Every Kid Gets a Trophy???

A good friend of mine just signed up to coach a little league baseball team and it brought back some funny memories for me. When my son was nine years old, I volunteered to coach. They gave me the old bait and switch. They had tons of coaches, but no one who wanted to be a team manager. I took the bait and became the manager of a team.
The things I learned coaching little league baseball are also things that I observed as a dad just watching youth soccer games. When the kids are small, the leagues don’t keep score or track of wins and losses. The purpose is to put the emphasis on the fundamentals and not on winning and losing. However, the kids keep score themselves. Whether it’s half time or the top of the fourth, they all know how many runs or goals have been scored. They know without us telling them whether they’re good or not.

I have to admit the first year of coaching I didn’t take seriously. I just thought we’d pick a few kids and have some practices and win a few games. My lack of experience and effort showed on the field. The results showed in the win/loss column. I stunk. The kids stunk. We knew it and so did everyone else.

At the end of the season, they always have what’s called “closing ceremonies.” On this day, all of the teams show up to pay homage to the first place team as they collect their trophies. To my surprise, every single boy received a trophy that day. Every kid on my last place team received a trophy for participating. I felt sorry for the first place team which performed so well all season because their trophies were only about an inch taller than ours.

This is what really hits home. During the ceremony, two of the boys from my team started smashing their trophies on the ground in the outfield grass. Afterwards, on my way to the car, I saw a couple of trophies in the trash can. The kids know they didn’t deserve it without anyone telling them. Why do we as parents collectively let this kind of thing go on? The real message from us to the boys that didn’t win should be that if you want to be the best, then you need to work and strive for it. Learn from what you did wrong and do better the next time.

The topper of them all was when I was at my daughter’s competitive dance recital. Immediately afterwards, they give out the awards. Two girls I didn’t know were called up and received a trophy for fifth highest score. What’s that?

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