America’s favorite youth sports debate was back in the news last week, as a trio of North Carolina legislators introduced a bill that would effectively prohibit youth sports organizations from handing out participation awards to the children who compete in their programs (original story here).
One of the co-authors of the bill explained his justification for the legislation as such: “Kids are growing up being taught that it’s okay to just be okay. That you don’t have to be the best. We’re not teaching our children to be prepared for life, to be prepared for failure.”
The participation trophy debate is as old as the hills, with one side suggesting there’s nothing wrong with a little encouragement and recognition of a child’s effort in the hopes they’ll feel motivated to continue playing, and the other basically suggesting participation awards are to blame for every societal and cultural challenge we face. It’s a tantalizing debate because of it’s societal implications, but also because of the widespread belief that “life lessons” are perhaps the main reason to get kids involved in sports in the first place. If the kids don’t learn these difficult life lessons now… if we coddle them, and reward them simply for showing up, a calamitous world of soft, entitled adults awaits us! Perhaps a little hyperbolic, but you get idea… we’ve turned this debate into the ultimate social and generational line in the sand.
I would suggest that the life lesson angle with youth sports, and by extension the participation award issue, is way, way, WAY overblown. Are there some peripheral lessons to be learned about effort, teamwork, perseverance and graciousness through participation in sports? Sure, absolutely. But these benefits aren’t exclusive to just sports… these same benefits can be derived from any number of extracurricular activities (arguably in more inclusive, long lasting ways), from music to art to dance to gaming to scouting, and so on. Beyond that, are these life-lesson benefits the REASON kids choose to play a sport in the first place? Having spent the past 22 years in the field of youth programming and youth development, and having coached hundreds of kids at every level from Kinder through High School Varsity, I can tell you with 100% certainty they do NOT.
Kids play sports for one reason only… FUN. Arguably, adults do so for the same reason. If it’s not fun, we’re out. In a kid’s mind, fun comes from finding belonging with their teammates, positive engagement from their coaches, and steady improvement in their skills (source) . The more we can do as parents, coaches and organizers to ensure that as many kids as possible “find the fun” in their activities, the more effective we’ll be in ensuring that as many kids as possible obtain the secondary life-lesson benefits from their experience.
From my perspective, if this dad bod makes it to the end of a 10k run I have absolutely no chance of winning, you better believe I want that dang completion medal. If a small token of recognition for a young child’s effort and engagement in the form of a participation award or trophy helps make their sports experience just a little more fun, and helps make their continued involvement in the sport just a little more likely, then in my assessment, it’s a wonderful and meaningful investment. I’m pretty sure our larger society won’t collapse.
Nate Baldwin is the Associate Executive Director of Kidsports in Eugene, OR, and has nearly 20 years of recreational sports industry experience as an entrepreneur, program administrator, and advocate for inclusive, high quality sport experiences. In addition to his work at Kidsports, Nate’s diverse career has spanned from the creation and management of a successful adult recreation organization in Denver, CO, to the revitalization of the Appleton (WI) Parks & Recreation youth sports program, to technology deployment and program management with registration platform provider, LeagueApps (NY). Follow Nate on Twitter @nbaldwin75.
Red Ball Nation 