Trophies should not be awarded to everyone for participation, but only to the select individuals who have had the determination to reach their goal of coming out on top of everyone else. Participation trophies will not teach children and teens the real realities of life, that not everything is going to go your way. Children need to know at an early age, that just showing up to a sport, isn't going to help you or your team win, if you don't put effort.
Trophies are setting kids up for failure, rather than trying to teach them to succeed in life. Participation trophies don't teach lessons in life to a child. It just teaches that they can get anything they want, without even trying For example, in the article by Vivian Diller about setting kids up to fail stated that, "Instead of trophies for all, perhaps handing participants a copy of these life lessons would have more lasting value. The ones that I would include are: life is not fair-get used to it, the world will expect you to accomplish something then feel good about yourself, if you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss, your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping they called it an opportunity..." It is better to encourage children and adolescents to work hard by not getting participation trophies.
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While in reality, handing out participation trophies will make kids feel the guilt of not trying hard enough and that they really didn't deserve the trophy they received. Which would make kids feel unworthy of the prize and it will be a reminder of the lack of effort they put into sports as a
Some people may argue that if everyone gets a trophy, everyone will be happy. That might be an understandable concern, however, according to people on blog.sportssignup.com, “By acknowledging everyone with the same award we’re actually celebrating no one and even undermining the efforts of those who really deserve to be recognized.” Similarly, it makes the kids who work really hard feel like there efforts were equal or worse than the efforts of those who do not try hard and do not work hard. On the other hand, if everyone gets a trophy than winners are no longer special. Kids should play sports because they enjoy playing them, not because they want a trophy. It is like one of those arcade games at the movie theater, you keep playing until you win. Another way to say this is, sports were made because they wanted to let people have fun and try to compete, but now sports is turning into the concept of everyone is a winner. Kids and adults feel like we are ruining what sports are supposed to be. In summary, many citizens think that kids should not get trophies for participation because only kids who work hard deserve
Over the years, many sports leagues have given out participation trophies to young athletes. Today, a lot of leagues are no longer giving out trophies to everyone. Leagues should not give out participation trophies because it teaches kids that you don’t need to earn anything, ruins getting an award by not making it a special thing, and teaches young athletes that you will always win.
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
Handing out participation trophies does not teach kids about the real world. O’Sullivan says, “We reward them for having a parent capable of registering them for a sport.” Participation trophies are for registering and showing up the day they hand out trophies, they are not for hard
A solution could be improved by only handing out trophies to those who have earned them. There have been many studies to show the harms of participation trophies and how they can affect a child’s future. One study has shown that “if coaches use trophy presentations as a way to acknowledge each player’s unique effort or contribution, that message can be powerful” (Ross), but the fact is that many coaches will not do this and for that reason participation trophies must be banned from youth athletics. When coaches hand out these trophies they are sending the message that they don’t care and just want the children to always be acknowledged as “winners.” Participation trophies have also diminished the value of true awards, and can make the children who have put in the effort and hard work not feel the reward they should. “In the kid’s movie The Incredibles, the evil villain tries to give everybody superpowers. His theory is that if everyone is special, then no one is special” (Krumrie). This is very true in our society and needs to be implemented by regulations and rules to make sure this does not happen. These rules and regulations would be set by athletic associations across the country to ensure the use of participation trophies are not used in sports. The directors will come
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
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
Rewards and trophies should only go to the children who are doing something and making themselves better at what they are passionate about doing.” Trophies used to be awarded only to winners but are now little more than party favor Reminders of an experience, not token of true achievement when awards are handed out like candy to every child who participates, they diminish in value.” Children just getting Participation trophies will make the other children that are taking the sport seriously look like they are doing nothing, also it makes the coaches look like they're not good at coaches because they are not good at coaching. the children that have the trophy will get more attention than the rest of the children. The children should get trophies, but they should not get them before the winners, the trophies should be given out last so their other kids can be honored before the others and then our trophies should be given to them.”
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.
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
First of all, participation trophies can make kids feel like they are not good, or they are worthless to their team. Participation trophies let kids get rewarded for not acomplishing anything. I believe that if you want something in life you are going to have to work hard for it to achieve it. Participation trophies are a waste of money for the sports foundations providing the trophies. The money used for participation trophies could be used for the betterment of something else sports related like getting new equipment, or building a new baseball feild, or a new basketball court. The people that get participation trophies feel like they wasted their money on something that does not give them any pleasure.
It is important for kids to grow up knowing that they are winners and receiving participation trophies even after losing will help boost their morale. Children should receive participation trophies for doing the
This is supported by Lisa Heffernan, who argues that participation trophies "remind kids that we value their effort" and help teach kids that "showing up for practice, learning the rules and rituals of the game and working hard" is really what's most important to take away from sports (Source 3). This is a great lesson to teach kids through sports, however, there are other ways we can teach this lesson. We can praise them for their schoolwork through academic awards, praise their character through complimenting their actions, or even hand out awards to celebrate "improvement or team spirit" (Source 1). Either way, trophies or awards should be handed out based on accomplishment and not simply on showing up. This idea is supported by Stanford researcher, Carol Dweck, who claims too much praise, including participation trophies, can lead to developing kids that are less resilient to challenges later in life (Source 4).
Research shows that children who receive ongoing praise aren’t inspired to succeed, instead, it causes athletes to give up. Participation trophies should not be used because failing motivates athletes to keep trying, kids feel cheated when they aren’t known for their accomplishments, and participation trophies don’t help kids improve. Some think participation trophies help motivate young athletes. Although this is true, failing and not receiving an award motivates kids to keep trying so they can get rewarded for individual accomplishments.
Now every time he gets a trophy they have less and less value. Thus, getting a reward for a simple task, has no point. Another reason kids shouldn’t get participation trophies is their confidence. Initially, “Research has found that the best way to improve kids’ self image is to help them develop their abilities.”