 We live in a rather turbulent time when it comes to opinions, politics, personal beliefs, and social commentary on what people believe is good or bad. One of the common budding of heads that we see is in regards to participation trophies and the effect that they are having on today's youth. We're going to look at this debate, explore how they are a good thing, explain why they are a bad thing, and then we're going to identify the real problem with them. And in the spirit of this topic, everyone who watches will get a participation certificate at the end of this video. Okay, so this debate is a hot one, especially among the martial arts community. Trophies are heavily present whether they are a product of a tournament, a cage fight, or a global competitive event. The discussion also spills over into youth sports, academic contests, or just about anything with a competitive aspect. The notion of every competitor being awarded in the prize for merely taking part in an event is split into two primary viewpoints. Proponents for participation awards advocate that by recognizing every participant, we are given youth the incentive to take part in the events, to recognize everyone's effort and to cultivate a mindset of team value. Opponents however argue that by awarding everyone, it diminishes the achievement of those who perform the best, gives people a false sense of confidence, and it fails to teach someone how to handle adversity and failure. So let's really look at this. Many will argue that recognizing the participation of everyone in a competition by giving them an award has a wealth of benefits. The first being that we currently live in a very accessible and social society. People are connected these days, yet with this comes exposure to more stress, bullying, and media over simulation that often times kids can become withdrawn or even isolated. Something as simple as an award for taking part in a social activity can often go a long way to giving a child a sense of inclusion. It also feels good so it can give enough boosts of a person's self-esteem and give them a sense of value. And by everyone receiving some sort of an award, you avoid the LOSER mentality that would risk isolating them even further. Spitting groups up of people into winners and losers has consequences. Sure, winning is awesome, but making someone feel like a failure is a poor way to encourage them to continue. Awards on some level, even if not first place, can go a long way to incentivize someone to participate again in further events. In many cases, it may help shift the focus to a team effort. But the concern is regarding the mental development of young competitors, team building, strategy, hard work, and sharing victory is often more important than the trophy. By recognizing everyone's participation, it helps keep that in focus. Even if the student or competitor may not be the strongest, fastest, or the best, in many cases they still had to exercise concentration, apply effort, develop discipline, manage a schedule, and still be committed to participating. These are all great attributes and these values should be rewarded and encouraged. Now, I'm using very specific language and terminology here, so let's put away those pitch works. Not everyone sees it this way, and there are plenty of arguments from opponents who feel that giving everyone an award can be detrimental. First of all, if everyone gets an award for just playing, it robs people of the opportunity to deal with failure. The saying, we learn from our mistakes, is incredibly cliche, yet it holds a lot of truth. Are competitors really learning from their mistakes if they get an award anyway? Many people feel that this works against developing an ability to handle adversity. It also undermines the value of hard work. I have heard the argument that participation trophies kill a person's sense of competition. They don't have that incentive to work hard to win because they know they're going to get an award anyway. This mentality could lead a person down a road of entitlements. Always expecting to get something without the hard work will be a weakness out in the real world. Now, there's another aspect that we can't overlook. If everyone gets an award for playing, then how is that fair to those who worked really hard to win? The competitor who spends their time practicing, working their butt off, training, studying, and applying themselves to be their best. How are they supposed to feel when the person who just shows up gets rewarded for it anyway? It is also argued that this develops a bad sense of false skill or ability. If a karate competitor gets a trophy just for competing, it can make them feel like they are better a martial artist than they really are and develop a false sense of confidence. Okay, so there are a few points here that I feel need some context and stick around because after that I think it's important to address what some of the real issues come from because we can't fix them if we don't identify them. Before we do all that though, I would just like to give a friendly reminder that I would like for all of you to show your participation in this episode. So, jab that thumbs up button, cross that subscribe, and finish off the combo by joining us on Patreon or YouTube Memberships. And for fun and in the spirit of competition and this topic, the first person to comment, Art of One Dojo is the best YouTube channel in the universe, we'll get their comment pinned. And go. Okay, but in all seriousness, there are a couple of these points on both sides that I think we need to revisit. First, I think it's really important to set the context of the award. A contest that has multiple levels of trophies in the awards and the contest that gives all participants the same award are two very different things. I once heard someone talk about a martial arts school with a little brother joined up with that was a little bit of a MacDojo. They held an in-school tournament for the kids that was all Kata-based and they held it in an auditorium full of parents and family watching. At the end, when