Hooray for Participation Trophies!!

It happened again.

Someone on social media posted a meme critiquing today’s youth and young adults as entitled and undisciplined.

I’m so tired of these lazy takes by people who really should know better. I’ve spent most of my life working with and being inspired by young people. It seems every generation has faced similar complaints from their elders, only to eventually pile on others when their turn comes.

But today’s curmudgeons have a new punchline: “This is what happens when every kid gets a participation trophy”.

Barf.

So let me say it straight up - participation trophies are a very good thing. They’re good for kids. They teach them valuable lessons about life. We should do more stuff like that.

I’m all for championship trophies too. And MVP awards. Competition is not a bad thing and recognizing those who excel is important. Give the biggest trophies to the high achievers.

But in adult life most of us aren’t remarkably high achievers. Most of us are doing the best we can, at least sometimes we are. And the simple truth is that most of us will rarely be more than average at anything we do. Even average means we’re better than about half of the people who do the same things. We are participants.

And we still think our participation should be fairly compensated.

The idea that only the champions should get any recognition or appreciation makes no sense at all when we imagine applying it to a charity, company, or an economy. We need participants.

In fact, I’ll go further. We need more trophies.

We should have a trophy for the kid who overcomes the most challenges. The one who has no athletic ability but keeps smiling and trying. The one who cheers for a great play by the opposition almost as much as they do one by our team.

Let’s intentionally celebrate all the positive things that can come from participating in youth sports.

One caveat: If we’re going to give trophies for sportsmanship and improvement etc. those awards need to be held to similar standards as the MVP. Don’t make sure every player gets a turn. Make it mean something.

In my ideal imaginary league every player receives a trophy that reflects their particular individual contributions to the team. That would be a lot to expect from volunteer coaches but it would be the best way to encourage every kid to find their way to help the team.

And if you’ve read this far let me say one more thing. Grown ups need our own version of individual awards and the best leaders are the ones who notice and affirm the contributions of each team member, while emphasizing those who’s remarkable accomplishments contribute the most to our shared successes.