James Harrison Returning His Sons' Participation Award Trophies

[vi edit]

*hobbles up with walker*

In my day...your participation reward was a photo shot from a Kodak Polaroid after one of the last games.

*scoots off*

 

[edro]

As best I can tell, his two sons are 8 and 6 years old. I think that's a little young to be focusing on their performance compared to their peers, particularly in athletics. IMHO there's nothing wrong with putting the emphasis on participation rather than performance at that age. I think you can wait till they're 10-12 years old to shift the focus to performance and "winning".

I agree. I'm ok with participation trophies up to a certain point. (10yo?)
The trophy is a good incentive to continue playing at that age.

By time they are ~10, they already understand that winning is what really matters, not a participation trophy.

I remember knowing the difference. Even a 2nd place trophy was trash to me.

 

[JujuFish]

And I care what one of the dirtiest players in the NFL has to say...why?

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I agree. I'm ok with participation trophies up to a certain point. (10yo?)
The trophy is a good incentive to continue playing at that age.

By time they are ~10, they already understand that winning is what really matters, not a participation trophy.

I remember knowing the difference. Even a 2nd place trophy was trash to me.

Trophies for all is just another one chalked up to the entitlement generations.

Everyone equally worked hard so we all equally deserve an award, right? Just like if worker a works in the same place as worker b, he deserves to be equally paid, right? Don't bring up useless things like worker productivity or anything. Wait, why are you firing me? That is racist/sexist/<insert bullshit discrimination>

 

[dave_the_nerd]

another problem with giving these participation trophies is that they completely devalue the trophies that the first place teams get.

a team goes 16-0 and another team goes 0-16, yet they have identical trophies. makes the reward for coming in first place worthless. what is the point in trying if you will end up with the same thing?

Depends. You can just buy a trophy - nobody competes in something like that for the trophy, they compete to WIN.

I don't have a problem with participation trophies, inasmuch as they're a physical, tangible object that can trigger memories of the time you lost, you losing loser. Now get out there and bring home a plaque that says you tore somebody's spine out through their throat.

 

[edro]

Related story: We were cleaning out the garage last night and found a ton of crap trophies (most improved, participation, etc.) from my youth.
My 1.5 yo played with them for an hour.
So there... they are worth something; they kept my kid entertained for a while.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

But seriously - even at 6 years old, I knew that participation trophies were BS because everybody got one. But I still can dig through my old box of stuff, find the "completion" ribbons and fondly remember the time I had fun doing the thing.

If we called them "souvenirs" instead of "trophies" would that be more acceptable?

 

[edro]

Wait... it just occurred to me that maybe we are all talking about different things.

The participation trophies I remember were small, about 5" tall and obviously were participation trophies.
The winning team won much larger trophies.

Do they actually give participation trophies to all team members of all teams, and all trophies are the same? If so, that's crap (if they were old enough to keep score).

5yo kid soccer where they don't keep score? Everyone gets a trophy.
10yo soccer where there are winners and losers? Give the losers a tiny trophy, ribbon or certificate and the winners should get big trophies.

 

[Mai72]

When I taught in South Korea we didn't have trophies for everybody. It's a highly competitive environment. Test scores are even posted online and put on the wall for everybody to see. A low test score means you disgraced the family.

Real life is competitive? No?

 

[FerrelGeek]

T-shirt or ribbon is a perfect reward for participation. My kids got ribbons for participation in rec council soccer and a trophy if their team placed first.

I think it's great. He's not saying they did anything wrong or that they were lousy players, he's saying a trophy is something that should be earned for results, not for participation.

I like the t-shirt idea. An acknowledgment of being involved, but it doesn't imply "Look how great you did!"

This is my problem with participation trophies. A ribbon for participation, and a trophy for winning would work.

 

[rh71]

Instead of trophies, give them something symbolic of the time spent playing whatever it was. Our town program gives beach towels with the year & sport they played inscribed on it. The towel is useful too. Another year it was a nice bag that cinches with drawstring. Kids don't care about trophies a day later anyway and all it does is collect dust. And that way, real trophies still retain their meaning.

 

[Exterous]

*hobbles up with walker*

In my day...your participation reward was a photo shot from a Kodak Polaroid after one of the last games.

*scoots off*

lol

 

[OutHouse]

They can mean something to you, that's cool. But they shouldn't resemble what the winners get. A ribbon to acknowledge you participated, perhaps, if the winners get trophies. Or as someone else mentioned, a t-shirt or other memorabilia.

But not a trophy. Trophies are for winners. You didn't get a trophy in the Air Force, correct?

Actually, put it this way: there are service medals for specific things. You didn't get a highly-prized medal and ribbon for simply being in a unit, correct? You got plaques. And, perhaps, you got basic medals for serving a certain number of years and/or simply being in the military. But they were distinct medals, not the same as those earned by going above and beyond, yes?

That's the difference that it seems Harrison is pointing out, and I agree with him. Participation can be acknowledged, sure, but do it right. A trophy is not the right answer.

to the bold. there are several unit ribbons/medals, one of them is the Presidential unit citation.

I got Air Force plaques for units i was with and i got medals for things that i did.


my "participation" trophy's from the 1975 Panthers LL team is on a a 1/2 thick 3X3 slab of marble with a little guy up to bat on it, 3.5 inches high tops. the brass plate on the front of it simply says Panthers 1975. I was 6 years old when i got it. its nothing more than a Souvenir, keepsake, memento of the team i played on. and a thanks from the coach.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with giving these "participation" trophy's out to young kids.

 

[ichy]

When I taught in South Korea we didn't have trophies for everybody. It's a highly competitive environment. Test scores are even posted online and put on the wall for everybody to see. A low test score means you disgraced the family.

Real life is competitive? No?

In real life though it usually won't matter who wins a game unless you're one of the tiny minority of people who's good enough to be a professional athlete.

I hate the idea of participation trophies, but at the same time sports and athletic activities are worth participating in even if you'll never be good enough to be a champion. Anything to get fat, video-game addicted kids off of their asses.

 

[Eug]

Yeah, those awards are way too big for just participation.

Participation ribbons? Sure. Hugh Jass trophies for participation? Lame.

BTW, my daughter gets a couple of stickers for each sports class she attends. Mind you, she's only 3, but that sounds about right to me.

 

[SP33Demon]

*hobbles up with walker*

In my day...your participation reward was a photo shot from a Kodak Polaroid after one of the last games.

*scoots off*

That's true, my dad has VHS tapes of me hitting leadoff homeruns (I'm built like Rickey Henderson) and pitching the equivalent of 95mph in Little League (kids and summer camp coaches were scared to hit against me muahahaha). That video is worth 10x more than any trophy we won.