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The positives of youth sports
The positives of youth sports
The positives of youth sports
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Trophies for Everyone Participation is something which takes place in everyday life. I participate in school activities, which are mostly mandatory, and other activities. Other activities, such as going to school itself, involving myself in gym, and sometimes in debate. I also participate in things at home, but before we get to what that is, let’s look at a quote about competition. “The ultimate victory in competition is derived from the inner satisfaction of knowing that you have done your best and that you have gotten the most out of what you had to give” (Cosell). Do you understand that? Can you comprehend what was just spewed out by that author’s mouth? The true victory is obtained by the inner satisfaction of the one who is participating, …show more content…
If you have no sportsmanship, no cooperation, no enthusiasm, no dedication, or anything for the game, why would you be on the team in the first place? She must have come to the conclusion that no matter what she did, should would get the same trophy as all the others. She would obtain the same piece of plastic, what I would call a number two as well, that everyone else would get. I can tell, from how her mom describes her playing the game, which she was not the best athlete and she was not the best teammate. If Carol Dweck’s daughter can get a trophy for showing up, then why try? That is not the mentality you want her to acquire when she goes into the real world. The real world is harsh and cruel and difficult, she needs to be prepared or at least know that you must always give it your all. Think about the kids who are better than her, they will feel like it is unfair. That’s more than what the girl who doesn’t do anything gets out of these “participation trophies”. Those kids who try harder, won’t try as hard because they aren’t rewarded for the extra work they do. Them going the extra mile, or the extra foot, they won’t be …show more content…
Jorge Perez, who is the vice president of youth development and social responsibility for the YMCA, says there’s a reason why “The kid’s hold onto the trophies, why those moms don’t throw them away”. They bring up a very excellent idea, it reminds them of the memories. Yes, memories are important and watching and spending time with your kids is important. But can an importance get in the way? You will always remember them while they played their games and had fun in all their little crazy activities. Given them trophies for no reason, other than them being there (which you only had to be there for the games), you get the same trophy as someone who actually tries. You will be proud of you son for always trying and participating in things, but keep his soccer clothes or his football jerseys or whatever sport he feels like indulging in. They earned their uniform by joining, but they have yet to earn the trophy, which is potentially
Our society has shifted its beliefs in how we should treat competition in young people. The question is asked, should all kids get a participation trophy? As it may seem to be an unanswerable question, it honestly isn’t. Thought that the participation trophies may send the message that “coaches” value the kids’ efforts despite their abilities, trophies do not need to be given out. Your words mean just as much when you remind an athlete that you value them in more ways than one. Some may think trophies are a great idea because it shows that everyone’s a “winner.” However, I disagree with that idea. I believe that kids should know that they need to work their hardest in order to be rewarded and understand that not
Every kid on the football field has a trophy. Even the kids who are on the losing team. Kids’ and parents’ faces are bright with smiles, and laughter echoes throughout the field. Kids are showing off their miny trophies, each with a bronze football on them. No one is paying attention to the two feet tall, gold, first place trophy that is in the winning team’s coach’s hand. Everybody is focused on the miniature trophies. Why are these trophies so special? These are participation trophies. Every kid gets one just for participatcuing in a game. Kids started getting participation trophies in the 20th Century. They got the trophies to feel more confident about themselves. Trophies should not be given to every kid because of narcissism increase,
Some argue that participation trophies are going to be the downfall of society and human life in general. That is not the case but, there are many downsides of these awards, in this essay a few of these will be brought to attention. Participation trophies do not teach children valuable lessons.
According to researcher and author of “Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing,” Ashley Merryman says “having studied recent increases in narcissism and entitlement among college students, (she) warns that when living rooms are filled with participation trophies, it’s part of a larger cultural message: to succeed, you just have to show up.” She also says “if children know they will automatically get an award, what is the impetus for improvement? Why bother learning problem-solving skills, when there are never obstacles to begin with?” She goes on to say handing out trophies undermines kids’ success: “The benefit of competition isn’t actually winning”. Another author says “when you’re constantly giving a kid a trophy for everything they’re doing, you’re saying, ‘I don’t care about improvement. I don’t care that you’re learning from your mistakes. All we expect is that you’re always a winner’” (Ross). These particiation trophies have many negative effects that can make these children less succesful in competitive enviornments: such as college or in the work force. It will also make them less prepared for an independent life after leaving
A participation trophy can help a child's drive to improve. When a child plays a game and loses, but then watches the other team get a trophy they feel that they suck and won't try to improve. Once they get a participation trophy they make the child feel like they did good and that next time if they get better they will get a bigger trophy for winning and not losing. For instance, “Further, studies also tell us that children who participate in sports get better…”(Huffington 1). This exemplifies that children who participate feel the drive to get better at the sport. When inferring that since they participated they are getting an award if makes them feel like they did good, and then they want to get even better to get a better reward. Thus making the kids get better at the sport showing that participation trophies are beneficial to children, but there are more opportunities to show how they are
Trophies were once infrequent in society. You would have to go to your local jewelry store and spend top dollar on a shiny piece of sterling silver or gold. Thus, you didn’t see a whole lot of children running around with new trophies every week. However, with the arrival of the 1960s, many factories that had been once used to produce military goods during WWII would now be available for mass-production consumer goods. Trophies would now be marketed and sold to coaches and athletic departments, or available at your hometown sporting goods store (Merryman). In modern day society, sports participation trophies are almost guaranteed, ensuring every child is a “winner” at the end of the day. These participation trophies are extremely harmful to our youth and should only be given out when deemed necessary.
