Participation Trophies: Should They Exist In Youth Sports?

One of the first mentions of participation trophies came in 1922. It was in the evening edition of the Evening Independent of Massillon, Ohio. The headline read: “Many Trophies for Tossers in State Tourney.”

There is currently a significant debate in the youth sports community about the pros and cons of participation trophies. Maybe you have an opinion, maybe you don't, either way, this topic should be approached with an open mind.

Read on to learn the good and the bad of participation trophies in youth sports.

Participation Trophies in Youth Sports, Good or Bad?

The discussion of participation trophies includes the idea of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation comes from inside and in this case, is the child is participating because they enjoy the sport.

Extrinsic motivation is the opposite where the motivation to participate only comes from outside the child. This can be things like participation trophies or paying kids to join a team.

The Good

Praising effort and not winning can be beneficial for the self-esteem of young people. It can help to motivate them to try new things.

The concern is that praising effort and participation trophies will lead to a population of lazy, unmotivated individuals. A study in the Journal of Personality and Social Physicology showed that praising efforts had the opposite effect.  This study determined that praising performance (winning trophies) lowered task persistence and worsened task performance.

The Bad

Participation trophies do have some drawbacks. If the only reason a child is participating in an activity is to get a trophy, then they are not developing internal motivation.

Another drawback of a participation trophy is that it doesn't teach kids its ok to fail. Failure is a part of life and all of us at some point have failed. It might be losing a game or not making the desired grade. Children have to be taught how to lose and lose gracefully.

Finally, there are kids who are natural athletes and others for whom athletics isn't their strength. It should be ok to celebrate those athletes when they excel. If done correctly this is an opportunity to teach children to accept others' strengths and weaknesses.

Regardless of your personal thoughts on participation trophies, there is a lot of good points on both sides of the argument. If the goal of youth sport is to develop a love of a sport, get some exercise, and learn a few life skills, then more focus should be on those areas. Adults and coaches can use open-mindedness about participation trophies to model the acceptance of differing opinions for their young charges.

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