All-Star You Get A Trophy, I Get A Trophy, We All Get A Trophy! Good Or Bad

[AlwaysLearning]

I can't lie, sometimes I really liked getting the participant gifts at comps. COA's flip flops were the best flip flops I ever owned. Blankets were fun to build forts with. I always used all the draw string bags. I got a beach bag from reach the beach that I used to take to the beach. But there was lots of crap too. I didn't think of it as a "participation medal" though. They weren't things I cherished like my real medals and my jackets. I still wear my 2005 Jamfest hoodie I got for winning.

I think the massive amounts of divisions for teams to chose from when entering a competition is just another PMS (Participant Medal Syndrome hehehehehe) thing. I hate that society keeps people from failing. There's no will to do your best anymore because you'll just be handed what you want anyways.

Kids gotta learn how to lose, man. That's the only way they'll learn how to succeed.

I see blankets, flip flops, etc as marketing materials and don't see a problem with that. Marketing materials are designed to be used after the comp to get the name of the comp out there. The problem I have is when they give everyone a medal that looks awfully similar to 1st place so they don't feel bad because trophies sit on shelves and gather dust after the comp.

I don't like all of the split divisions either. I would rather CP compete against 30 teams and know how her team really stacks up in their level. I agree that having 3 winners at the same level is promoting the "everyone is a winner" attitude.

 

[Official OWECheer]

My CP's dance teacher has always said "I don't hand out trophies just for showing up. If that's what you are looking for, this isn't the place for you." ITA with that sentiment. Kids shouldn't get a reward just for showing up to play.


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Trophies are like diamonds, the more rare and harder you have to work for them, the more they are appreciated. Once they flood the market, they lose their value.

Plus, kids aren't stupid. They know that a participation trophy is a consolation prize, and they are often disappointed and ashamed if they get one.

 

[Official OWECheer]

I thought of JamLive when I was watching that Real Segment and the shoddy trophy gifts they gave out for participating. Most of the parents were upset because most of the trophies broke within an hour the EPs passed them out and many of those cheap trophies were left on chairs and on the floor. Furthermore, daughter was totally upset because her trophy broke apart within an hour and asked the EPs for a replacement, which they asked the parents to box them up and mail back the pieces to them and they promise to send replacements....Really?! haha!

To me, it makes more sense to not bu participation trophies, and instead spend good money on high quality trophies for the top 3 teams in each division.

Random thought, but who wants to bet that with in 10 years, they'll start giving Worlds rings to the top 3 teams in each Worlds division instead of just the 1st place team?

 

[MissCongeniality]

To me, it makes more sense to not bu participation trophies, and instead spend good money on high quality trophies for the top 3 teams in each division.

Random thought, but who wants to bet that with in 10 years, they'll start giving Worlds rings to the top 3 teams in each Worlds division instead of just the 1st place team?

Varsity owns Herff Jones so why not?

 

[CheerKatie08]

8 years later & that dang red Jamfest fleece blanket has moved with me from high school, to college, to my first post-grad house... I love the idea of participant gifts because competitions are EXPENSIVE.

I do believe that giving out participant trophys at smaller events took the excitement away from winning worlds. The ring is so special to my heart, but the medal sits there next to one that's even more swagged out from a 2004 Hershey Park competition where I'm pretty sure we dropped 4 extensions and placed like 50th. I thought I won the golden ticket because I got a medal and wore it to middle school the next day.

 

[Official OWECheer]

Varsity owns Herff Jones so why not?

Yup...

 

[AScheer]

Just out of curiosity...

Say Cheersport gave out participation medals at EACH event. They had 34 events last year. Let's say there are 600 athletes at each event (most are surely WAY higher, pretty sure Grand has a couple thousand athletes alone). That's 20,400 athletes over the year. If they get the CHEAPEST medals available, they're $1 a pop. That's $20,400 a YEAR they could be saving if they cut those out at the very least.

