Aidan Diehl Mrs. Brekke Gr. 11 LA 05 April 2024 Participation Trophies do More Harm than Good Picture a world where everything gets handed to children. Well, that is what participation trophies are turning our world into these days. Participation trophies cause more harm than good. Participation trophies praise children too much, create too high self-esteem, and children will give up when faced with difficulties. Also, receiving these trophies can take away the lesson of losing. First of all, participation trophies take the real winners out of sports. Being in last place is not winning. If you come in last place and get a trophy, then what are you learning? It's teaching you it's OK to come in last place" (Fussell) This shows children can now …show more content…
Thus, participation trophies are not helpful for children in sports. Additionally, participation trophies can make a huge impact on young athletes’ lives from the start of their athletic debut until they are done with sports. Sadly, these participation trophies can leave a negative impact on children. “It is believed children become less motivated, less resilient, and unable to handle failure or criticism when they receive a trophy for simply showing up” (Diller). Diller shows that participation trophies do have an impact on children. Participation trophies take away discipline. Having talent is not a guarantee for success, and that discipline and repetition of actions creates and leads you to success not only in sports but later in life. That is why participation can steer our children away from these well-needed key learning moments in life (Diller). Receiving these trophies leaves children without important life lessons. Above all, participation trophies impact children negatively from a young age until they are adults. Furthermore, participation trophies are leaving poor behavioral effects on young athletes. Participation trophies lead to less problem
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.
Explanation Participation trophies are awards handed out for simply participating in an athletic event or program. These trophies are very common in youth athletics across the country and their effects on children have been debated for years. In many areas around the country, teams hand out thousands of trophies to children, and many of the children will receive more than one particiation trophy (Merryman). Arguments have been formed from both sides of these trophies and researchers have found beneficial and harmful effects on young athletes when given participation trophies.
“Today on Channel 4 News a child has just committed suicide for not getting a trophy in his favorite sport, soccer. The child had just played a soccer game the day before trying his hardest to win and be the best like everybody else. When his team got beat 8-0 he was already down in the dumps, but then the soccer tournament did not give trophies to the 6 year olds who lost making them feel like total losers. This child was so sad that he was taking a bath and decided to breathe water for 3 minutes rendering him dead,” a statement made by a local newscaster. The debate for whether participation trophies are needed has gone on for many years among parents, and sports/hobby officials. Opposers of the participation trophies believe that they are not needed among children and should be eliminated completely. On the contrary proponents of the participation trophies believe that they help children in many ways and should be kept.
Todays generation of kids have been crafted to expect praise for everyday tasks and have become entitled all because of something many people thought was harmless, participation trophies. If you ask anyone, they have probably recieved a participation trophy at least once in their life and some will think it was a good thing, but others may beg to differ. In my opinion participation trophies are a bad tool in life because it goes along and is a big part of the we are all winners concept. Trophies should be a symbol of accomplishing something not a symbol of participation in an activity and a few people have written about their opinion about this situation varying from critical writers, to college athletes from around the country here are
What exactly is the point of receiving a participation trophy and is there really a point? Getting a participation trophy provides a false sense of winning and accomplishment in children that can be ridiculously hard to break. In the article, “Participation Trophies Send a Dangerous Message,” written by Betty Berden. The article elaborates on why children should not be able to receive a participation trophy and the dangers that come with receiving trophies that children did not win, but some disagree. Parker Abate is one of the opposites, Abate wrote an article named, “In Youth Sports, Participation Trophies Send a Powerful Message,” explaining why children should be getting participation trophies rather than not.
Determining whether to award participation trophies or not is a controversial issue in America today. Surprisingly, most people are in favor of not awarding participation trophies to children because of the negative outcomes. A solution that is suggested to solving the problem is to ensure both the winning and losing team a trophy. Conversely, when both teams receive a trophy this defeats the purpose of even playing the game. Children are smart enough to know if they won or lost a game, and by letting each team receive a trophy it creates confusion for children. If a child is rewarded with a plaque after a loss, this could cause confusion for a child because he or she might not understand the purpose of the plaque. Several children understand that while competing there is only one true winner, and by giving both teams awards this creates a false sense of how sports actually maneuver. As children grow old enough to play for their school’s team, they will quickly learn that only teams who win are awarded trophies. Teaching children how a sport operates at a young age could help children comprehend sports better and sooner. Children should not be given participation trophies because the winning effort should be awarded, each sport is a competition, and children deserve proper feedback.
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.
Imagine finishing in second place or not even making it into the quarterfinals, and then someone is handing out trophies to everyone anyway. This would give these people the wrong idea that they don’t need to win, since they’ll get rewarded either way. In the article, “Participation Trophies Send a Dangerous Message” by Betty Berden, she lists the cons of distributing participation trophies to younger people such as reducing competition, making winning less important, and giving off the misunderstanding that everyone is a winner. These are important factors to consider when deciding if it should be practiced. But according to some people, the only definitive positive is that handing out these awards grants a boost in self-esteem for younger
People say participation trophies help motivate them to become better players. Although some people believe trophies are what every kid deserves and participation trophies help kids motivate themselves, participation trophies should not be handed out, because participation trophies don’t prepare them for a loss, and losing motivates them to become
Claim: As a kid, did you ever receive a participation trophy? Do you still have that trophy, probably not? Instead of giving kids meaningless awards when they lose, we should teach them how to show good sportsmanship. When we give children participation awards, it gives them the false implication that in life, everybody wins. At some point, we must show them that sometimes, even if you want something, you might not get it.
Infographic source, “Should Kids Get Participation Trophies?" reveals that a significant number of people aged 18-24, who are actively involved in various activities, support the idea of awarding trophies to all participants. This illustrates that the majority of the participants who participate in different activities value the trophies for their mental well-being. Participation trophies help maintain students' self-esteem and prevent the negative effects of self-doubt, thereby supporting their mental health and encouraging ongoing involvement in
Claim: To this day, the debate around whether children should receive participation tips in sports is a good idea has always been around 50/50 and nobody can seem to agree on this matter. In this essay, I will be explaining why I believe kids should get a trophy for participation. They are a valuable item in both child and adult life, life is not always about winning or losing, and it helps kids overall be a kind athlete in their sport. Support 1: My first reason why kids should get a trophy for participation is because it is a valuable item to them as kids and adults. Even the tiniest of trophies can go a long way and impact a persons life.
Everyone loves getting a trophy! However, getting a participation trophy is quite controversial; some say obtaining them is motivational while others say it is damaging. Although they do not hold much value, giving kids participation trophies helps boost self-esteem, feel accomplished, and helps them to remember they were once part of a team, which can build better beliefs. Self-esteem is very important in a child's life; it can either make them or break them. In Youth Sports, Participation Trophies Send a Powerful Message by Parker Abate argues that “Watching a peer receive a trophy and not receiving one yourself can be degrading.”