Participation awards. These two words will either bring you extreme happiness or extreme frustration. In my case, I am filled with extreme frustration because participation awards are a complete waste of time, effort, and money.
As a child, I attended many tournaments varying from soccer to volleyball to swimming. My goal at these tournaments was to receive the first place trophy every time. My family had instilled a competitive nature in me from a very young age, and I still carry this nature now. I expected to win every tournament, even though we all know that is nearly impossible. Later on in the day, or weekend for some tournaments, when I found out I hadn’t won the huge trophy, I would pout for the rest of the day. After pouting, I would decide that at the next practice I would devote myself to getting better and improving my skills so that at the next tournament, I wouldn’t have to pout all night, but could instead stare at my beautiful trophy.
However, if I would have received a participation award, I wouldn’t have pouted all night. I wouldn’t have understood that a participation award is given to those who are not actually skilled enough to receive a “real award.” I would have headed home completely happy with a shiny medal in my hands. Even further, I may have just stayed the same or gotten worse at the sport because I thought “I was already good enough” or “I didn’t need more improvement.” This would’ve led me into a downfall of participation awards and being fine with not trying my hardest or being the best.
I am not saying we should never give kids positive reinforcement, but rather, I am hoping that we can simply put an end to participation awards. They teach kids that it is fine to fail and not to improve their skills because they will still receive a shiny medal. Instead of trying to be the best, they will become satisfied by just showing up. Later on in life, when these kids have this mentality, they won’t understand that they should strive to be the best and not settle. I am hoping that we can put a stop to participation awards and instead, bring back motivation, drive, and persistence.