Kayte Christensen: Get Rid Of Those Participation Trophies
I covered Louisville's Women's Basketball team a few years ago while I was covering women's college basketball for ESPN. Head coach Jeff Walz left an immediate and lasting impression on me.
Not only is he a phenomenal coach who has a National Title under his belt, but he's a straight shooter. As a member of the media, I truly appreciate that.
I became an even bigger Walz fan recently when I heard his comments after his No. 7 Cardinals team lost to the No. 5 ranked Maryland Terrapins at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville.
Very few coaches in any sport throw their players under the proverbial bus in ANY sport at ANY level.
Gregg Popovich is maybe one of the only guys to just tell it like it is. He's done it countless times, most recently after the Spurs' 95-91 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Thursday.
In case you missed that, for your listening pleasure and an uncomfortable giggle, you can hear that here.
Before I get to Jeff Walz's rant, let me just say this about what Gregg Popovich did in this video:
I've been in locker rooms after games where we, as players, knew we flat out didn't bring it. You want the support of your coach, but as a player, I feel if you can't take criticism and ownership over your performance then you're never going to be a winner.
I get it. Coaches worry about losing their locker rooms, but I've never been in a locker room where anything, good or bad, the coach said to us in the confines of those four walls couldn't be said in front of a camera and microphone.
People have become oversensitive to a degree where it's detrimental to sports and athletes. Gregg Popovich doesn't care about people's sensitivities, no matter who we're talking about.
Jeff Walz is also one of those coaches. He doesn't pull any punches. And like Popovich, I find him refreshing.
After their loss to Maryland he used his post-game press conference to go in depth about his teams' lack of effort and his ability to find ways to inspire them. There's a reason for that according to Walz – the trend of giving losers trophies.
Amen! Finally, somebody with a platform like this tells it like it is.
He's talking about developmental leagues. Every league from your kids' youth soccer leagues to AAU tournaments with losers brackets.
No I don't have children, so some of you are immediately going to say I don't know what I'm talking about because I don't have to deal with the "devastation" of my kids not getting a trophy and yada yada yada.
This might be news to you, but I was a kid at one point. One that played youth sports. This might also shock you, but I didn't win every game I've ever played in or every race I ever ran. I lost. I lost and was upset but used that as motivation to get better.
Losing in youth sports is not "devastating." It may be upsetting, but it absolutely is NOT devastating.
Sports teach kids valuable lessons. Lessons they can apply to life in their adult years. Until parents, youth coaches and leagues figure out they aren't doing kids any favors with participation awards, trophies or anything of the sort all you're doing is hurting these kids in the long run.
Yes, it may make your job a little easier for a bit because you won't be dealing with an upset child. However, I'd venture to say it's easier to deal with your 10-year-old, who likely will get over it a lot quicker than you give them credit for, than it will to deal with your 30-year-old son or daughter who is still living at home because they aren't equipped enough to handle the adversities adult life throws at them.
This may be upsetting for some parents to read, but take it from someone who has been there done that. The experience of losing is more important and valuable in the long term than some flimsy trophy your kid is going to break, lose or completely forget about.
