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Should kids get participation trophies for playing sports?


Another Fan

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C'mon and research, the concept of using it as a symbol of the complete failure of US society had to originate in some usual piece of garbage column by Rick Reilly or Bob Greene.

 

 

Edited by row_33
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10 minutes ago, Gugny said:

I bet Aaron Hernandez got participation trophies as a child.

 

read the trash biography on his life... that was the least of his troubles

 

Coach Urban overlooking his problems didn't help either

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14 hours ago, LeGOATski said:

Participation trophies aren't the problem. It's not keeping the score that's the problem. We still tell our kids "your team won/lost" at the end of the game, if they can't tell already. Some of the kids still keep score during the game themselves.

The league I grew up in didn't keep score in t-ball.  They tried keeping score, and it failed horribly. The rule was, as soon as the "pitcher" got the ball, the play was over. So instead of teaching kids the fundamentals of the game, they were just taught to get the ball to the pitcher, ASAP. So they stopped keeping score, not because of some self esteem BS, but because it made it a better environment to teach the kids how to play the game. 

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12 minutes ago, row_33 said:

 

 

 

still have it somewhere?

 

god...now i'm wondering if i went to my parents, if i could find it.  i should start displaying those things all over my office.

let's face it.  none of this is a problem.  as others have mentioned, how the parents handle it is the problem.  show me one kid that got messed up by a participation trophy.

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51 minutes ago, BringBackFergy said:

I chose to participate in this thread with the hope that I may get a trophy of some sort. Can you help a brother out?

 

Thanks for showing up today, you're welcome to  browse around; if you need help, one of our members will gladly assist you.

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28 minutes ago, teef said:

god...now i'm wondering if i went to my parents, if i could find it.  i should start displaying those things all over my office.

let's face it.  none of this is a problem.  as others have mentioned, how the parents handle it is the problem.  show me one kid that got messed up by a participation trophy.

 

I come from the hometown of The Great One, he was a few years older, got to see the circus he caused everyone around him to join into.

 

Our trophies were awesome, we took our minor house league seriously.

 

 

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17 hours ago, SinceThe70s said:

 

 

Maybe where I differ from you guys is I give more credit to the kids. I don't think that just because they get a trophy they think they're a superstar. I think they are more self aware than that. 

 

I also wouldn't discourage a kid from pursuing a sport they like because they aren't good at it. Plenty of opportunities in sports for non-athletes (refs/umps, sports medicine, player agent, to a lesser degree coaching, nowadays analytics,...) and being around the sport as the last player on the bench can only help.

 

Regardless, if the participation trophy haters marched on Washington and convinced Trump to sign an executive order banning participation trophies it wouldn't bother me. To me it's a pretty innocuous tradition.

This is true. I was never very gifted as far as playing ability was concerned. Coaches liked having me because I still had a vast knowledge of baseball, probably more than most of the team. So I was still able to help some of the other kids along. There was always a player or two every year that was the opposite of me. Started a little later, had all the natural talent I wish I had, but had no baseball knowledge. So I'd be able to help them figure out which base to throw to when, etc. 

 

Became an umpire a little bit later.

Edited by The Real Buffalo Joe
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6 hours ago, unbillievable said:

I always found it ridiculous that 25% of my college credits had to be in the humanities, but those liberal arts kids didn't have to take any math/science classes.

 

It's more important to spot a metaphor than to balance a budget.

 

That's because the ruling class has a vested interest in a fiscally ignorant populous.  There is absolutely zero education around money in this country.  None.

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17 hours ago, LeGOATski said:

Participation trophies aren't the problem. It's not keeping the score that's the problem. We still tell our kids "your team won/lost" at the end of the game, if they can't tell already. Some of the kids still keep score during the game themselves.

 

It's funny....there was no score kept in my daughters' second grade instructional soccer league that I coached, yet a lot of the girls kept track.  The highlight of the season was our come from behind 3-2 win against the team that had crushed us 8-1 in the first game.   I never said a word about the score but the 7 year olds knew and were all fired up about the W.

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1 hour ago, Mark Vader said:

For which sport?

 

Football, starting around 5th grade. 

