Participation Trophies For Young Athletes

In “Losing is Good for You,” Ashley Merryman argues that society should stop handing out trophies for participation and instead let your child loose sometimes. Merryman states, “today, participation trophies and prizes are almost a given, as children are constantly assured that they are winners.” She later goes on and says that children who are given so much praise will crack “at the first experience of difficulty.” In her opinion, she does not believe that every child should be given a trophy because it will affect how they handle a different task. She claims that children would be better off losing than winning, and she also think that children should not get a trophy for everything they compete in.

As children who have received participation awards begin to grow older, they are introduced to more and more situations in which not everyone is a winner. A person who has been a winner all their life will eventually lose, and it will affect them more seriously because they have not had experience dealing with failure at an early age. According to the article “Failure is an Option: Raising Children in a ‘Participation Trophy’ Society” in Scouting Magazine, Dr. Tim Elmore believes failure is like a coach, teaching kids to try their best. Elmore argues that participation trophies take away the positive effects of losing, and children grow up lacking motivation and become wary of testing their abilities due to fear of failure. This leads to children being more emotionally fragile than they should be, which may eventually result in serious matters such as depression and even suicide. Participation awards treat everyone like a winner, which means children do not learn how to cope with loss. Kids that don’t experience dealing with failure end up being afraid of it, and this constant fear contributes to psychological problems such as stress, anxiety, and depression. For example, if a child were to

Heffernan believes that if kids are given these trophies as a sign of recognition, even for just showing up, they will become motivated to do more next time, because when it comes down to winning and losing, at a young age it’s not a necessity, as the lesson in that is all around them (Heffernan, Paragraph 3). The main lesson in this is that it teaches kids at a young age to not give up, and to strive to succeed, although there is no need to fret over failure, because what matters is that you do your best. Even if success isn’t the result, then working hard with recognition as motivation will have a greater outcome the next time. Not only that, but it is a lesson in teamwork, as kids are taught to work together, and if someone is struggling, then they are there to help, since they have been in the same situation (Heffernan, Paragraph 8). Teamwork is a major key in adulthood. There will be many instances in which teamwork is key, and will make tasks easier to handle. Where there is teamwork, there is also leadership, a quality that many discover through teamwork. It is important for kids to learn leadership in order to handle difficult situations in the future. There are some negatives to those who receive participation trophies, as there can be kids who just don’t care at all about any recognition, and can grow out of the sport, or anything else. Sometimes, what is used to motivate some can be seen as discouraging towards others, and there is where a flaw is seen with

"trophies for all " policy youth athletes are being rewarded with participation trophies. Should all youth athletes get participation trophies? Should the participation trophies get taken away from all youth athletes? Should youth athletes never get participation trophies? But will Youth Athletes want to come back to the game if they don't receive a participation trophy?

Merryman voices “A recent study found if parents thought failure was debilitating, their kids adopted that perspective” (Merryman). It is the parent’s job to teach their children how to accept participation awards correctly. That losing is not that bad. Merryman goes on saying “If parents believed overcoming failure and mistakes make you stronger, then their children believed it, too” (Merryman). That statement pressures the idea that whatever the parent’s opinion on the matter is transferred to the kid. That kid will go on to work harder and not need the participation trophies to be an objective. The success of the children depends on the

The praise and encouragement the children receive will instill a sense of self-worth in them. When parents “prais[e] children for their effort, … [it] is… effective… motivating them” (Hammond). The praise can help children realize that their effort is valuable and that with the effort can come possible success. The motivation that their parents provide can be the foundation for self-motivation in the future, which creates more drive to continue with a challenging task. They will be given unconditional self-esteem which is essential in overcoming whatever failure they may encounter, whether it be in school or in social circumstances. Furthermore, the praise the children receive will not blind them from their faults and failures. Will children “who [have] received a trinket after losing a contest… [believe] that [they] … won” (Kohn)? Children have the ability of recognising their own defeat, and the defeat in itself will already put the child down, so a scolding parent will not help the child’s mindset. Instead, when children are encouraged after a defeat and are provided with a positive environment, they will recognise their loss and will become stronger because of it. If they realize that they are worth love and praise even if they make mistakes, they can grow and develop self-confidence