Recently, the topic of participation trophies and direct achievement has been debated among parents, schools, and coaches as it seems that within every event, children are awarded with some form of acknowledgement. Plaques, certificates, medals, and trophies are thrown at kids left and right; but, do they have a significance in a child’s overall ability to discern achievement from failure? Or do these seemingly meaningless trinkets have more worth in memory and core values like perseverance and commitment?
One point in someone’s life, you would get a trophy. Once in my life, I got a medal for winning a painting contest, which made me feel like a winner! But when I looked at the back of the medal, it said “Participation Medal.” I was really sad, and soon wondered why do people give participation awards to everyone? Participation Trophies can tell kids not to work hard, and soon kids will just show up in an event unprepared. So trophies should only be for winners because giving trophies to everyone will make people unprepared for an event, would cost a lot to buy millions of trophies for everyone, and giving everyone a trophy would make trophies have no value.
Some people think that giving children a participation trophy after a sports game or season is a helpful thing to do. People may think this because it can teach kids the importance of showing up to practice and games and trying your best, which are important skills later in life. (Heffernan 1) Kids will also be happy that their hard work is being acknowledged and rewarded, in the form of a trophy. (Heffernan 1) However, this
The people that won got the same trophy as the people that lost. Why even keep score if there is no reward for winning or losing? Sports are supposed to be competitive and make people want to push themselves to be better. Participation trophies are taking all of the fun away from
L. Hefferman’s article “ In Defense of Participation Trophies: Why they really do teach the right values?” it states “ An award is not really an award if everyone gets it.” (Today.com) In another article by Ashley Merryman called “Losing is Good For You” it says “Awards can be a powerful motivators but nonstop recognition does not inspire children to succeed. Instead, it can cause them to underachieve.” (New York Times Sept. 2013) It is clear, by not giving participation awards it make the children who do get awarded feel more special than if everyone gets one. Obviously, not giving participation awards to everyone gives more of a boost of self-esteem to the people who do get
Have you ever have a kid on your team miss half of the practices, and games? If so, then why should kids get a trophy for showing up? In society, many people are arguing whether or not kids should get trophies for participation. Not everyone should get a trophy for participation. First, if kids want something in life they have to work for it. Second, trophies are only for winners. Lastly, giving kids trophies could send them the wrong message.
Many people that have gotten participation trophies feel cheated when they aren’t recognized for their accomplishments. This mindset, that you will be rewarded for all accomplishments, is a stark difference from the real world. When you get a job, you will not be rewarded just for showing up. Because we continue to keep this from our children, we are robbing them from learning about what the real world is like.
according to “Losing Is Good for You” by Ashley Merryman. Instead of encouraging kids by just participating, actually push them to do better and their reward will be getting better at the task. Merryman also states, “Once they master a skill, they won’t need manufactured praise to tell them they’ve done well.” They won’t even need a trophy to know they have done good and gotten
The trophies support extremely bad habits and stall the proper maturity and growth of entire generations that receive them. Cedric Moxey’s debate over the use of trophies reveals that football league officials in Keller, Texas actually felt that participation trophies “... send the wrong message and create bad habits” (Moxey 1). The point that is supposed to come of this is that in the “real world,” where competition decides and defines survival, just participating is not enough to be able to support a family or a lifestyle. The solution to this lies within the youth sports and competitions. Frank Fitzpatrick says that it is important that kids and young competitors accept a loss and see room to grow from it. By opening a young kid up to the feelings of both a win and a loss, they learn how to handle the feelings and how to build on any negative attitudes or outcomes. Life skills such as these are crucial to a child who wants to be able to live on their own in the future. Participation trophies make this sort of growth impossible for the current generations (Stein 1). Ashley Merryman, an author and journalist, said “... when children make mistakes, our job should not be to spin those losses into decorated victories” (qtd. in Fitzpatrick 1). Participation trophies do exactly this. They make a kid who did not win (and needs to accept that) feel as if everything did, in fact, go their way when it did