One of the neatest things I’ve seen in youth sports happened last weekend.

The captains and officials met at midfield prior to the game as happens before every outdoor sporting event regardless of the players’ ages.

What made this pregame meeting different was that our captain was accompanied by his 3-year-old brother that has attended every game, home and away, and just about every practice. He was celebrated with being named the game’s honorary captain. When he’s there, he does what most other kids his age do – not pay a lick of attention to the practice or game as long as there are other kids to horse around with on a nearby playground or to share in his excitement as he zooms his toy cars up and down the bleachers.

Our honorary captain has achondroplasia, also known as dwarfism. With October being National Dwarfism Awareness Month, our coaches thought it would be a great idea for him to serve as an honorary captain for one of the games.

I watched the smile on the face of the other team’s captain as he leaned over to shake hands with our honorary captain. It made me realize in that brief interaction that he and his teammates learned what everyone on our team already knows – the only thing different about someone with dwarfism is that they are shorter.

Our players, their siblings and our parents learned early in the season that this 3-year-old is just another sibling on the sidelines. He is sometimes happy to be there and other times wishing he could be just about anywhere else.

What he’s unassumingly displayed to everyone is that he’s no different than any other kid his age. So now, as our players and their siblings come into contact with other kids or adults with dwarfism, they already know that there’s no reason to stare, be timid, or even be curious. It’s evident all they need to know about a person with dwarfism is they’re just like you and me but shorter.

I’ve always felt that there should be more honorary captains in youth sports. This experience just confirmed it.

Jon Buzby has been involved in and writing about youth sports for the past 30 years with perspectives as a parent, coach and board member. Jon is an award-winning writer and his latest book, “Coaching Kids Made Easier,” is available on Amazon. Send comments or future blog topics you'd like to see to JonBuzby@hotmail.com and follow him @YouthSportsBuzz on Twitter.