Living with autism has never held Dylan Hutton back from his favourite sport.

The 10-year-old Ottawa boy has dealt with health problems all his life, but it hasn’t kept him out of the gym at St. Luke Catholic School.

“He just loves to shoot baskets,” his father, Brian Hutton, told CTV Ottawa.

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Hutton’s dedication was noticed by school basketball coach Angelo Bruno, who approached the boy’s parents to offer him a spot on the school’s basketball team.

“Everybody wants to have the opportunity to wear a team jersey,” Bruno said in an interview with CTV Ottawa.

All that hard work paid off when Hutton, encouraged by members of his team and the opposing players, made a basket in a recent game.

“That’s the kind of moment that gets you as a parent,” his father said. “To see him get a chance to come into a game, make a basket, [that] sort of tugs at your heart strings.”