The general argument made by Berdan in her work, “Participation Trophies Send A Dangerous Message,” is that participation awards commemorate individuals for everyone being a winner. More specifically, Berdan argues that distributing participation trophies to all participants diminishes the meaning of the first, second, or third place trophy. She writes, “When awards are handed out like candy to every child who participates, they diminish in value.” In this passage, Berdan is suggesting that rewarding children constantly with a trophy decreases the value of the trophy that the actual winners earned. Personally, I agree with Berdan because I agree with the concept that providing children with constant rewards sends a dangerous message later in life. On the other hand, writer Eric Priceman defends his opinion that these continuous awards are a necessary part of the education process for young children and will benefit them to strive for better. More specifically, Priceman argues that there is a difference between an award and a reward; he states that an award is given for achievement while a reward is given for accomplishment. He writes, “Just syntax maybe, but anyone that has ever achieved at the highest level has had to endure multiple levels of accomplishment first.” In this passage, Priceman is suggesting that people who have reached the highest levels of trophies and medals have also been encouraged along the way with things such as participation awards. He describes the action of distributing participation awards similarly to encouraging phrases that motivate an individual to strive for greatness. Despite his argument, I believe Priceman is wrong because rewarding children with a meaningless trophy or certificate provides no benefit for them in their future. More specifically, I

All across America, you see the topic of “Should children be receiving participation trophies” being brought up. The idea that all kids should get some reward for being a part of the game and helping it grow. To some, it seems like an excellent idea, but to others not as much. For example, NFL linebacker James Harrison took his children 's participation trophies and gave them back to their coaches saying "EARN a real trophy." Other parents believe that their children deserve to be praised and want them to feel good for doing something they have worked hard. So which side is correct? Should we give our kids these trophies or not?

Do you believe young athletes should earn participation trophies? According to "Trophies For All Policy," youth athletes are being rewarded with participation trophies. There can be positive and negative results from earning a participation trophy. But, not everyone can be rewarded for nothing. Some parents believe earning participation trophies could help boost some young athletes confidence, but is that what sports are all about though? Youth sports are not just about winning or earning a trophy, it is mostly about playing the game and enjoying yourself.

In the article “Losing is Good for You”, Ashely Merryman claims that children should not be given awards for something not worth an award such as participation. She states that our youth should not be put under the illusion that winning is as easy as one, two, three. Based on her information, receiving an achievement should be earned instead of given. She stresses the fact that constant praise and awards for possible effortless doings will result in a mindset that believes that putting effort into something will not matter in the end because of the expected praise. With that being said, she believes that constant awarding will lead to underachievement and poor problem-solving skills.

Participation Awards are bad for the Society Participation awards make kids look weak. We need to teach kids that it’s okay not to earn an award, but what we are really doing is teaching kids that losing is the end of the world. Kids think that can show up to anything and be rewarded for putting absolutely no effort in trying.

Participation trophies are a widely spread topic, some people argue that children do not learn valuable life lessons by receiving participation awards. Contrarily, people argue that children need participation trophies to help fuel children’s want to do better to win first or second prize. Ashley Merryman, Betty Berdan and Parker Abate wrote three separate articles discussing participation trophies. Participation Trophies need to be done away with because of all the negative consequences that children learn from receiving these trophies.

Youth athletes are receiving trophies with no effort, but is that really what is best for them? Youth athletes deserve trophies when they earn it and not just for showing up.

Have you ever performed the worst that you could, but still got rewarded for it? Me either. In society today, we have come to the fact that everyone should be a winner just because they were involved. How will that affect our society when these "participation winners" get to the real life, and realize they don't win no matter how hard or not how hard they work? It has become a huge argument when coming to this topic all around America, especially in school activities with ages from 3-18. If everyone were to receive a participation trophy for their performances than that will affect society greatly when these kids get into the real adult world. Based off of the article shared and developed ideas, there becomes three argumentative

Participation trophies are a way to fool parents into thinking that they are protecting their kids. “It’s affirmation that our kids are as wonderful as we think they are” (Armour). When really all that is being done is postponing the child from experiencing failure. The longer we shield kids from experiencing loss or failure the worse they will react to it when they experience it, but yet parents will try their best to postpone it as long as possible. They want every child to receive the same amount of recognition and complain if their child does not. This not only affects the child, but affects the businesses involving these younger kids. If a business like a basketball camp gives out trophies for different skill building competitions for example, and a child does not receive any rewards. The parent will not send their child back for the fear that not receiving a trophy will ruin their child’s childhood. This can ruin the business’s income and what they can do in their camp based on the number of people that decide to come back