I've often wondered who started these "participation trophies."

And, as is often said: follow the money. So, if we follow the money it makes sense that it must have been the companies that make trophies.

See, they could make and sell ONE "Best of the Batch" trophy for the one best athlete. Or, they could sell 2 dozen or so trophies, one for every kid who participated.

So, they marketed their services in such as way as to convince bleeding-heart, equal-outcome, school administrators to buy a trophy for every kid.

And, liberals think the free market system doesn't work?! HA! It seems to be working quite well for trophy companies.

I think it's at least as possible that the leagues themselves are at fault. There's been an enormous amount of growth in organized youth sports since about 1990, despite the fact that the target audience hasn't grown much. And costs have gone way up too, as leagues get top-heavy with things like participation trophies. But they make parents feel so proud!

Related: There are a lot of people in baseball who are getting alarmed at the amount of "Tommy John" surgeries (a ligament transplant procedure) that are being performed on high school and college baseball players, and the number of players who are having to have the surgery multiple times. One thing that is being examined is the increasing influence of year-round travel leagues, and the number of kids being pushed into them. Not only are they very expensive for parents, there is evidence that they simply put too many innings on young, still-developing pitching arms. (The huge amount of emphasis on radar-gun numbers isn't helping either.)

I sucked at everything in school sports except sucking in school sports. I got no trophies. Which is how it should be.

I did win awards for my writing. This is why I'm now a newspaper columnist, blogger, and author, and not a linebacker. In case you were wondering.

I think this is really about misguided "egalitarianism," and that parents and others think it's "mean" that everybody can't be valedictorian or top dog in sports.

My mom was the valedictorian of Mumford High School in Detroit, which was then a top high school or the top high school in the city. This isn't like it is now in some schools, where 20 people get to be valedictorian. This meant that she got top grades and was judged by teachers to be the top of the top. She was in theater and did all this other stuff. Basically, she could kill you just with her brain. Or, okay, talking to you about why Obama is so wrong for this country. (Which I had to tell her to stop doing with her friends who are Democrats in Michigan, because they are not on her level as a "kill or be killed" debater!)

Cousin Dave, you're on the right track. I've volunteered with an organization that runs scholastic chess tournaments in New York called NY Chess Kids, and I also coached kids who went to tournaments in Chicago. Both groups gave out some form of participation award (usually cheap medals) to every kid in the novice/unrated sections, while giving trophies only to the winners in the top sections. When I asked the directors why, the answer was the same in both cities--giving out participation medals gets the kids to start playing, and hopefully they catch enough ambition to try to improve and get the real awards.

It was particularly clever in the New York case--by giving out cheap participation medals to the novices, they were able to get parents to pay unusually high entry fees...which then went towards money prizes for the top players (who were often competitive for national championships), who would much rather have cash prizes like adults than the trophies given out in every other scholastic tournament.

So, this is funny: I went on a Disney cruise with the family this spring, and ran a 5k fun run on their little private island in the Bahamas. Everybody got a little plastic "medal" for participating. Adults get these now, too! It's a fun souvenir, I guess- and that's what the trophies a turning into at this point. Not recognition of any achievement, just a souvenir of participation.

As observed by Cousin Dave, this isn't exactly new. Everybody was already getting a trophy in organized sports leagues by the 90's- so now we're on at least the second generation of this.

The amount of parental puling and whining on the Huffington Post version of this story amazes me.

Recipe for serious neurosis - kids who can't ever seem to live up to their demanding fathers' expectations. Unfortunately, they usually grow up hating their fathers, which is totally understandable. I'd give my a kid a trophy every day of his life just for showing up and being a good person, and trying.

Perhaps the goal of this league was to teach children the game and to encourage children to learn how to play. In that sense, they should, IMO, be rewarded for learning the game rules and for learning how to play, whether their team wins or not. That is indeed a success.

I think this whole "trophy for showing up" was drummed up as a another way to slam millenials. My daughter has played soccer and swam and she has gotten participation awards. But she gets them because she works her behind off in practice and improves each time at competition, beating her best time (plus showing great sportsmanship).

