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

[Pebbles49]

I was watching Real Sport with Brian Gumbel and they had a interesting segment concerning awarding every participants on a sport team trophies. According to the experts giving out unearned awards dilute the value of the trophies and athletes tends to slack off... What do everyone think about this Oprahlike awarding of trophies? Is this helping or hurting athletes and the sport?

 

[f5forever]

I hate that some people think everyone "deserves" a trophy/award....I'm just going to stop there because I can go all day on this topic. Ugh.

 

[Tosh]

I did not see the segment that you are talking about, but it is not a sports thing, it is a life thing that spilt into the sports in our lives. This is how parents, teachers, counselors were guided by the professional behavioral science community in the 80's and 90's on raising our children. No more spanking and more encouraging. Hand out gold stars for every little thing that may seem like an accomplishment to that individual child....Susie made a A, Yehh give her a gold star. Sussie went potty by herself (finally at 3 years old), Yehh give her two gold stars....Now looking back these professionals are now debating amount themselfes if this practice is beneficial and/or more harmful to our kids....I do not agree with it because I feel it gives kids a sense of entitlement and not teaching them that you have to work for what your want, and work harder than Susie if you want to be sucessful; it insteat teaches them to go at your own pace and whenever you get there, you will be rewarded.....Not a realistic life lesson....JMO

 

[CookieMomster]

When Big Bits saw Lil Bits team winning trophies at competitions she made a comment that stuck with me. She said she wanted to start playing a sport where she could win a trophy. When I commented about the trophies that she got with her sports she rolled her eyes and said that didn't count because everybody got one.

My point is even young kids notice! All I know is if I put in the work and dedication at my job and a co-worker slacked off and made the same amount of pay as me, I'd be miffed.

 

[newcheermom624]

I dislike this concept so much. I don't pay good money for my kid to go out on the floor, smile and look cute, I pay for her to learn and compete. We have a "you win some, you lose some" model in our house. If you don't win, work harder and be prepared for next time. I don't coddle my child, so i don't expect anyone else to.

 

[Helen uk uni cheer]

I don't mind if I didn't get a trophy if we didn't place in say top 5 but I would at least at awards to have teams read out in place order so we know where we come straight away. BCA in the uk unless it is mini and younger only announce top 4 so you have to wait unitl coaches get score sheet to know how you placed

 

[MzLyn23]

I am a little torn with this topic.... again I clarify little because I do agree that given trophies or medals just to give them is a bit absurd... however I understand some sports for example little league/tball etc having a end of season dinner and maybe giving a certificate of completion instead of a trophy... you know as a recognition for hardwork during the season be it they did great or horrible... I think this is to recognize those athletes that don't quit, that don't give up...

My CP did dance for 5 years prior to committing fully to cheer and the week prior to recital there was an awards banquet... each class received a trophy (the higher the level the bigger the trophy) and for those even higher levels that actually take the ADA Ballet Examines would also receive their certificates of examine completion etc, extra awards were also given out like best attendance, most improved, certain scholarships for one year of tuition if a dancer showed extreme potential in a certain style for example tap, jazz or lyrical etc....

But again this is a once a year thing at the end of the season.... I don't disagree with these but for example signing up kids to do a sport simply because you heard they get an award or something whether they played or not is a little questionable.

CP did Martial Arts as well from 4-6 years old.... In that time she received One Medal for a small event they held where she completed a certain sequence of movements.... other than that it was just moving up belt colors.... needless to say she didn't like this very much because she was enjoying dancing more.... than she found CHEER and yep she has medals and trophies but the difference is these were earned at competitions earning 3rd place or higher...

I can go on forever too... this is an iffy topic because you want your children to learn to work for something but at the same time until they get that first taste of earning something they won't even know (this is for the younger ones... the older ones know what they're getting into and if they don't then I'm at a loss for words)....

My son who is doing competitive cheer for the 1st time will be on an exhibition team so I know he will probably get a ribbon or medal at each event he goes to but he's 5 and his team is between like 3 yrs old and up so even though he doesn't know right now what will happen, once it does I know that will encourage him to do it again and so.... All this trophy and medal discussion I think really depends on the sport as well...

My brother played baseball all his life and I'm talking almost pro... it was his life and the only time I saw trophies or medals given to him was when he was on like all star traveling teams and going out of state and being recognized for different things not just because he did a season... Things have definitely changed since the 80s-90s... I'm an 80s baby and I didn't get squat until I started dancing and every end of year I was awarded a trophy and certificate for completing my ADA exam in Ballet etc...

