Participation Trophy?

AMEN!!!!

Just curious, do you decline the participation trophies finisher medals at the end of a race? 

Actually, on the two races I have a DNF, I have not worn the shirts and since I did not finish, I did not get a medal. Plus, I am not sure this is a good comparison. The winners of an AG get a winners medal and I get a finishers medal provided I finish the race. We are not all getting the same medals.

My kids don't race in races that give them out, and I wouldn't keep one from events I do (sorry I can't really call anything I do these days a "race").  

We had a box of medals from early races they did....we sent them here:

medals4mettle.org

We just don't do finisher medals, or participation trophies.  Do your best, give it all you've got, but just because you do that it doesn't make you special.  That is a lesson sport is SUPPOSED to be teaching.

Honestly, I thinks it's a perfect comparison. I finished an Ironman in 12 hours. Got the exact same medal as the guy that finished in it in 8:30 and the exact same medal as the guy who finished in 16:59:37.  Sure the winner got an additional trophy, but we all had the same medal placed around our necks. That (to me) makes it a participation trophy. No different than giving out trophies to the kids at the last game of the season.  

I agree.....that HIM and IM finisher medal is also a participation medal.  And I would pull my kid off a team that got a trophy at the end of the year just for showing up. 

It makes me no difference if they win or lose, and I agree completely that it's all in the effort and sportsmanship.......but you don't get a medal for doing what you're SUPPOSED to do.  Medals and trophies should be for extraordinary accomplishments, or winning accomplishments. 

I can see where a finisher's medal and a participation medal could be looked at as being equal, but I do not see it that way.

IMO, a finisher's medal is an accomplishment. For me, it means that I trained for the race, and I completed it.  I do not see that as I just "participated" .  To me the tshirt is the "participation trophy" of the tri world. You don't have to even do the race to get one of those. 

I get it.  I have no problem with that.  I just don't happen to think triathlon is any more special than any other sporting endeavor.......all sport is an accomplishment.  Medals and trophies should be for those who win.  To me, there is plenty to be satisfied about in the finishing provided you gave it your best....but it's not medal/trophy worthy.

And maybe that is the difference. I know the finisher medal is just a piece of memorabilia, it's not a an indication of me being the best!

medals4mettle.org is a great organization, where I've sent medals.  

Well, with the exception of TriRock Austin's guitar shaped medal that doubles as a bottle opener - it even has built-in magnets for sticking to the fridge.

medals4mettle.org is a great organization, where I've sent medals.  Well, with the exception of TriRock Austin's guitar shaped medal that doubles as a bottle opener - it even has built-in magnets for sticking to the fridge.

That's not a medal, that's an appliance.  Big difference.

I've coached youth sports and had this debate many times; I favor no participation trophies. That said, I don't equate race finisher medals with participation trophies. If I "participated" the way plenty of kids I've seen did I would not have crossed the finish line. Finishing the race is some measure of success; just showing up, not so much.

It's weird how different brains work.  I would look at the t-shirt as memorabilia and the medal as nothing.  I see your point.

You guys are too funny.  If a kid practices and plays his way through an entire season of a sport and gets handed a trophy at the end (even if the team has the worst record), we're coddling the children in to thinking everyone is a winner. But if an adult trains through an entire season and gets handed a medal at the end of their race (even if he/she is DFL), it's an accomplishment, a measure of success, and memorabilia.  What about the kid that worked his butt off practicing every free minute of his day in his backyard but was stuck on a crappy team.  Can we give him a trophy for his accomplishments, as a measure of his success?  What about the person that did not train for a race, put no effort in to it at all.  Just shows up and half walks, half trots their way to the finish line.  Can we deny them a finishers medal because we don't think they put enough effort in to it?

The finishers medal is a participation trophy.  A kid quits in the middle of the season, he gets no trophy.  You quit in the middle of a race, you get no medal.  Feel how you want about trophies and medals, love them both or hate them both, whatever.  But I do not understand this rationale of advocating one while criticizing the other.  

And the tshirt is definitely not the equivalent of the participation trophy. You don't ever have to train, race, or even break a sweat to earn a tshirt.  You earn a shirt by paying the entry fee and driving to packet pickup.  That's not participating, that's shopping. 

Yep.

Trophies and medals are for winning/placing......not finishing/participating.

Reminds me of the line from Whiplash - The two most harmful words in the English language are ‘good job’.

My kids are 5 and 7 and so I'm still at the 'good job' motivation stage to keep them interested in whatever they're doing.

BUT at some point I agree that you have to teach your kids they have to earn things in life and to work hard for achievements.

Participation medals are fine, but I personally don't put any value in them. 

Personally my kids have received participation trophy's and/or trinkets (junk) when they were really young and it didn't matter one bit to me.  It's ridiculous to think accepting a little trinket will somehow diminish their hunger towards winning... 

Kids who are competitive separate themselves quickly from the ones being forced into action by mommy and daddy and most don't give a squirt about their participation trophy if they didn't win...

A bigger issue is the parents who drill their kids non-stop after games win or lose, always pushing them to be better, never thinking their effort was good enough etc.. 

In today's society burning a kid out is much more likely than a kid becoming "soft" because they got some junk as a 5 or 10 year old  playing some team sport...

Having said all that, if I were putting on a tournament I wouldn't give out participation medals... A cheap t-shirt indicating the tournament, competition etc., is the direction I'd go.  That way they have something they can get some use out of and isn't confused for a "trophy" by people who don't  know the difference..

That's probably true.  Stoking the fire when they are really little probably doesn't hurt at all. 

But.... If you're (collective you) still giving your kids participation trophies by the time they are old enough to know the difference....that is just silly to me, and doesn't do anyone any good.

I agree with all of this.

Chances are by the time the kids know the difference they've outgrown the tournaments where the organizers would give them out anyway... Maybe not..

By the time my boys were 10-11 years old they were on teams that would have likely thrown the trophy's at each other or been embarrased to take one if it wasn't handed to them on the podium as the winner or runner-up...

Personally I don't think there's any shame in accepting a runner-up trophy assuming the team didn't get jobbed somehow or something other than the players' efforts decided the game/match...