It's not like his kids are in their frigging teens....they are 8 and 6. I'll bet he beat them with a belt when they cried. What a dad.

I hope to stay far, far away from both the parents and the kids with this mindset. On the other hand, if I had kids, I'd feel comfortable sending them over to the Harrison house to play.

When I was in third grade, I entered the town's school art contest. The top three art projects from each grade got the regular blue, red and white ribbons from the judges. I got second place. But all the pieces that didn't win had biege ribbons on them that said "Honorable Mention." At first, I thought they said "Horrible Mention." "Yep, these are pretty horrible, now that you mention it." Maybe if they wrote "Horrible Mention" on those trophies, recipients and their parents would be a lot less enthusiastic about them.

LMAO at my son's HS graduation listening to the principal tell them they were going to change the world.

Told my son that if he took her words to heart he'd have a hard time in the 'real' world.

Told him he'd be competing for jobs with the guys that graduated last year and got married 'cause they got a girl pregnant.

Both became true (duh) and he wised up and joined the Army (on his second try 'cause he did not stay in shape - no one is serious about this stuff Dad).

EVEN THEN, he was surprised that the Army would kick out good guys just because they did not obey the rules. (Candy bar in the locker despite being told no candy. Not passing urine tests after leave despite being told the first thing they do will be tested.)

It's sad and funny at the same time.

The huge amount of emphasis on radar-gun numbers isn't helping either.

To quote Master Yoda (and pretty much every pitching coach ever): Control, control, you must learn control!

Giving everyone an award "just because" sends the wrong message: you're a special snowflake just the way you are.

Some of the legends of sports were not the fastest, strongest, or most talented. They tended to be the people who showed up earliest, and left latest and put in the most amount of work. They attempted to negate their weaknesses, and amplify their strengths.

You're not going to make the effort if you think you're doing OK. And you're certainly not going to put in the extra work if the benefits don't accrue to you and everyone gets a trophy.

This is Socialism writ Little League.

Participation medals need to be rebranded, as what they are. *Souvenirs *

My first real encounter with them was at the Volksmarches in Germany.

Now I have a box full of pins, patches medals, and plaques from shooting matches.

None of them have as much meaning as my name at the top of the list in my classification for a match fired at Camp Perry.

Props to Isab for a trophy that matters. Camp Perry is no joke.

Meanwhile, I think Amy could be an excellent linebacker – well, maybe a few years ago. Have you seen the LFL?

I have one minor issue with this. If the guy doesn't think "thanks for showing up trophies" are appropriate, he should impress these values on his children, which he is doing. No problem there.

I don't think he should return the trophies, however; I think he should let his kids decide that. And if he's done his job right, they'll do it.

He didn't get these awards; his kids did. I think they should be allowed to decide how much they value them.

Why waste the effort to even return the things? Toss them in the trash like everyone else.

And please, please, please don't make a big deal when you give them out. It is really insulting to have someone waste your time poorly lying to your face how wonderful you are.

I'm with Patrick. I don't think the dad should return the trophies. He should teach his own boys what their value and significance is, let them decide what they want to do with them, and let other parents teach their own kids whatever different values they see fit.

Participating in the school athletic program might mean a lot more to his kids than just playing the games. The good times, the teamwork, the friendships, the loyalty, the camaraderie, the sharing of the experience, might be a bigger part of it than the game itself. I wouldn't see anything wrong with valuing the silly trophies as souvenirs and reminders of good times. The silliness of feel-good trophies handed out "just because we're so inherently wonderful" are part of the fun and memories to talk and laugh about later. They might have lot of sentimental value to the kids because of their association with the good times.

I wonder if that father is one of those parents who takes his kids sports way too seriously, as if they're some kind of hunger games or something.

I could draw a distinction between a participation award and a souvenier of an event. I have a collection of suit numbers (paper numbers like what runners wear) from dance competitions that my wife and I have danced in. It's fun to pull them out and say, "Remember that comp in Cincinnati, when everyone was partying in the hotel lobby?" Stuff like that. It's not an "award", just a reminder of fun times. That said, a photo works just as well. It need not be anything that resembles or makes a pretense of being an award.

