2 athletes from Mississauga head to World Dwarf Games in Germany

Two Mississauga athletes head to Germany this week to compete in the 8th World Dwarf Games.

Mississauga residents Michael Moriarty-Brand, 26, and Ethan Warcop, 19, join 44 Canadian athletes with dwarfism in Cologne, Germany for the 8th World Dwarf Games from July 29 to Aug. 5.

Like the Olympics, the World Dwarf Games are normally held every four years. However, with pandemic restrictions the games have been cancelled. The last event was in August 2017 at the University of Guelph.

More than 500 athletes from over 20 countries are expected to compete in this summer’s games in Germany, according to the World Dwarf Games.

Moriarty-Brand is competing in open archery, badminton, basketball, soccer, some track and field events, and volleyball.

Warcop, who couldn’t be reached for an interview, is competing in open basketball, soccer and volleyball. Warcop previously competed in the 2013 and 2017 World Dwarf Games.

Moriarty-Brand credits the games for turning his life around after a difficult few years. He just joined the Dwarf Athletic Association of Canada last summer with help from a Canadian Tire Jumpstart grant, Moriarty-Brand tells insauga.com.

His parents were involved in sports and Moriarty-Brand is a Raptors and Leafs fan, but growing up in Mississauga he found sports were not accessible for little people.

While he did practice Karate, he was the only student with dwarfism at Thomas L. Kennedy Secondary School, and there were no accommodations for him to join competitive team sports in those days.

“It didn’t really seem inclusive,” he says.

He didn’t know about the World Dwarf Games until Canada hosted them in 2017.

“That was the first I heard about the games,” he adds.

So at the first chance for in-person meetings, Moriarty-Brand decided to get involved last summer.

He describes it as “some of the best days and most fun I had in years if not ever.”

“It was always a dream of mine to get to play sports with other little people like me,” he says.

After he lost his mother about five years ago, and broke up with his girlfriend during the pandemic, Moriarty-Brand started to abuse alcohol and put on weight, he says. The social isolation during pandemic lockdowns also took a toll.

But getting involved in sports has got him back in shape and he is now nearly one year sober. He says preparing for the games and participating in sports with the Dwarf Athletic Association of Canada has been life changing.

“It feels amazing just to experience sports and games, and just interact with other little people in general,” he says. “I didn’t realize how much fun it would actually be, and then how far that I would actually go and turn my life around.”

He now hopes to go back to school to study athletics and coaching with a goal, after a few more World Dwarf Games, to coach athletes.

While Moriarty-Brand is hopeful he will return home with some medals this summer, that isn’t the reason he is joining the games.

“At the end of the day, I want to go out and have fun and make some more friendships, stronger connections within my team,” he says.

And he hopes to spread the word about the games.

“I really wish in the future that there would be a brighter light shined on these organizations, for other little people in the future, because I just wish that I knew about these opportunities much sooner.”