurier as a two-sport athlete playing both football and basketball.

Regina and he eventually started a family and it wasn't long before Mia and Marcus were playing in the Guelph Youth Basketball Association, with dad helping out.
 
 
Scott, who now coaches the U10 and U11 age groups, has always been happy with the programming provided by the organization.
 
 
"In bringing this item to their attention, we've been so impressed with how open they were to the conversation," he said. "We felt like they really understood and respected the impact that this was having on one of their families, and for them to act so quickly in implementing a change, and for them to take it a step further by raising the issue not just here in Guelph, but with Ontario basketball as well, we're just really impressed with the reaction and support we've received on this."
 
 
Regina said that receiving the news that Jeremy had Dwarfism was "a shock."
 
 
"It' definitely not something you expect," she said. "We knew nothing about Dwarfism, so when we first received the news, we were unsure as to how it could even happen. We had to have a crash course educating ourselves on everything we needed to know about achondroplasia, and realizing that yes, it can in fact happen to anyone. It is a genetic condition, but it's not necessarily hereditary, which is the case for us. Jeremy was a spontaneous gene mutation. It kind of opened our eyes to this new community, we've been embraced by this new world and are now seeing things through a different perspective."
 
 
Chris and Regina were back on campus last summer working as a volunteers and convenors at the World Dwarf Games, which showcased over 400 athletes from 19 different countries. They have connected with families in the surrounding area, sharing stories amongst people who have embraced and assisted them.
 
 
"It's an incredible support system, very welcoming, very open to educate and help," Regina said.

"It's obviously an emotional ride, he (Jeremy) is going to have different challenges than our other, older two children, but that support has helped us to feel better equipped to help him through it and to teach him to be confident and proud of who he is so that he can feel like he can overcome any challenge and know we're there for him."
 
While the challenges may be different for Jeremy, that has not stopped him, even from an early age, from trying to keep up with his seven-year-old brother and nine-year-old sister. "Jeremy is crazy about his older brother and sister," adds Chris. "He always wants to be in the mix of their activities and is always exploring and challenging himself. He's the happiest, most determined little boy who lights up every room he enters with his smile and affectionate demeanor."
 

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Related articles:
- Athletics Canada to pursue eliminating term 'midget' as age category desciptor (National Post)

- 'Midget'-aged sports to be renamed in Guelph (CTV Kitchener)

- Growing movement seeks to remove 'midget' from Alberta sports leagues (CTV News)

- Family overjoyed after Ontario basketball league stops using the term 'midget' (CBC)