I did some numbers for ONE competition. There were 68 teams. I did small as the average size (20 per team, including rec, HS, dance, etc). To me this accounted for some being large teams and some being much smaller (they didn't list sizes). I took off 100 for athletes who might be double teaming. That's still at least 1250 kids or so. If THAT was the average for each comp, multiplied by the number of events they had last year, that's at least $42,500 they could be saving.

In short- competitions, I strongly encourage you to rethink your distribution of trophies/medals. If you're going to insist on participation gifts, make them something worthwhile! Or cut them down a bit because you could easily save thousands! Sincerely, Your Bottom Line.

Yes, but I would put money that they aren't spending that. If the medal cost them a $1 a pop, then you better believe they're charging us $2 in the entry fee for that medal. So technically they are spending $42,500, but they are also making $42,500 profit. They aren't being generous and just buying medals out of their own money to give to us. We are buying those medals ourselves and paying double what they're worth for the middle man to give out to us.

 

[AScheer]

Varsity owns Herff Jones so why not?

You learn something new everyday! How does Jeff Webb have time to run all of these companies?!?

 

[kristenthegreat]

Yes, but I would put money that they aren't spending that. If the medal cost them a $1 a pop, then you better believe they're charging us $2 in the entry fee for that medal. So technically they are spending $42,500, but they are also making $42,500 profit. They aren't being generous and just buying medals out of their own money to give to us. We are buying those medals ourselves and paying double what they're worth for the middle man to give out to us.

I'm way far gone from competing anyway, so it's no skin off my back..but it COULD be a point of argument to get lower comp fees. Save the medals and save us the cash.

 

[Mndl]

My husband refused to let our little guy participate in a local tee ball league...

Because.

(Ready?)

IT'S CALLED FUN LEAGUE SOFTBALL AND THEY DON'T KEEP SCORE. EVERYONE WINS.

It's also the most painfully boring thing ever to watch, my oldest son did one year of tee-ball and it was torture. I flat out refused to allow any of my other kids to do it. I still have flashbacks about how mind-numbingly dull it was!

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

^^^Oh he still played it, just with a different league. I would still agree with your assessment of it. I'd rather watch soccer.

 

[TheVipersMom]

^^^Oh he still played it, just with a different league. I would still agree with your assessment of it. I'd rather watch soccer.

Jaylen played t-ball at 5 but I had to drive further so she could play in a league that kept score. I refused to allow her to play in the local we don't choose winners league.


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[MissCongeniality]

Jaylen played t-ball at 5 but I had to drive further so she could play in a league that kept score. I refused to allow her to play in the local we don't choose winners league.


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My youngest played some "everbody is a winner" soccer at 4. While all the other kids were picking daisies and singing kumbaya...he was stealing the ball and kicking in goal after goal. He then turned around and started kicking in goals for the other team. His expression was totally "what are you people doing...the point is to score goals!" A dad turned to me and said..."I take it he has older brothers!" I was like "you think?"

 

[CheerBank]

It's also the most painfully boring thing ever to watch, my oldest son did one year of tee-ball and it was torture. I flat out refused to allow any of my other kids to do it. I still have flashbacks about how mind-numbingly dull it was!

The day my son gave up baseball we put him in lax and never looked back. Baseball was like watching paint dry.
Speaking of lax, they always have an end of the year ice cream party with participation trophies handed out. This year dh and my son were about halfway home when they realized they forgot his trophy. They kept driving home and cp said he really wanted to get rid of all the trophies he had that were "given out for no good reason".
I watched the Bryant Gumbel special this morning. It's amazing what a multi-billion dollar business trophy making has become in the last 5-10 years.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

My other favorite thing is from the pageant world (my nieces were natural/non-glitz pageant girls before cheer.)

There are parents who WILL NOT ENTER THEIR DAUGHTER BECAUSE THEIR AGE GROUP HAS TOO MANY KIDS IN IT AND SHE MAY NOT WIN ANYTHING.

Or they'll PULL their kid from a pageant because there are TOO MANY KIDS REGISTERING IN HER AGE RANGE.

Like, they were okay when there were TWO girls in their age group, but now there are five and that is WAY too many.

They will also GLADLY take a crown that their kid won because they were the ONLY kid in the age group.

WHAT.