Participation Trophies

[Mark]

I ran some games over the weekend at Little Wars, some of Medieval Fantasy Combat Miniatures Game and some of Lurch: The Zombie Chess Game, and had a lot of fun doing so. The convention has a tradition, in part because it is the local convention for the Midwest Chapter of the Historial Miniatures Gaming Society, of giving out medals to those who win at any particular game or table. At one point, one of the parents (most of my games are kid and family friendly since I am a big promoter of bringing youngsters into tabletop gaming) asked if we had participation trophies so that all of the children could feel good about playing. It was an easy enough suggestion to satisfy so I ducked into the dealer room once the games were up and running and grabbed some minis to distribute among the players who didn't receive a medal. Anyway my question here is how many EN Worlders grew up with the notion of participation trophies? At what age, and what calendar year, do you recall this being something you experienced? What do any of you think about this method of rewarding participation?

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

In general I feel participation awards cheapen success. If properly utilized no one feels rewarded for extra effort and I feel in the long run it can damage motivation. What usually happens anyway is a fallback to the reward model we grew up with where the outstanding performer recieves higher accolades and the participants receive the booby prize. This may fool young children for a while, but they figure out the system anyway, making the participation reward a useless token of non-achievement.

As a parent it breaks my heart to see my children sullen over their failures. And these rewards can perk them up and boost self-esteem somewhat. I only worry that they will garner a false sense of self-agrandizement (did I just make up that word?) and become like those contestants on American Idol who are shocked to hear that Simon doesn't believe they are the Best. Singar. Evar! But I do try to impart the ideal that trying in any endeavor is better than not trying at all.

So just put me in the camp of: it's complicated.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Anyway my question here is how many EN Worlders grew up with the notion of participation trophies? At what age, and what calendar year, do you recall this being something you experienced? What do any of you think about this method of rewarding participation?

I remember receiving these for playing house league mnor hockey, beginning at about grade 1 or 2 and ending around grade 6?

Call it ages 5-12, and you wouldn't be far off. They sat on my mom's lving room unit for many years, then shuffled off to my own room. As I recall, my brothers who also both played hockey, had similar trophies in their rooms growing up, too.

My youngest brother had a bigger ego wall, as he was actually good at Racquetball. His real "merit trophies" began in the teens as I recall. So a cutoff age of about 12 sounds right, as I recall.

In all honesty, I think getting my "trophy" for playing in hockey was always cool as a kid - as was getting my hockey jacket with badges, too. I would agree that it cheapens success in later years - but it is not fair to judge kids, especially those in the single digits of age by the "adult" standards that we apply to adults and teenagers with respect to these things.

I don't recall ever getting one for a single event though. Those sorts of things were always more in the nature of far less expensive "ribbons".

The winning team of a tournament or the house league got a champions badge and a bigger trophy. We knew they had won - there wasn't any difficulty in determining that -- and that they had earned a bigger reward, too. The badge was worn at school on your jacket, so we were all quite envious about that perk.

You could definitely whip up some trophies with some basic trophy bases, a few overized pewter minis, some primer and gold or silver paint without too much trouble I would think.

 

[Fifth Element]

The only organized sport I played as a kid was baseball. This would have been from 1988 to 1992 or so. We didn't get anything for participation. The top three teams got medals, and teams handed out their own awards. I do remember getting my Most Improved Player award, and I think I still have it somewhere.

I don't think little rewards for participation hurt anything, especially for younger kids. They might help keed the kids interested long enough for them to come to appreciate whatever the activity in question is. But the idea that everyone is a winner equally, regardless of what actually happens, hasn't done anything to help self-esteem.

So yeah, it's complicated.

 

[billd91]

I like the idea of something that's not a participation trophy, but is some token that a kid can use to say "I did this." I like giving out a miniature to all participants. Then anyone who doesn't win a trophy still has a cool token of something they went out and did that day that was different from the ordinary.

With respect to kids sports and things, I think giving out some kind of certificate to every participant is a good thing. Years later, they have a record of some of the things they did. It's even better if you can show your certificate at the local ice cream place for a free cone...

 

[Asmor]

I find the idea of a participation trophy insulting to the competition and patronizing to the losers.

If you want people to have a memento... just call it a memento.

If you really want to reward people for showing up... Well, that's what door prizes are for.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

I don't really mind a "participation trophy" if there a real trophy for the winner(s).

On the other hand, I don't really get the point, except for the mentally handicapped. Kids generally know when winning or losing is (or is not) important, and kids generally know who won or lost. Usually a "participation trophy" is actually just the same idea as a T-shirt for running a 5K, and kids know that.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

For primary school sports (up to 1984 or so), we had ribbons for the top several, and nothing for the rest.

In extra-curricular little league baseball at all levels (up through 1988 or so) the top three got trophies, the rest got nothing, though I think probably all teams got gifts from sponsoring businesses.

I remember getting quite a few "certificates of participation" for things like science fairs, art contests or the like through middle school (up to 1987 or so), while winners got ribbons or medals.

In all types of contest in high-school (academic or sport), only the top 3 were generally noted (maybe top 5 now and then).

Special note: Extra-curricular bowling league in middle school (mid 80s) had trophies for the top 3, as well as a LAST PLACE trophy: it actually said "Last Place" and had a guy bent backward, with one arm flailing outward, and the other pitching the ball between his buckling legs. The losers in the middle didn't get jack.