Post: #1

Do they still give out participation trophies to kids in school sports these days?

I remember getting them when I was a kid back in the late 90s. I was utter crap in my school sports. Getting those things sucked. It was always a reminder of how unathletic I was.

Recently as an adult, I played a game of football (real pig skin, not the faggy princess one) and was surprised at how far I threw the ball. I never played or practiced before. I'm curious how much of an impact lifting would have had on a medicore kid's sporting ability.

Post: #2

Some schools do.

I doubt lifting would do much to help you throw further. Look at the elite quaterbacks of the league like Tom Brady or Eli Manning (elite, hehe). .Extra muscle could slow down your speed. Look at elire baseball pitchers too, most are not jacked. Several of my friends who box say their instructors tell them not to lift heavy as that will slow them down.

Post: #3

I understand the concept that we shouldn't be setting up practices to award kids (or people for that matter) for mere participation, but I don't know whether there is any real solution?

I kind of subscribe to the school of live and let live, and sometimes decisions like these are so varied.. sometimes they might be the individual teachers or coaches and other times there may be school-wide policies. What are we going to do about those kinds of decisions if we disagree?

I don't personally have a kid, so the subject is a bit less personal for me, too.

Oh, by the way, sometimes how people judge you is based on your showing up, so there is some importance in the concept of participation. Many of us have heard that expression, 90% is just showing up... hahahahaha. In other words, sometimes there is some good in rewarding the showing up part, as long as people receiving the rewards understand that there is a difference between the concepts of rewards for participation and rewards for high performance.

Post: #4

When I was really young, I would look at the participation trophies as more of a rememberence of the team and the friends I made on it.

Then an adult told me about this douchy art house film where this mediocre teenager has a trophy case full of participation award trophies and his father makes some snide remark about it. The name of the film escapes me but the way the image stuck in my mind left a bad feeling.

After that, I started throwing them away. I would have prefered a picure and a frame instead of a trophy as a momento for the season.

It's ironic that my generation is called the participation award generation when it was the boomers and gen xers who started giving them to us.

Post: #5

(02-22-2017 04:50 AM)The Beast1 Wrote:  When I was really young, I would look at the participation trophies as more of a rememberence of the team and the friends I made on it.

Then an adult told me about this douchy art house film where this mediocre teenager has a trophy case full of participation award trophies and his father makes some snide remark about it. The name of the film escapes me but the way the image stuck in my mind left a bad feeling.

After that, I started throwing them away. I would have prefered a picure and a frame instead of a trophy as a momento for the season.

It's ironic that my generation is called the participation award generation when it was the boomers and gen xers who started giving them to us.

Sometime it is difficult to just judge a practice and then to assert that bad things are causing this or that, and questions about the values (or lack thereof) that are instilled in other people's kids.

If I spend some time with my nieces and nephews, I try to instill values in them, but even though they are family, it can be difficult, sometimes, because they really are influenced by their parents, and then in the end, I don't spend enough time with them in order to really attempt to lead by example, so sometimes I will get really pissed off about their behaviors and expectations, yet at some point, I just have to kind of leave it alone. For example, sometimes they eat way too much sugar, and they are drinking coke for breakfast and things like that, and their mom let's them make those kinds of choices. It can be too much for me sometimes to choose my battles.

A few years ago, I had one mom (without a male figure in her life) was trying to get me to spend a lot of time with her kid, and the kid liked me and everything, but I just found the kid to be annoying, and I suppose if the mom was attractive, I may have been willing to play the part a little bit more, but I found her to be pretty annoying too. So, yeah, influencing values can be very time consuming, and if there is a practice of giving out participation trophies or medals, then you likely have to have a decent status in that relationship in order to influence another person's perspective about how to think about the practice (whether that is a kid or a parent or even some person who may have enough discretion to be "in charge" of something and contemplating whether to give out participation trophies).

Post: #6

I played sports in the 90's and 2000's. Never got a participation trophy but would always get little certificates with is OK with me. Not really a prize. That was only when I was really little.

Once I got about 10 I started playing in competitive leagues so I would only get trophies, pins, medals for placing and/or winning.

It's different now. My son that is young is playing sports gets a medal and certificate. Pretty much let him wear them for the day then put it away. Maybe that will change when he gets older though.

Post: #7

Only sport I put any effort into as a kid was basketball. They had stars you ironed onto your shirt sleeves based on performance. I had the most defense stars in the league, and had a best effort star for when my dad's van broke down and we had to coast down the hill and use the momentum to get up the hill to the game. Got there in time to play the second half. Really more for my dad's satisfaction than mine, looking back, and well deserved. He coulda spent his saturday mornings in bed instead of driving my snaggletoothed ass to basketball.

I played baseball for a bit, got a participation trophy for that.

Post: #8

Right now it's more about eliminating the competition entirely, meaning there's no trophies of any kind to give out.

Post: #9

When I was a kid in the seventies, there were no participation trophies except for one. If you were on a sports team, they gave out all sorts of achievement trophies, and one of these was called: 'Most Improved Player."

Everyone knew that this was a euphemism for "Worst Player On The Team."

It was feared like the plague.