When I was about 10, I found out by accident that I was a pretty good distance runner. In the fifth grade, I was entered in a city track meet to run the 440-yard (the longest event they sanctioned). I finished fourth out of five. But then later I was informed that two of the guys who finished ahead of me had been disqualified for running out of their lane, and that I had been awarded second place. Now, I had a good look at those guys as they were pulling away from me. The rule was that you had to stay in your starting lane until you reached a vaguely defined point in the first turn. I recall wondering if they cut in a little early, but they were so far ahead of me that it didn't make any difference. I always felt funny about that -- I'd look at my second-place ribbon and think, "I didn't really do that."

CD,

There is a difference in a keepsake and some of these participation awards. I don't think anyone here is complaining about keepsakes. Although, a little statue is a bit annoying to store. This is about the culture of conformity. Where no one gets an award based on merit but instead we all get the same award. No one can be better or worse than anyone else, no matter how glaring the differences. There are no winners or losers to games. It fits right in with the 'you are all special individuals ... just like everyone else' mindset. Sadly the people pushing this can't see the inherent contradiction.

This all comes from the self esteem movement in education. Which in turn is based on the shallow philosophy that reality doesn't matter, only words do. Spin uber alles if you will.

The lies are the real issue. Just like you feel your second place ribbon was a lie many of these participation trophies are similar lies. You don't have to be that perceptive to tell some did better than others. So when they push the 'you all did equally well' line or the 'you are all winners' line you don't have to be that intelligent to tell you are being lied to. There is little more insulting that being lied to (and poorly at that) while being forced to accept the lie as if it were the truth.

The only value I can see in returning the awards is to send a message to the administrators of stop lying to my kids. Or if you have to lie, at least do a decent job of it.

Cousin Dave,

Your story reminds me of the 2008 Olympics in which Usain Bolt got the gold in one of the running events. However, the athletes who came in second and third were disqualified for crossing their lines after being taken aback by Bolt blasting off at the start. The person who came in fifth, an American, was asked by a reporter, "You won the Bronze. Isn't that great?" He answered, "No, I should get a medal because I won."

Some trophy makers respond:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2015/08/17/james-harrison-participation-trophy-kurt-warner/31864971/

Yea, they claim it is all about the kids:

'Bottom line is, the look on the kid’s face when they get that trophy,'' he said, "you can’t put a dollar amount on that.'

Cry me a river if the kiddies don't get their trophies.

Yea, they claim it is all about the kids:

'Bottom line is, the look on the kid’s face when they get that trophy,'' he said, "you can’t put a dollar amount on that.'

Cry me a river if the kiddies don't get their trophies.
Posted by: charles at August 18, 2015 8:32 AM

Here's a thought for all you kiddie sports league organizers.

Instead of spending ten bucks or more on File 13 dust collectors, give each kid something relevant to the sport like, a hat, or a t shirt or a baseball, or end the season with a party, and hold a raffle for three really nice items.

Or take a team picture, and frame it.....

I can recall some "Honorable Mention" ribbons that basically said "you showed up" as far back as the 1960's. A little different was the second-place ribbon that some buddies and I won with an elaborate scale-model train layout - but it was #2 out of two entries.

And then in 1980, participation prizes became official in the US Air Force with the Air Force Training Ribbon, awarded for graduating from boot camp. The Army instituted the Army Service Ribbon for the same thing. (Look them up in Wikipedia if you don't believe me.) I was training guys who had that ribbon on their chest before I got my first ribbon - a good conduct medal, for staying out of trouble for 3 years. A year later, I could add the longevity ribbon. By the time I got out of the service, I had oak leaf clusters on those. So maybe the training medal (and it's Army equivalent) weren't the first participation prizes, but at least mine took years to earn, rather than six or eight weeks.

As for the _real_ medals like the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star, men die earning them, and others die because the hero couldn't reach them. I didn't enlist in a rear echelon job during the Carter administration to get into the sort of situations where one might earn them.