Participation Trophies Are Poisoning Our Society

It’s the end-of-season pizza party. Parents know that this is when those plastic participation trophies come out. The coach gathers the kids, but instead of pulling out 15 trophies, he pulls out 3 – most valuable player, most improved, and best sportsmanship. Why would the coach not give trophies to everyone? The first participation trophies were the gift to the millennial generation from the baby-boomer parents. People even associate millennials with participation trophies and the participation trophies add to their list of how millennials are entitled brats (Zhao). Now that the older millennials are having kids, the debate about participation trophies and awards has been thrust to the surface. Society should stop giving participation trophies because they don’t prepare kids for the real world, they may cause a lack of motivation, and they may harm some children more than they help.

When we give participation trophies, we are not preparing children for what’s to come when they are adults. When kids become adults, they will not get an award just for showing up on time. Society needs to teach kids at a young age that the harder your work, the better your reward. Those who work harder will be better rewarded than those who do not try as hard. In the article “Does sports participation deserve a trophy? Let the parental debate begin!”, Ashley Merryman says, “‘That if you tell a kid they’re wonderful and they believe you, then it just confirms their belief and that’s not about healthy self-esteem, that about narcissism…It’s fine to say…‘You didn’t go to all the games. You didn’t practice soccer. The other kid worked really hard and he did really well and he deserved a trophy and you should go over and congratulate him.’ That’s a hard lesson, but it’s an important lesson,’ she said” (Wallace). If we just give awards to everyone, there is no opportunity for this vital lesson to be learned. Imagine if the next generation of workers did not have this skill. The workplace would suffer, and a bunch of twenty-year-old computer programmers would throw a fit when a coworker gets an award and they do not. The generations of the future need to be equipped with this skill, and there is no better time to teach this lesson than now. This is not the only reason why participation trophies are detrimental, in fact, it is not the only way they are harming our youth.

Giving participation trophies may lower a child’s motivation. If a child sees that the only award he can get, regardless of his effort, is a dinky little plastic trophy, he may not try as hard as he could have. Lucas Capalbo is a youth soccer coach who is publicly against giving these awards. Capalbo is against participation trophies because “He believes that trophies hurt internal motivation because it tells kids that no matter the outcome, there will be a reward at the end” (Manning). If we continue to tell children that “they’re a winner!” by giving them a trophy, even if they are the worst player on the team, then this may cause a child to not try because they will get the same trophy regardless. In more mature children, they may send the wrong message that there’s no reason to strive for progress. They are only getting the award because everyone is. They didn’t really earn it; it was just given to them. However, some people argue that the very opposite is true. They argue that participation trophies can represent a big task that you accomplished, like running a half marathon. Keith Baldwin, the president of a trophy-making company, values his running participation medals very deeply, even though they are just for finishing the race (Fitzpatrick). Getting these awards makes him want to run more. While these trophies may make some feel special, some kids may end up playing sports for the wrong reasons. The motivation they get from getting a trophy might actually be motivation just to get another trophy, not to improve and be better. Merryman says that “Until then, kids should participate in sports because they enjoy it – and let that be the reward” (Merryman). Many people think that these are the only dangers of participation trophies, but they’d be wrong.

Giving participation trophies to kids with low self-esteem may harm them more than help. When a trophy is given, there is often inflated praise given along with it. Inflated praise is when you add extra adjectives or adverbs onto normal praise. It is the difference between “You did great!” and “You were out-of-this-world amazing!” (Weller). This inflated praise may cause children that suffer from self-esteem issues to set high standards that they think they need to live up to. This added pressure to perform causes stress, and too much stress is harmful. New studies suggest “that parents often dole out inflated praise to children most likely to be hurt by it. ‘If you tell your child with low self-esteem that they did incredibly well, they may think they always need to do incredibly well…They may worry about meeting those high standards and decide not to take on any new challenges’…To the chagrin of participation-trophy-pushing parents in the group, the children with lower self-esteems chose the undemanding piece. They took the safe route” (Weller). Inflated praise causes these children to play it safe, instead of pushing and challenging themselves. Challenging yourself plays an essential role in growth and development, and if we over-praise our children, then we may be harming their development. This may lead to a generation of shy and not outgoing workers, which would harm the industry, business, and the economy. If an aspiring entrepreneur is shy, they are less likely to start a business and share their new ideas with the world. While we may be harming children with the inflated praise that comes with the trophy, others reason that we are helping them. People who believe we should give participation trophies argue that by giving kids these trophies, we are showing them we care about their effort, not about the score at the end of the game. However, if we are constantly praising children, they will expect praise, even when they don’t deserve it. Children should not expect a reward, rather they should work to earn one based on their performance, not attendance.

So why would a coach not order 15 trophies? Because he wants his young soccer stars to realize that there is no better time to learn about life than at an early age. If he gives them to everyone, he is teaching them false lessons about life. He may discourage them, and for any insecure girls on the team, they may be getting the wrong message. If we don’t change the way society is trending, then the population is destined to struggle due to an unequipped workforce who will expect recognition just for showing up to the difficult meeting.