it was time for the awards, they announced that they had decided that the participants had all done so well that everybody was going to get first place. Okay, in that context, where everyone gets the exact same award, I have to agree with a lot of the opposition on this. In that instance, those who did well were undermined, and I do believe that that experience would be off-putting enough to discourage kids from competing again, at least at that tournament. If I was in the tournament that pulled that, I'd be sour on it, too. I think if there are main awards or large trophies for the top three spots and in small-level awards below that, that's not a bad option. It still promotes hard work. Now, onto the sentiment that participation trophies incentivize a child to compete or help focus on teamwork rather than the award. I don't really quite agree with that. First, focusing on teamwork really only applies to a team sport. In competition, sports, and individual effort and award, then teamwork doesn't even come into play. I also don't quite believe a child is going to join a competition just because they're going to get a small-plastic trophy just for showing up. Most of the time, if someone chooses to compete, then they are usually interested already in the subject matter and the competition itself. And if it is a trophy they want, it's not 27th place that they're eyeballing. It's that first-place bad boy. So the drive to win is already in place and not dependent on the specific participation award. Now, developing a false sense of accomplishment or making someone feel that they are better than they are, eh, I also challenge this one. Kids are not stupid. They know the difference between first place and last place, even if everyone gets an award. When I was a kid at school, we did all sorts of field day and all sorts of academic competitions. Martial arts is really the only sport or physical activity that I've loved and developed any real ability at. But when it came to sports in general, I sucked. Every event at field day that had first, second and third place trophies, everyone else got little blue participation ribbons. I got a ton of those little ribbons and I'll tell you right now, I did not feel like I accomplished anything. I did not feel like I won and I certainly did not develop any sense of false ability. It sucked and I knew it sucked and I knew I sucked and I would have to work harder if I wanted a first place trophy. My first tournament was the same thing. It was my first experience and I was up against fighters better than me. Now I got a fourth place trophy. It was a trophy, but I absolutely did not feel like a winner. The sense of loss and not performing was certainly still there even if there is a participation award in place. Again, this is in the context of there being different tiers of awards. If we all got the same award for showing up, that would not have been fair to those who fought better and honestly, I don't think I would have felt any better. Getting the better trophy wasn't going to unkick my ass. Look, maybe I'm wrong and just speaking from my opinion and I certainly welcome any contradictory thoughts and discussion, but I do believe that there is a problem when it comes to participation trophies. I just don't think that the problem is with the trophy itself. The real problem is with the stigma and attitude surrounding the award. I honestly think oftentimes it's the parents who care more about the award than the child does. I've seen students who didn't really see that interested in martial arts, but they were there because their parents wanted them to be. Not because they wanted their kid to be able to defend themselves, but because it was the parent who wanted to do the martial arts, but couldn't. I've seen the father push his son really, really hard in karate, forcing him to promote and trying to force us to promote him, unsuccessful by the way, not because he wanted his son to do well, but because he was disabled and he couldn't do it himself and he was trying to compete vicariously through his child. Now I find that way unhealthier to a child's sense of competition than giving him recognition for his participation. And here's the hard truth, and I'll probably get some pushback on this, but tough. A child's ability to learn how to handle adversity and understanding how to deal with loss and strive for excellence is not a product of a frivolous award. It is a product of effective parenting. If you feel that your child does not know the value of winning because someone gave them an award for 10th place, guess what? The problem is not the award. The real problem with participation trophies is the debate around participation trophies. They've been around for a hundred years. The Ohio State Invitational High School Basketball Tournament gave participation trophies to every athlete who played in the Invitational as well as handed out awards to the winning players. So no, it's not just a generational or millennial problem. Also, did you know that every athlete that takes part in the Olympics gets a participation medal? Do you think that that gives them the same sense of accomplishment as a gold medal winner? You think they don't understand the value of working hard to win. These are the best athletes in the world. Do you think it kills your sense of competition? Ha ha ha ha ha. Personally, I see nothing wrong with recognizing someone's participation. If we feel the problem was with a person understanding the achievement and loss, then let's work harder on teaching that perspective and not attack a piece of paper or a little plastic gold person. So let me know what you guys think in the comments. Do you agree with me, or do you feel that there are still issues with participation awards? And for those of you who do agree and you like the awards, well, you can find a link to your very own downloadable participation certificate just for watching this video today. And you can find it at the bottom of the video description. Have a great rest of your day and remember everyone, you're all winners.