Ok I'm done cause I can't even remember what my original point was... lol... oh right that all of this depends... if its a pointless trophy/medal yes to me that's a waste but if its given to encourage continuation and participating etc then I think its necessary at least a little.... whew... DONE! lol

 

[Pebbles49]

I definitely agree with all that said children should earn rewards and @Tosh, this Real Sport segment came on about 2 or 3 weeks ago on HBO, so if you get this channel, you may watch it On Demand... I know when I grew up back in the Dark Ages, you seldom see so many trophies and even in the Real Sport segment, the trophy business owner talked about how his Dad started his business in the 1950s and it was a small business, ran out of a small store front and he said his Dad had a primary job and sold trophies on the weekends, he did not make much money or trophies. He mentioned his Dad's generation used to only give trophies for 1st place, but now the trophy business exploded since the 1990s, and is run in like Costco like warehouses and this trophy owner said his business is now grossing more than $600 million a year and he gives out trophies for participation and remembered making trophies for teams that finished in 36th place or last place. Crazy!

 

[uhhlyssa01]

I dislike this concept so much. I don't pay good money for my kid to go out on the floor, smile and look cute, I pay for her to learn and compete. We have a "you win some, you lose some" model in our house. If you don't win, work harder and be prepared for next time. I don't coddle my child, so i don't expect anyone else to.

I've heard so many parents say the opposite... "I didn't pay this much money for Suzie to NOT get a trophy", but I commend you for raising your kids to have a strong work ethic. I'm okay with kids getting a participant gift of some sort at competitions, whether it's a keychain or a water bottle, but I dislike participant medals. I'd prefer they only go to 1st place or 1st-3rd.

 

[emo_wifey]

I don't think it's helpful. I feel like it's used to keep kids from getting upset, but could also lead to bad sportsmanship later when they're not getting a trophy because they didn't make the required placement.

Luckily none of the comps CP's been to so far are like that. There are participant gifts (pin, T-shirt, etc.) And then sometimes there are jackets or something for winners and sometimes it's just the big trophy for the gym. Never have the athletes gotten actual trophies of their own.

Maybe participant gifts are kind of seen as a trophy for everybody to some? To me they're not because a) they're not actual trophies, and b) CP doesn't see them as trophies. She only sees actual trophies as trophies and actually got upset one time because (even though they got jackets) she didn't get her own trophy!

 

[DaniV]

I wish they would still announce all places instead of disguising 4th-last place as "in no particular order, here are the participation awards". The kids want to know, even if they are in last place and I feel like it has become a way to prevent teams being the "losing" team.

Jumping off of the jackets things - my athletes don't see trophies as something more than a participation award. Jackets are the real "trophy".

 

[amy1k]

I wish they would still announce all places instead of disguising 4th-last place as "in no particular order, here are the participation awards". The kids want to know, even if they are in last place and I feel like it has become a way to prevent teams being the "losing" team.

Jumping off of the jackets things - my athletes don't see trophies as something more than a participation award. Jackets are the real "trophy".

"Superior" awards are a massive pet peeve of mine.

 

[Official OWECheer]

I feel like the "everybody gets a trophy" mentality sucks the fun out of competing.

Why do humans compete in the first place? Because the FIGHT to win (winning is not, and should not be guaranteed) is 90% of the fun.

I'm tired of butthurt, bleeding heart people wanting to suck the fun out of competition for everyone, especially the winners.

Sorry if I sound harsh, but that is one of my biggest pet peeves.

 

[MzLyn23]

I wish they would still announce all places instead of disguising 4th-last place as "in no particular order, here are the participation awards". The kids want to know, even if they are in last place and I feel like it has become a way to prevent teams being the "losing" team.

Jumping off of the jackets things - my athletes don't see trophies as something more than a participation award. Jackets are the real "trophy".

and this is exactly what my CP (daughter cause son has no clue yet lol) is striving for...

 

[Pebbles49]

I think there is some value in given trophies for only superior performance... I think given awards to a child for any kind of performance or lack of performance, dilutes and devalued the truly talented athletes in the sport. Matter of fact, it promotes and encourages an untalented child not to move on and find their true talents whether it be in sports, music, arts or dance... Some parents can become truly delusional and think because their child received a "token" trophy that if they pay for privates or push the untalented child to practice more and they too can become that next superstar...

PS: Worse part in this Trophy Bonanza, the quality of all the trophies are poorly constructed and cheap. Matter of fact, I noticed the shelf life of these new trophies is about 4 to 5 years before they break or fall apart...Unlike, the 30+ year old trophies that I have that are still in good shape.