Picture this, an intense basketball game with the score going back and forth for the past hour. By the end of the game both teams and every player, whether they were trying or not; received a participation trophy. Teens on sport teams should not just obtain trophies, but they should work hard to earn it. When everyone does not acquire a trophy it is teaching the teens to work hard through merit. Despite the idea of not all teens receiving trophies, some people think that teens should take the trophy either way as a confidence booster. In fact, there are more reasons why kids should not just take the trophy, but they should earn it and be rewarded for their great athleticism.
Teens should have to work for what they want, and not just let it be handed to them like everyone else. Teens should have to show how good they are and try their hardest to earn the trophy. The teens need to learn how to be the best if they want to be rewarded. Just handing a teen a trophy that did not try, is telling them they did amazing when they did not. Furthermore, this is not how life will work in the future it is going to be difficult for them to work at what they do, since everything was handed to them. People who truly do work hard, do not get their own special recognition as the other people. Teens who play harder deserve more awareness of who they are; instead of players who do not really care. Teamsnap.com stated “No one is going to simply hand you the life you 1`want. You need to work hard
Should Everyone Get a Trophy? Most teams have the “Trophies for all” rule, But the question is “Should everyone get a trophy for doing what’s required”? Some experts say giving out trophies to everyone sends out the wrong message even though it encourages kids to keep playing. Although some people feel that trophies lose their meaning if everyone gets one, But other people believe that tropies encourage players to keep playing.
Imagine a world where youth athletes received a trophies for everything they do? According to the trophies for all policy youth athletes are being awarded with participation trophies. Participation trophies should not be giving to youth athletes are being awarded with participation trophies should not be giving to youth athletes because it's not reflective of real life. Also, the money spent on trophies could be better used on coaching staff. However, participation trophies may motivate youth athletes to try harder. Not everyone should get a trophy or they will expect for them to get one in every sports.
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
Over 36,000,000 kids are active in organized youth sports each year, with 90% of kids preferring to be on a losing team if they could play rather than warm the bench on a winning team. This statistic is shocking because it shows that kids do not really care about winning or losing, but rather how much “playing time” they get, bringing up the question, should all youth receive trophies for participating in sports? Ashley Merryman, author of “Forget Trophies, Let Kids Know It's O.K. To Lose.” and Parker Abate, author “In Youth Sports, Participation Trophies Send a Powerful Message” both attempt to evoke the emotions of the pros and cons of youth receiving participation trophies in their pieces, but because Merryman also justifies how gaining trophies can falsely show the idea of working hard, she displays the sounder argument.
What do you think life would be like if everyone got a trophy for just going to school or work? That would be crazy! That is not how life works, so why should kids get a participation trophy for just showing up.That is a waste of an organization's scarce funds. Also, the more trophies given out the less each one means. Youth athletes should be allowed to fail. On the other hand, some people believe it is worth a few bucks to give a kid a smile. Participation trophies are unessential for rewarding youth athletes in sports.
Participation trophies only hurt kids. These trophies have been given out in many sports for decades but they do not mean much to older children. Something as simple as golden painted plastic will not keep a child playing for long after their first years. Children must also be taught how to compete early on. These trophies create a lack of competition in youth athletes and should not be given to children above the age of ten to help teach them life skills and to protect them from struggling in their future lives when they will have to compete for jobs.
In the article “Dangers of an ‘everyone gets a trophy’ culture?” Ashley Merryman interviews thirty seven children to see what they think about participation trophies. One kid, Levey Friedman, said to Ashley Merryman “Well, I kind of purposely played in this esiar one because I knew I would win and now I don’t really count that as a real victory because I went in and I knew it was below my level.” In other words Levey Friedman only played on the lower level sports team to win. One year when I played soccer we only won one out of thirteen games. At the end of the year we got our trophies and awards and now every time I see the soccer trophy it just reminds me of how bad our team was and how bad we did that season. Kids know when a sport is below their level so it's dangerous to think that everyone's a
Is giving kids participation trophies beneficial to children, or motivation killers? Many people all around the U.S. have their opinions for both sides of the discussion. James Harrison, linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, has weighed in on this topic. In many people’s eyes, his beliefs make a lot of sense, they understand where he’s coming from and what he is speaking about. Carol Dweck also made a statement to NPR about her belief’s on the topic. There are millions of important facts that need to be talked about with this epidemic: an estimated fifty-seven percent said “only winners” should receive a trophy for participation in kids sports, giving out participation trophies is tantamount to giving kids the wrong kind of praise, and this
Our society has shifted its beliefs in how we should treat competition in young people. The concept that "everyone receives a trophy" has taken the place of only rewarding those who achieve excellence within that activity. Rewarding all participants in youth activities and sports has become standard practice in American culture. "Should kids get a trophy for participation?" or should only the achievers receive a trophy? In the following essay it will explore the idea that everyone should win from participating and get an achievement for being there.
