Just reading a thread on Rupp's Rafters about a player whining because he was scolded by the coach and everyone is saying that the current generation of kids is soft and the whole "participation trophy" generation is weaker than other generations. Am I the only one that blames the people that raised them instead of the kids themselves? I watch videos nightly of parents fighting at youth sports events over whose kid is better, etc. I find it funny that a group of people that raised an entitled generation of kids gets online and complains like it is everyone's fault except for the people that actually raised these kids.
Participation Trophies
- Thread starter Bowiewasmyhero
- Start date
Definitely the parents fault.
I’m 45 and kids have gotten participation trophies for as long as I’ve been alive. Anyone who says otherwise is full of ****.
The whole “participation trophy” argument is bunk. Who cares? We all got them as kids. I handed them out when I coached youth flag football.
We turned out ok. Usually the one complaining most about participation trophies is the fat loser who never got awarded a trophy of any type.
Idiots
We turned out ok. Usually the one complaining most about participation trophies is the fat loser who never got awarded a trophy of any type.
Idiots
Yes it started with those of you born in about 1977.
I noticed it with employees we hired.
Agree to mis-agree. People I talk to say they got them decades ago.
We got trophies in baseball and basketball when I was in elementary school no batter how bad we were.
We got trophies too. After cutting down the nets.
Miss you Tom Crean.
Miss you Tom Crean.
-same...I'm 50. My brother is 9 years older...he got em too.
-this is a boomer nostalgia talking point*.
*there are certainly issues with millennials and their expectations...not surprisingly as these folks were raised by boomers...and you will not find a more *entitled*/needy group than boomers.
-thank God for Gen X and i have high hopes for gen Z.
“These kids caint even change their own oil!”
Yeah, well, who was supposed to teach them?
Yeah, well, who was supposed to teach them?
The fact that there used to be two parents and defined roles cannot be ignored. The kids of the '50s grew up in a more stable environment mostly than kids of the last 20 years.
I don’t think everyone got them. Leagues in Lexington back then didn’t have the money to spend on trophies for every kid. I never got them in pee-wee football, Jr Pro basketball or Little League/Bambino baseball but maybe they were more common elsewhere.
the Owensboro Parks and Recreation department could afford them when I was a kid. Same with my baseball teams. Which btw do Elementary school still have teams? I always played for Highland Elementary but I don't even think they have a baseball field anymore.
I have a participation trophy room.
I don't have any kids so it's not my fault. I can tell you there are a bunch of other people's kids I think should have gotten the crap beat out of them.
Boomers could go to college for $5 and buy a house for $200 and they just don’t get why these damn kids today complain so much. Eat ****.
They also got full pensions and retirement benefits.
We never got trophies unless we won the league championship but we did get a team picture if that counts as a trophy I guess 
The drop from the GOAT generation to boomers is remarkable. In another 20 years when we've gone through WW3, there will be a time for redemption. In the meantime, thank Gen X for carrying you. You are welcome.
I looked this up last year. I hated participation trophies. First experience of this was when I was 7 and our basketball team went undefeated but got the same trophy as everyone else. Competitors never liked the participation trophies but I digress.
It started as a California initiative in the 80s to boost the self-esteem of inner city youth. “We thought, especially for kids in struggling communities, if we just told them they were great they would believe it, and then they could achieve more because they were certain they were great, The trophy industry were originally mom and pop shops and then after that experiment in CA which then went everywhere else, it exploded into a billion dollar operation.
Anyway, HBO Sports did a special on this and the 80s were ripe with nerd and unathletic triumphs (Karate Kid, Revenge of the Nerds, etc) and argued the influence of that.
All because boomers couldn't handle that their kid sucked at sports. You see that crap has now bled into "Get rid of AP classes because it makes my kid feel dumb."
Boomers are/were so coddled and entitled they started to believe they were the best of everything the world has to offer. Then came the problems.
False. They’ve been around for the past 100 years
There’s a difference between someone “first doing it” and it causing the trend to explode. It did not explode til the 80s.
The amount of money trophy manufacturers made started in the 60s though as they started pushing that crap to teachers and coaches.
I'm 76 and never saw "participation" trophies when I was a kid. I would have seen it as an insult, like you aren't good enough to earn one, so we will just "give" you one. Kind of like gov in general these days, you don't have to earn anything, we will give it you. Generally speaking, things you earn are more valuable to you.
The whole argument is incredibly stupid. There are old losers and young losers, and there are old bad asses and young bad asses. The only people that complain about large groups of people are typically the losers themselves, the others are too busy worrying about their own success then ponder others failures.
Not very related but they now give championship rings out to Little League Baseball teams for winning tournaments (local and regional tourneys). It's hilariously stupid.
-my experience: the trophies I got for winning something were a lot bigger/shinier than the tiny trophy we got for "participating"/didn't win the league/tourney. There was a difference and we noticed.
Yep. I even remember when we won baseball tournaments only getting one large team trophy but the rest of the teams would get an individual. Didn't matter. You wanted the big trophy or none at all.
At the end of the year at the elementary school I went to from 3rd-6th grade I received a “perfect attendance” trophy at the end of the year because I didn’t ever miss a single day of school. It was dumb and they have all been thrown away. They did not contribute or take away from anything I’ve ever done in my life. It’s such a weird subject to pretend is important
Wonder what it's like living in your own mind where everything you dislike in the world was either invented or occurred within the last decade.
Your kids probably got them though because we’ve established they were commonplace in the 80’s and 90’s.
So it’s your generation who was responsible for them. The kids weren’t going out buying them for themselves.
There is no question that this is absolutely true. Typically, they've ended at/around age 12.
I received one at my Little League picnic as a 12 year-old and that was 59 years ago. I'm 71 now.
I still have it to remember one of the best years in a young boys life. Team pictures ... same way.
They are mementoes of youth and provide a sense of commitment, much like a diploma. You do not get one if you quit the team.
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102 here. We didn’t even get trophies for winning the whole darn thing in any sport. We were allowed to pick any kid on the losing team and punch them in the face though.