Participation Trophies Deserve a Participation Trophy

The concept of the participation trophy has always bothered me. I am not a psychiatrist and I do trust that many others have spent far more time studying this topic than I ever will, but exploring the literature that is available on the topic still leads me to my original conclusion. As a general rule participation trophies should at best receive a participation trophy. By this I mean that participation trophies are just not great. I'm not going to say they are complete losers, but there is no way for me to believe they are winners.

It doesn’t take long to find plenty of articles about the benefits of participation trophies. Take a look around and you will find that many of these articles provide an analysis that offering awards to only the winners of a contest belittles all the aspects of competing that are so beneficial for all. Clearly there is benefit to physical and mental activity regardless of where you are ranked. Clearly the social aspects of any sort of game play are a positive. Clearly the possibility of finding enjoyment in an activity that can be sustained for a good portion of your life is a great thing.

My question is at what point did we lose the ability to make these points to our kids without giving them a ribbon or some piece of hardware?

Our roles as parents, coaches and friends should be to ensure every participant in any youth sport enjoys what they are doing, values the ability to work with others and understands the importance of doing their best. Somehow along the way we have made the competition about the trophy and lost sight of the benefit of the competition.

We have a saying at Competition Dojo… “Competition… the fire that fuels both winners and losers”. If I can take that a step further, I would say that competition can and should be a fire that fuels everyone that participates. Wanting to be better, to exceed what others can accomplish and to find a way to work together or alone to improve where you rank is a very positive thing.

Instead of teaching our youth that the trophy is what matters, we should be teaching them the joy of doing their best and the humility of knowing they cannot always be the best. We should be teaching our youth that if they do not rank as high as they would prefer then they have a few options.

1. Change your preparation. Practice. Such a simple thing but so many times if you want to get better at something you just need to put in the time and effort to get there. This is such a crucial concept for kids to understand. No one was born a GOAT. Sure, some people have the genetics that gives them a head start, but even those folks put in the work.

2. Adjust your competition. I love racquetball, but I also recognize that I don’t have the time or inclination to ever be good enough to compete at the highest levels in tournaments. I also know that if I do put in the time and effort I can compete and possibly even win at certain levels of those same tournaments. Find competitors of equal ability and work to get good enough to win in that group. Once you have achieved at that level, move up. The thing that keeps the fire burning is the competition. If you are participating at the wrong level (too low or too high) the fuel will fail.

3. Change your game. Not everyone is good at everything, but you can likely be better at some things. Find your niche. If fast paced, ball movement sports aren’t your thing try more cerebral activities. There are so many options out there to stay active. Search for something you can enjoy doing and where you can be comfortable with where you rank.

4. Accept that personal improvement is the focus. Winning truly isn’t everything. This is the mantra of many participation trophy advocates and I strongly agree. It isn’t everything but it is A Thing and there is always going to be someone that wins. Recognizing and accepting that you may not be that person even though you have tried your best and practiced/prepared as much as you can is crucial to anyone’s development. It is not a requirement to win at an activity to enjoy what you have done, but I do find that it is crucial to know you have done your best and over time to know you have improved.

Teaching these concepts does not require giving everyone the same crappy piece of plastic. It requires open, honest conversation, empathy, and a strong desire to make a lasting difference in a kids life or if that seems too much maybe we can get you a participation trophy.