Diaz: Kids don’t deserve participation trophies, medals for showing up

Welcome to America, where everybody is a winner!

Step on up, Billy, and collect that big ’ol trophy for letting the fly ball drop on your head in the ninth inning! Sarah, come collect your hardware for your efforts in helping your softball team go 0-22 this season! Marty, you were fabulous setting a league record for fumbles this season, so come on down and collect your Big Prize!

James Harrison’s unfiltered rant about participation medals and trophies has set off another great debate in social media. Are we coddling our kids too much? Or are we doing the right thing by encouraging kids to play sports and hooking them up with prizes, regardless of the score?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer, unfortunately. Little ones should very much be encouraged to play, and rewarding them with trophies or medals isn’t necessarily a bad thing for a 5- or 6-year-old.

But once we get past the first few years of recreational sports, please, let’s stop the rah-rah nonsense.

Sooner or later, kids are going to learn that the world is not fair, everyone keeps score, and we are not created equal. Playing recreation sports is all about teachable moments, whether it’s catching the football with your hands before it gets to your chest, or getting a grip on the fact that not everyone is entitled to a reward just for showing up and participating.

Harrison, a Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker, unleashed the beast recently with an Instagram post, saying that he was returning the participation trophies for his 8- and 6-year-old sons.

“While I am very proud of my boys for everything they do and will encourage them till the day I die, these trophies will be given back until they EARN a real trophy,” Harrison wrote. “I’m sorry I’m not sorry for believing that everything in life should be earned and I’m not about to raise two boys to be men by making them believe that they are entitled to something just because they tried their best.”

I think we can split the difference on Harrison’s rant. These are small children playing recreational sports, not boot camp. But if you look at the SIZE of those trophies, you see why Harrison is screaming his kids need to EARN what they receive. It wasn’t a little ribbon or shiny certificate. Hardware that came easy. Harrison isn’t the only person to raise the issue. HBO’s Real Sports recently devoted a segment to the trophy phenomenon.

The saddest people in the room are now all those obsessive coaches and parents, along with trophy makers. The New York Times reports that trophy and award sales total roughly $3 billion annually in the United States and Canada.

The recreational herd will be culled from the competitive herd naturally through the years, so give the little ones an “attaboy” or “attagirl” for a year or two, and be done with it forevermore if they struggle. There are plenty of positive reinforcement options without trophies. What’s wrong with a pizza party?

“I think when kids are young and in formative years it’s important to build self-esteem,” said Karen DeVinney, a Seminole County neighbor and mother of two. “They have the rest of their life to deal with cynicism and rejection and negativity.”

Her kids, Grace, 11, and Will, 8, are highly competitive and skilled. They won’t need to worry about the participation medal thing clouding their perspective. But she’s also fortunate to be in a pod of smart parents and coaches who opted to give kids on a bad team windbreakers instead of trophies or medals one season.

A reward, without the lie.

Sooner or later, kids will learn that life is hard. And not everyone or every team is created equal. Move along little Billy, nothing to see here.