The United States is run with a focus on its economic interests regardless of how those interests may affect people. The addition of the participation trophy has transformed the trophy industry into a $2 billion industry. (Grossman) Prior to the self-esteem movement trophies were not a popular business; they were primarily sold in family run local stores. Only one or two trophies were needed for sporting events because only the winners received them. Trophies were just a small section of a store because they did not bring in a large sum of money of the company. After the start of the self-esteem movement trophies began to be mass-produced. They were sold everywhere from catalogs aimed at teachers and coaches to being sold in sporting goods stores. (Merryman) Although the money this is …show more content…
This is a national organization, but it is based out of California. In Southern California their regional branch “hands out roughly three thousand five hundred awards each season each player gets one, while around a third get two trophies.” (Merryman) Rather than simply giving everyone participation trophies this particular organization took it even further and gave out two trophies to a large section of their kids. Therefore, they are spending even more money on trophies that will just sit in a box collecting dust in some kid’s room along with all the dozen other participation trophies they have received. This organization “typically spends as much as twelve percent of their yearly budget on trophies.” (Merryman) That only leaves eighty-eight percent to cover field costs, uniforms, referee salaries, equipment, etc. Kids would have much better athletic skills if the money spent on trophies was able to be allocated elsewhere. So much of organizations money is going towards participation trophies which are hurting our society as a
Those who play popular and highly competitive college sports are treated unfairly. The colleges and universities with successful sports like football and basketball receive millions of dollars in television and ad space revenues, so do the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which is the governing body of big time college sports. Many coaches are also paid over $1 million per year. Meanwhile, the players that help the colleges receive these millions of dollars are forbidden to receive any gifts or money for their athletic achievements and performances. As a solution college athletes ...
When looking into the history of our culture, there are many subtopics that fall under the word, “history.” Topics such as arts and literature, food, and media fall into place. Among these topics reside sports. Since the beginning of time, sports have persisted as an activity intertwined with the daily life of people. Whether it is a pick-up game of football in the backyard, or catching an evening game at the local stadium, sports have become the national pastime. According to Marcus Jansen of the Sign Post, more specifically, baseball is America’s national pastime, competing with other sports (Jansen 1). Providing the entertainment that Americans pay top dollar for, live the role models, superstars, and celebrities that put on a jersey as their job. As said in an article by Lucas Reilly, Americans spend close to $25.4 billion dollars on professional sports (Reilly 4). The people that many children want to be when they grow up are not the firefighters or astronauts told about in bed time stories. These dream jobs or fantasies have become swinging a bat or tossing a football in front of millions of screaming fans. When asked why so many dream of having such job, the majority will respond with a salary related answer. In today’s day and age, the average athlete is paid more than our own president. The cold hard facts show that in professional sports, the circulation of money is endless. Certain teams in professional baseball and football are worth over millions of dollars. Consequently, the teams who are worth more are able to spend more. The issue that arises with this philosophy is virtually how much more? League managers, team owners and other sports officials have sought out a solution to the surfacing problem. Is it fair to let...
Imagine a business that brings in $60 million each year ,and the people fueling that industry receive none of the revenue(Wieberg). These same people work 40 hours in their sport every week, these “people” are college athletes. The NCAA, the governing body for major college sports, is the industry doing this to college athletes(Edelman). This is an issue of exploitation and control by large institutions over primarily poor people, the NCAA is guiding them in directions to make money for everybody while doing everything possible to keep the players out of the money. College Athletes deserve profit because they bring in large revenue into their program, the NCAA, and they invest tons of time into their sport.
Handing out participation trophies does not teach kids about the real world. O’Sullivan says, “We reward them for having a parent capable of registering them for a sport.” Participation trophies are for registering and showing up the day they hand out trophies, they are not for hard
Professional sports were beginning to be organized in the 1850s. At this point, their salaries, although they were still higher than the average person’s, were not too outrageous. In the 1880s and 90s, baseball players in particular were making on average about $1,750 annually. Even though this was three times the salary of an industrial worker of the time, they were not happy with this amount of money and felt they should be earning more (Baseball n.d.). In the 1970s, the worlds of professional sports took a drastic turn. According to an article by J.L. Carnagie, “Two words described sports in the 1970s: big business. Owners and athletes in major professional team sports knew there was money to be made in their games, and they went after it.” (Carnagie, n.d.) Athletes, especially, realized how competitive teams were becoming, and they were well aware that talent was in high demand. In the beginning of 1980s, the best athletes were demanding even more money; and the majority of the time, they got what they wanted. By end of the 1980s, many athletes were making over a million dollars (Carnagie, n.d.) These increasing salaries were very ironic because when professional sports began they were intended to be a showcase of players’ talent and athletic ability. Professional sports leagues were also supposed to be similar to the Olympics in that they would be free of politics and influence of society. However, by the 80s, they had become all about the star athletes and how much money they could make. By this point, professional sports had evolved into an industry that was focused on entertainment and money, rather than the sports actually being played (Carnagie, n.d.).