 

We NEVER got trophies, even if we won a league. My kids got a trophy for every 6-8 week rec league sport, and much bigger ones for AAU and traveling stuff. As it gets more serious and kids get weeded out, they eventually stopped. Some kids are there to compete, and some seemed to just want an award to decorate their bedroom dresser. I played sports through college, but by the time my kids  were 10 they had played in more games with a uniform, a ref and a scoreboard than I ever did! BUT, they never went out and just “played” a sport on a field somewhere. It all had to be “organized” league play. (With obnoxious parents!) 

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On 1/6/2019 at 3:30 PM, Another Fan said:

I do get the whole argument about kids today being too pampered.  The everybody gets a trophy generation.  I totally get that.

 

At the same time though cleaning out my room, I found some of mine from when I was a kid and participation ribbons for running 5ks.  Years later for me at least it does bring back childhood memories.   Me I was never the best at team sports but not the worst either.   Though maybe today its totally different with IPhones, Instagram, Facebook, etc.   Everything can be easily looked up for memories. 

 

I'm sentimental I hold onto mine. 

 

I got one in 1964 for participation in Little Loop football with the Lake Shore Lakers.

We had a banquet and Tom Day handed me my trophy and shook my hand!  (AFL days)

 

My oldest daughter has it now so it will stay in the family. 

We knew we were not "champions" but it meant a lot to an eleven year old learning the game.

 

I have my "Number Tag" that they pin on you for running the Lilac 10K.

For the 10K, I was thumbing my nose at being over 40 AND having to deal with my diagnosis of MS. I worked hard to prepare for it and had an 11 minute mile pace. I hate running, but it was making a statement!  :w00t: 

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27 minutes ago, KD in CA said:

 

That's because the ruling class has a vested interest in a fiscally ignorant populous.  There is absolutely zero education around money in this country.  None.

 

math/science weeds out very soon in school

 

i remember 5 major rubicons starting in sophomore year in high school, i made it to late undergrad before realizing I'm finished with hard electives for my Accounting degree.

 

 

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1 hour ago, rockpile said:

 

I got one in 1964 for participation in Little Loop football with the Lake Shore Lakers.

We had a banquet and Tom Day handed me my trophy and shook my hand!  (AFL days)

 

My oldest daughter has it now so it will stay in the family. 

We knew we were not "champions" but it meant a lot to an eleven year old learning the game.

 

I have my "Number Tag" that they pin on you for running the Lilac 10K.

For the 10K, I was thumbing my nose at being over 40 AND having to deal with my diagnosis of MS. I worked hard to prepare for it and had an 11 minute mile pace. I hate running, but it was making a statement!  :w00t: 

Something like a marathon, 10k etc, I'm fine with participation prizes, because finishing that, regardless of how you placed, is an achievement in and of itself. 

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1 minute ago, teef said:

A sexy one?   I’m bad at this. 

Well, you aren't wrong (or so I've been told).

 

Your turning of the tables was interesting. I can't see anyone even considering taking a trophy from their kid, but that's just me.

 

 

We're still on for drinks, right?

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On 1/6/2019 at 3:34 PM, May Day 10 said:

Yes.  Nothing wrong with it.  Its just a talking point for miserable people. 

I got them 35 years ago and they were great, and we would always look forward to them, and i never turned into some helpless adult who wants to climb back into the womb.  

 

I agree.  Not everyone can be a gifted athlete.  Moreover, winning and/or developing future professionals isn't the only reason to encourage young people to play sports.  At youth levels, sports really can foster/encourage/bolster comradeship, teamwork, perseverance, etc which are all qualities/traits that only help kids all through their lives.   The idea behind participation awards is to give kids positive re-enforcement, especial those kids who struggle. 

 

Contrary to the jackasses who keep complaining about participation awards, kids know when they aren't as good as some/most of the other kids.  They also understand winning and losing.   They know that the award isn't for them being "best" -- or even good -- but for them hanging in there and finishing something they started. 

 

What produces helpless adults is parents who never allow their kids to stand on their own two feet, to make their own mistakes or to take responsibility for their bad choices, especially when those bad choices are relatively harmless -- owning up to not doing a homework assignment or pilfering candy from a bodega. 

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1 minute ago, Cripple Creek said:

Well, you aren't wrong (or so I've been told).

 

Your turning of the tables was interesting. I can't see anyone even considering taking a trophy from their kid, but that's just me.

 

 

We're still on for drinks, right?

I wouldn't take them away from my own kid. Your kid though? I'd take their trophy, remind them that they're losers, and tell them Santa isn't real.

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