Go Floyd! Huge support for 9-year-old heading to World Dwarf Games
<p>One multi-talented nine-year-old boy from Northern New South Wales is hard at work preparing to represent Australia at the World Dwarf Games. </p>
<p>Floyd Morley was born with a form of dwarfism known as achondroplasia - a condition considered to be one of the most common types of short-limbed dwarfism, said to affect approximately one in every 25,000 people. </p>
<p>His parents - mother Jade and father Ross - were initially concerned about the challenges their son may face in life, considering everything from potential health conditions to bullying.</p>
<p>“At the beginning, we were really worried about all his health concerns,” Jade explained to <em>A Current Affair</em>’s Leila McKinnon, “we were worried that he was going to get picked on, we worried that he was going to get bullied.” </p>
<p>However, all the pair truly wanted was for everyone to “celebrate him. He’s the best. He is the best kid.”</p>
<p>After too much time spent unable to catch anyone playing tag, or finishing behind his peers in school races, Floyd was left feeling “very frustrated” and “very lonely.” </p>
<p>“I didn’t really realise how much it affected him,” Jade admitted. </p>
<p>“I didn’t really feel that confident,” Floyd explained, “of playing soccer. I only just took to surfing and handball.” </p>
<p>And now, everyone will have the chance to see that Floyd is the best at what he does, with the nine-year-old’s sights set on competing in Germany alongside his friends and teammates. </p>
<p>It was a convention for short-statured people that changed things, giving Floyd the opportunity he needed and deserved to find his confidence and joy in what he was doing.</p>
<p>"He comes running up to me and he has had this beam of light and he was like, 'Mum, I caught them in tag'," Jade said of that pivotal moment. </p>
<p>"No one was slowing down for him to catch them … then he participated in soccer and basketball and he was like, 'oh my God, I'm good at this'."</p>
<p>As Floyd’s pride for himself and what he could accomplish grew, and his connection to those who were like him, so did Jade’s - as she had said, “I just want him to be proud and to have that real soul about him that’s like ‘I am proud of who I am’” - with his mother also confessing that it had been a “beautiful experience.” </p>
<p>When asked what the upcoming World Dwarf Games meant to him, Floyd wasted no time in declaring that he “felt really proud of myself, I felt really great, I couldn’t wait to meet all these people that were just like me.”</p>
<p>The games - which take place every four years in Germany - are run by volunteers, and the Australian team rely on fundraising and donations for their financial assistance. Funds go towards training costs for the athletes, as well as travel to and from the games, and are vital for budding talents such as young Floyd.</p>
<p>Short Statured People of Australia set up a fundraiser for the 2023 competition, and their page has seen a flood of love and support for Floyd and his team, after Jade admitted that “we're looking for multiple sponsors or one really big sponsor. We've got shirts, we want to put sponsors' names on them."</p>
<p>“You deserve the world Floyd,” wrote one donor. “Keep shining your magic!” </p>
<p>“Go Floyd! And all the amazing guys and girls participating in the games,” said another. “What an inspiration you all are. I will be following these games all the way.” </p>
<p>“Go Team Australia! Can’t wait for My Sophia to join you in the future!!” said one proud supporter.</p>
<p>And as another put it, “way to go Floyd. You’re a true inspiration of your parents.” </p>
<p><em>Images: A Current Affair / Nine</em></p>