A solution could be improved by only handing out trophies to those who have earned them. There have been many studies to show the harms of participation trophies and how they can affect a child’s future. One study has shown that “if coaches use trophy presentations as a way to acknowledge each player’s unique effort or contribution, that message can be powerful” (Ross), but the fact is that many coaches will not do this and for that reason participation trophies must be banned from youth athletics. When coaches hand out these trophies they are sending the message that they don’t care and just want the children to always be acknowledged as “winners.” Participation trophies have also diminished the value of true awards, and can make the children who have put in the effort and hard work not feel the reward they should. “In the kid’s movie The Incredibles, the evil villain tries to give everybody superpowers. His theory is that if everyone is special, then no one is special” (Krumrie). This is very true in our society and needs to be implemented by regulations and rules to make sure this does not happen. These rules and regulations would be set by athletic associations across the country to ensure the use of participation trophies are not used in sports. The directors will come
A participation trophy can help a child's drive to improve. When a child plays a game and loses, but then watches the other team get a trophy they feel that they suck and won't try to improve. Once they get a participation trophy they make the child feel like they did good and that next time if they get better they will get a bigger trophy for winning and not losing. For instance, “Further, studies also tell us that children who participate in sports get better…”(Huffington 1). This exemplifies that children who participate feel the drive to get better at the sport. When inferring that since they participated they are getting an award if makes them feel like they did good, and then they want to get even better to get a better reward. Thus making the kids get better at the sport showing that participation trophies are beneficial to children, but there are more opportunities to show how they are
Funding for high school athletics is very sparse compared to the actual costs to run a promising team. With the most recent recession, travel/showcase teams taking over parent’s wallets, and misunderstanding of the Title IV amendment, funding for high school athletic teams has been dwindling in the past twenty years. Consolidation, taxing, and a well-orchestrated plans are all promising solutions to provide for high school athletics. Athletic facility fundraising groups are turning out to be the most resourceful and efficient source for raising the needed money. Fundraising is a prominent solution; however, the will and want of individual sports teams to improve their status is the ultimate way to get what each specific team needs.
Since 1910, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has been the most dominant collegiate athletic organization in the United States. Originally created to solidify the rules for the various sports of the time, this nonprofit association has grown to a combination of 1,281 conferences, organizations, institutions, and individuals. Based on the NCCA’s Constitution, the primary purposes of the organization is to promote intercollegiate athletics in the United States, to "maintain intercollegiate athletics as an integral part of the educational program and the athlete as an integral part of the student body, [and to] retain a clear line of demarcation between intercollegiate athletics and professional sports."(Harvard Law Review) Currently the NCAA has $613 million dollars in assets, and over $830 million dollars in income (Brown). This is a direct result of the talented athletes whom participate in a variety of sports for the NCAA. This research will argue that the NCAA is exploiting the talents of these student athletes. By looking at revenue generated by student athletes, graduation rates, and overall quality of life of student’s athletes, this paper will seek to affirm this view.
First, it teaches young athletes you need to earn rewards. In the article “Should Young Athletes get Participation Trophies” by A. Pawlowski it states, “If everyone gets a trophy it would not teach kids to earn or strive for something.” ( Today.com Nov. 2013) In another part of this article it
The two revenue sports in college athletics are men's basketball, and football. These teams make millions of dollars, while the individual athlete receives no compensation for their efforts. They are controlled by a governing body (NCAA), which tells them when they work, and when they can't work (Barra). The teams are lead into battle by their coaches, their leaders. These coaches, leaders, partake in an annual payout in upwards of two million dollars, plus endorsement deals. Why then, in a country that...
Many people believe that the money generated from the sports played by these kids should be given back to them as they are the ones drawing the fans to these events. However few realize how little schools actually gain money by participating in the National Colligate Athletics Association. A recent study conducted by USA today showed that there are only 40 schools that consistently turn profits from the sports that they host. (Whiteside, USAtoday.com) This means that out of approximately 200 schools who participate in division one sports, only 1/5 actually would have money available to give back to the student athletes. Furthermore, it would be unfair to provide the students who play the sports, the money that is generated from their events, rather then putting the money back into the schools. Although these students participate and spend much of their time playing, they are no more special then the average student who attends the school. Putting the money back into the school itself allows everyone a better education, rather then just a few students, some spending money.
Sports were created for the enjoyment of beings and friendly competition. Today society has shifted the friendly competition to more of a money based system rather than fun and games. The typical athletes’ road to success is starting from a young age, playing in high school, and then receiving a scholarship for College and all athletes overall objective is to constantly get better and play professionally. Universities have really manipulated athletes in the world today giving them “free education” for the exchange of their blood, sweet, and tears, while they receive revenue that athletes bring in yearly. It is very evident that College athletes deserve to be paid, and universities need to find a way to pay them a reasonably amount because of all the revenue they bring into each of their universities.
Determining whether to award participation trophies or not is a controversial issue in America today. Surprisingly, most people are in favor of not awarding participation trophies to children because of the negative outcomes. A solution that is suggested to solving the problem is to ensure both the winning and losing team a trophy. Conversely, when both teams receive a trophy this defeats the purpose of even playing the game. Children are smart enough to know if they won or lost a game, and by letting each team receive a trophy it creates confusion for children. If a child is rewarded with a plaque after a loss, this could cause confusion for a child because he or she might not understand the purpose of the plaque. Several children understand that while competing there is only one true winner, and by giving both teams awards this creates a false sense of how sports actually maneuver. As children grow old enough to play for their school’s team, they will quickly learn that only teams who win are awarded trophies. Teaching children how a sport operates at a young age could help children comprehend sports better and sooner. Children should not be given participation trophies because the winning effort should be awarded, each sport is a competition, and children deserve proper feedback.
Todays generation of kids have been crafted to expect praise for everyday tasks and have become entitled all because of something many people thought was harmless, participation trophies. If you ask anyone, they have probably recieved a participation trophy at least once in their life and some will think it was a good thing, but others may beg to differ. In my opinion participation trophies are a bad tool in life because it goes along and is a big part of the we are all winners concept. Trophies should be a symbol of accomplishing something not a symbol of participation in an activity and a few people have written about their opinion about this situation varying from critical writers, to college athletes from around the country here are