Participation Trophies and Skill Development in Kids
This essay argues that participation trophies do not enhance skill development in children and may in fact undermine it. Drawing on Ashley Merryman's 2016 New York Times article and a video report on "Trophy Nation," the paper contends that awarding trophies solely for participation creates complacency, fosters narcissistic tendencies, and removes the motivational drive that genuine achievement provides. The author supports this argument with a personal account of excelling in high school football without participation awards, illustrating how the prospect of earning recognition through hard work proved more motivating. The essay concludes that resources spent on participation trophies would be better directed toward equipment and training that genuinely develop children's abilities.
- Introduction: The Case Against Participation Trophies: Merryman's argument that losing teaches growth
- Personal Experience With Achievement-Based Awards: Author's football journey without participation trophies
- Motivation, Hard Work, and the Trophy Nation Debate: Trophy Nation report and complacency risks
- Conclusion: Rethinking the Role of Trophies: Awards should reward milestones, not participation
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What makes this paper effective
- The essay integrates a credible secondary source (Merryman, 2016) alongside a video report to ground its argument in published evidence rather than opinion alone.
- The personal narrative about high school football gives the abstract argument concrete, relatable grounding and demonstrates the author's ability to connect lived experience to academic claims.
- The counterargument — that trophies boost self-esteem — is acknowledged and then refuted using scientific reasoning, strengthening the overall persuasive structure.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates the use of a concession-and-refutation move: it presents the opposing view (trophies enhance self-esteem and success) before systematically dismantling it with evidence from Merryman's research. This technique shows awareness of multiple perspectives while maintaining a clear argumentative position throughout.
Structure breakdown
The essay follows a classic four-part structure: an opening section summarizing the source argument and establishing the thesis; a personal narrative section providing experiential evidence; a third section synthesizing additional source material (Trophy Nation) with the main argument; and a brief conclusion that restates the thesis and broadens the stakes. The structure is tight and purposeful for its length.
Introduction: The Case Against Participation Trophies
Ashley Merryman (2016), in the article "Forget Trophies, Let Kids Know It's O.K. to Lose," argues that children should be taught that losing and making mistakes are part of growth and progress. Participation trophies create in kids the impression that losing is unacceptable, which sends the wrong message and encourages negative perspectives. Instead, kids should be taught that failure offers them a better opportunity to learn and is not a source of embarrassment. Success is not about winning all the time, but about achieving progressive results.
Merryman acknowledges claims held by some people that awards enhance self-esteem and thereby promote success. However, science refutes these claims: when children are overpraised, they tend to become complacent and feel vindicated, leading to narcissistic tendencies. The focus should instead be on enhancing children's self-image, which drives personal development and represents the true mastery of skills. It is the small, genuine accomplishments that help them grow. Consequently, spending budgets on participation trophies is not beneficial. Those funds would be better directed toward skill development and the purchase of equipment that genuinely promotes growth (Merryman, 2016). Kids can indeed excel without participation trophies.
Personal Experience With Achievement-Based Awards
Growing up, I never received any participation trophies. I came to understand that trophies are not for everyone — they are for those who have won. My experience in sports reflected this understanding in a particular way. I had no passion for football in elementary school, but I admired the way winners were rewarded and given special treatment. That admiration eventually developed into a genuine love for the game and a desire to earn those trophies myself.
In high school, I joined the football team, and as expected, my initial performance was poor. However, after months of resilient training, I emerged as one of the better players. Throughout that development phase, our coach made it clear that trophies were reserved for the best — even players who performed better than many of their peers but did not reach the top tier received no awards. The message was unambiguous: we had to keep improving if we wanted to be recognized.
Conclusion: Rethinking the Role of Trophies
Participation trophies do not serve the role that many people believe they do. They have adverse effects on motivation and can easily make children complacent. Instead, kids should receive awards only after attaining meaningful milestones. Teaching children that they must win under all circumstances — or conversely, rewarding them regardless of effort — makes them fragile in the face of failure. Unfortunately, neither extreme reflects the true purpose of awards.
Trophies should inspire in children the desire to work harder and nurture the spirit of resilience — one that allows them to appreciate failure as part of their success journey rather than as something to be avoided or artificially shielded from.
References
Merryman, A. (2016, October 6). Forget Trophies, Let Kids Know It's O.K. to Lose. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/10/06/should-every-young-athlete-get-a-trophy/forget-trophies-let-kids-know-its-ok-to-lose
YouTube. (2014). Special Report: Trophy Nation. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKbADGjF8ks
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