My life as an athlete started when I was four years old with the fall soccer season of 2002. Shortly after my first three months as a youth athlete I had another two skills under my belt. My first tri-season athletic year followed soccer with basketball in the winter, which then concluded with baseball in the spring and summer months. Throughout my time playing all these sports, I met many lifelong friends, learned many life skills from my various coaches and learned how to be a good teammate who supported his comrades with positive reinforcement and what not. Whether it be with academics, social skills or sports I have had the fortune and luck of having most of the people around me watch me grow and develop as a young man on and off the field.  One of the most important things I learned, especially later in on in my athletic career, was the fact that life doesn’t always go your way. In the sports world, you don’t always win.

When I was younger I was not often awarded participation trophies when I failed to succeed. I knew that in order to earn a trophy of physical value I would have to put in a large amount of effort. While the thought of giving out participation trophies is inclusive, the trophy or medal itself does not necessarily act as a token of success and battle through the hardship of victory, rather it is the work put in during the process that teaches the lesson. The viewpoints on whether it is appropriate to reward our young athletes of the world with participation trophies differ across the board. Some say it contributes positively to their upbringing and helps them develop with a less negative attitude, others like myself, view the awarding of participation trophies to be unnecessary and unrealistic. Many believe rewarding children with participation trophies ultimately affects their perception of what really is the way to earn an award. By falsely earning some type of trophy, the child’s psychological development (such as his/her) motivation and ambitions may be skewed in some way.

Having the desire to win and succeed is an important piece of anyone’s life. In addition to this, the power of having ambitions and aspirations is a very important quality that I believe every young man and woman should have by their time of adulthood. Motivation, specifically, breaks off into two branches that describe a particular experience or situation. These two sub-descriptions of motivation are known as intrinsic and extrinsic. The main differences are as follows: intrinsic, the type of motivation that stands for doing something because it seems worthwhile and morally right; extrinsic, which means to do something with intention of receiving a reward or in this case, a trophy.  The authors who describe the two type of motivation and their differences, Henderlong and Lepper, are scientists who contribute to the American Psychological Association. They fight against constant praise and coddling, arguing that it may diminish the child’s intrinsic motivation— the one that is morally right.  

Given that the intrinsic branch is the one that is desired by parents (why wouldn’t it be?), it is important not to undermine any of the important qualities it has. However, it is important to weave in a little bit of praise within a child’s upbringing. As authors Henderlong and Lepper describe, praise is something that “enhances competence without an over reliance on social comparisons, and conveys attainable standards and expectations”. Given that a little praise is helpful, managing the way that your child fields it (or rightfully accepts it) is also very important. Since our nation has shifted so far towards the way of making each one of our beloved children feel so special and loved, I believe that we need to make sure just the right amount of care is given, rather than an overload of love and embrace.

From my point of view, I believe that many people agree with the amount of generosity and care that should be granted to our children, especially within the youth sports world. Being a parent who guide their child towards a good path of upbringing is a difficult task and different for every family. But I think that with the right amount of  verbal motivation and praise, as opposed to a worthless participation trophy,  a child’s motivation will be affected one way or another. This version of “reward” that a child receives would generally be better, due to its higher complexity than a basic display of win or loss by the evaluator and recipient. So instead of participation trophies that diminish the basic motivational levels of our youth, I propose that children actually learn that being wrong and not being a winner one-hundred percent of the time is a good thing, because as they move along in life, they will know right from wrong before they make a crucial mistake that negatively contributes to their success.