But what if I told you that once a teenager receives a participation trophy, it decreases their confidence. Truthfully, teenagers are much more competitive in children, and that's common due to us growing older. However, planning to give out participation trophies at our school isn't such a good idea. Our school is made of middle and high school students, whom all are pretty competitive. Giving out participation trophies to any student who participates in any given activity, no matter what grade they're in, could lead to a decrease in confidence throughout the entire school. Giving out the participation trophies to only one grade could also affect those students greatly, due to those kids taking the participation trophies for
In an age where everyone is expected to be recognized, there must be an understanding that the world does not progress by congratulating the “average.” I believe that giving participation trophies makes people stop competing; especially if the trophies are given at a very early age. For example, a team of small children have a terrible baseball season, but it’s okay! Because the coach gives out trophies to everyone. This in turn only teaches the child that no matter how bad life gets, they will always be rewarded. Participation trophies create future generations of entitled adults as seen by today’s generation. We need to reward kids that work hard for what they do for the sake of risk and reward. That is simply how progress is made in society. Yet I agree with one point made by the opposing side. I believe that participation should be recognized sometimes. Participation can teach kids that teamwork matters in every little aspect of society. Participation trophies should be eliminated but participation should still merely just be recognized with a pat on the back as said by Betty Berdan, a high school junior from Connecticut. Participation trophies overall hinder the growing and learning process of kids; whether it is through sports, or any other competitive involvement.
Should everyone get a trophy? I do not think that youth sports athletes should receive participation trophies at all. Many people believe it is worth a buck to give a child a smile but, I do not. I do not think everyone should receive a trophy because it waste good money from the organization. If children just receive trophies for trying their hardest they are not going to try any harder the next year and their best may not be good enough. On the other hand coaches and parents believe that youth athletes should be rewarded for their hard work. Participation trophies are unnecessary because youth athletes play to win not just to receive a trophy they didn’t earn.
You get last place in your tournament. The coach walks up to you looking disappointed and hands you a trophy. You look down at the trophy confused on how you go it and notice that it reads “participation”, but why hand out a trophy if you didn’t really earn it? A popular issue today is whether or not participation trophies should be given out to young athletes. There isn’t a right or wrong answer to this debate, however I believe that it is wrong for these no good trophies to be handed out. Here are some of the reasons on why I believe this.
That it motivates the kids and gives them a reason to try new things. Kids can be motivated by things other than trophies. They can receive a high five, hug, pat on the back, a “good job,” or “we are proud of you,” and can mean just as much or even more than a trophy. These gestures can be very motivational to a child and boost their confidence more than a trophy can. “We’re focusing so much on giving kids materialistic rewards that we’re not spending enough time on the real life lessons you learn from sports: success and failure, making choices, teamwork. The whole purpose of youth sports should be to play and have fun. It should be about the experience. That’s the real trophy” (Fussell). The big reason kids should be playing sports is to learn lessons and skills that will help them in life, not a
For centuries, the trophy and many other objects have been used in sports to decide between a winner who has worked hard and a person who has lost. Research shows that when children are given trophies for participation they are manipulated into thinking everything else in life should come that easy, but when in the future they figure out it is not, it is too late. The trophy is mainly a symbol of a winner or a loser, but when you give everyone that “trophy” it loses the overall meaning and becomes nothing worth working towards. Do the kids really need an object to prove that they have worked hard? “Trophies” are meant to symbolize when a child has worked hard for where they are at, but if a child loses it shows them that they should work harder,