Quote:
Originally Posted by Max2147
If kids are only motivated by a trophy/trinket at the end of the year, then they've got bigger problems than everybody getting the same trophy. Kids should play sports because they're fun and healthy.
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I disagree.
Kids should play games because they are fun and healthy. Once you make it part of the business of formal competitive sports (and it IS a for-profit business), you are moving out of the realm of what's good for the kids and into the realm of what's good for profit and the sports businesses.
If we really cared about the kids we would just give them the equipment and enable them to play the games for fun. But there is no profit in just helping kids. There is a profit in running competitive sports leagues.
That being said, I do agree that there are too many trophies being handed out to the kids. The Frau's daughter was involved in competition bowling. She was good, not great. Her league was handing out huge trophies (that I had to pay for, by the way) for pretty much every competition. The top shelf of her closet is full of trophies, I am not exaggerating. She was involved in competitive bowling for two years and has probably 25-30 trophies! And these are huge trophies about 2 feet high!
When she moved out of the house (the first time grrr) she wanted to throw them out! I made her donate them to a youth league to be reused. But the trophies meant nothing to her because there was nothing special about them.
Back in the stone age, I used to play competitive chess. I was involved in chess tournaments for about 11 years (the last four years I slacked down a lot due to work). I was a good chess player, not a great one. (USCF in the high 1500s). During that time I received one trophy for coming in second place in a big scholastic tournament. It is a small wooden free standing plaque. I treasure that trophy. I treasure it because it meant something and frankly it is the only trophy I have ever gotten in my long ill-gained life. I treasure it because not everyone got one.
And yeah, sometimes my ego gets a boost when I walk in to my library and I see that little wooden trophy stuck away in the corner. I won that. Me. My effort.
The Frau's daughter does not get that feeling. To her, and the rest of the kids in the league, the trophy was just something handed out. The only value was in the number of trophies and who could fill up the shelf faster.
But the trophies served their purpose. It kept the parental monies flowing into the league.
All in all, I think I will stick with my tiny wooden trophy thank you.