Participation awards should no longer be given out. They are very bad, especially for younger athletes. That age is when kids start to decide if they like sports or not and participation awards do a lot of the deciding for them. There are many cons to participation awards here are just a few of them. Lead to kids never learning determination or hard work, they kill competition and decrease motivation.

Participation awards are detrimental to young athletes’ determination. Just imagine spending years becoming great at something and instead of just you winning a trophy and being recognized for your feat the same kid who just lost also wins a trophy. According to ipl.org, “Children are receiving trophies for every accomplishment for unimpressive determine ship levels.” Every time we give an award to a young athlete who did not win and did not put in the effort it shows them they do not need to put in the determination they should because they get an award no matter what.

Participation awards kill competition in young athletes’ minds. According to gemmawards.com, “Not everyone should feel like they’re first or a winner all the time. Losing is an opportunity that children can use to work harder to win next time.” Everyone needs to lose at a point in their life. Kids learn competition by losing cause then next time they want to win and they will work harder to win the next time. A main key to learning and developing competition is losing.

Participation awards cut off motivation completely. According to ipl.org, “Motivation is decreasing while awards for no reason are increasing.” Every time we give out a participation award kids think they are doing all they need to do to win. Kids also know that a participation award means they lost and the award is just a reminder of that. That can really hurt a kid’s self-esteem which leads to a decrease in motivation.

Participation awards should not be given out. They are very harsh on kids in the many ways I said. They lead to kids never learning determination or hard work, they kill competition and lastly decrease motivation. It’s clear participation awards need to stop.