Not Everyone SHOULD get a trophy...
Not everyone SHOULD get a trophy...
Remember the thrill of track and field day, as early as elementary school? I do... The excitement of getting together, the days before the meet and picking your events? (Ever so strategically). Looking around at what are some of your friends, soon to be your arch nemesis, even if it was only for the few seconds of the 100 meter dash.
Why did we do this? Well to see who ran the fastest, who was the strongest, who jumped the highest or the longest. Oh and for the shiny 1st, 2nd or 3rd place ribbons of course... which also may have been presented in front of the whole school! A huge deal back then, to show everyone you were one of the best. If you wanted a ribbon or to advance to the next meet you had to be top 3, period. Now I have recently seen ribbons up to 8th and the good Ol’ participation ribbons... Why? So people’s feelings don’t get hurt, because everyone is equal. In the short sighted view of it, it seems like a good idea. I will tell you in my opinion why it is not. I am using track as an example but this falls into many sports and activities people are involved in so if you’re sitting there going “Well I never liked track, this doesn’t apply to me.” This is just an example, apply it to whatever works for you.
The problem I have with this is simple... We are not giving people especially our youth any reason to get better / improve. They get a trophy win or lose. Win or lose you did your best... Great... However sometimes in life your best isn’t good enough and people need to understand and know what that feels like. To have to go back to the gym, drawing board, computer, the range, the mats and get better, because your best wasn’t enough.
This generation of kids are going to be our protectors, our governments, our caretakers etc. It’s ok to let them know what it is like to lose, so that by the time they are in these positions they don’t shrivel and die at every bump in the road. Let them know you have to dig in, put in the work, get dirty and push on in order to succeed.
Youth is a training stage. It is like when I teach self-defense. I would rather watch them fail 1000 times in the gym, so they increase they’re odds of success when it matters.
Let them lose, so they don’t become losers.
I have learned way more from my losses than from my victories.
Jamie Crawford