Parents nonparticipation medals

[mommyof1]

I already thought participation medals were ridiculous. But at Tinker Bell's first meet this weekend, they gave "honorable mention"/participant medals to kids who scratched an event. As in, the kid saluted, touched the equipment, saluted again, and scored a zero. This earns you a medal. Now I know why the meet fees are so high--they are buying five medals for every single kid.

 

[Taurus]

(speechless)

 

[mommyof1]

I was shocked. I was sure that the announcer had mixed up the events when I heard him call up Tinker Bell's teammates who had scratched bars. Sadly, that was not the case.

 

[gymdog]

They've done that at this meet for a long time, although I don't remember if they did the medals or just called the kids up a few years ago. They've done the medals a few years. I think it's fine in level 3 to say something like its recognize the hard work they've put in to get there even in the events they scratched, but 4 and up not necessary (actually I didn't pay attention to see if they did it in the optional awards). The 4s didn't really want to go get them but I told them to because I didn't want it to look rude or something. The 3s really had no clue what was going on that entire awards ceremony so eh.

Most meets don't do this. And most meets finish all events and AA for a particular age group before moving to another one.

 

[mommyof1]

They've done that at this meet for a long time, although I don't remember if they did the medals or just called the kids up a few years ago. They've done the medals a few years. I think it's fine in level 3 to say something like its recognize the hard work they've put in to get there even in the events they scratched, but 4 and up not necessary (actually I didn't pay attention to see if they did it in the optional awards). The 4s didn't really want to go get them but I told them to because I didn't want it to look rude or something. The 3s really had no clue what was going on that entire awards ceremony so eh.

Most meets don't do this. And most meets finish all events and AA for a particular age group before moving to another one.

Oh, a few of our 3s had it figured out, judging by the looks on their faces. Not my daughter or the ones who scratched bars, though. I am glad to hear that this is not the norm.

 

[Bess]

All the level3 meets we have went to only go out 50% plus 1...so I have never seen this...All around is 100% medals though

 

[vbdb]

That's nuts! Here in Ontario, everyone gets one medal if they are under 9 as they don't report scores but they are given a certificate with gold, silver bronze, merit sticker for each event and AA and they get a commemorative medal when they get their certificate. For the 9 and up girls you only get medals for top 3 and they usually do ribbons up to 10th place.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

here, top 3 medal, sometimes AA only, and maybe ribbon to 6th, but not always. Age groups can have between 10 and 60 girls. A medal is a rare thing and appreciated all the more for it.

 

[samsmama]

That seems crazy!

I will say I don't mind the "souvenir" style participation medals given out at a few of my son's meets -- they are just keepsakes, look totally different from the real medals, and believe me, even the youngest boys know they aren't real awards. They are included in the goody bag and they don't call the kids up to get them.

 

[AgingHippie]

Wow, I have never heard of that before. I don't think my DD would have liked that very much, even in L3. She would see it as a reminder she didn't get a medal or had to scratch an event. That being said DD is really driven, high strung and a perfectionist so that's all I know.

When I was following The Dead in a VW bus my mom told me she couldn't wait until I had a high strung kid! It's crazy she was so right.

 

[raenndrops]

We have had 2 meets so far. The first meet, if you got a 0.000, you did NOT get a ribbon for the event.
The second meet, they did, at least for L3 give a ribbon for a scratched event (but the person in charge of awards didn't really know what she was doing). Also, if they scratched ONE event, they got an all around ribbon, but if they scratched 2 events, they didn't at certain levels??? We place top 12 and no age group had more than 12 in it.

 

[Alie21]

In Australia (NSW), for compulsories, we only get medals for States at the end of the season. Everyone gets one and they are banded. Gold AA over 36, Silver over 32, bronze under 32.

All other meets its been ribbons. Each event gets a ribbon, green under 8, red between 8-9 and blue 9+. Similar for AA. I did work out (by our last meet of the season!) that they called the girls out in AA order so you could see who did best in a session but there was no focus on placing at all and no podium.

Seems to work well for the lower levels - not sure what happens at NL7+

 

[COz]

In Australia (NSW), for compulsories, we only get medals for States at the end of the season. Everyone gets one and they are banded. Gold AA over 36, Silver over 32, bronze under 32.

All other meets its been ribbons. Each event gets a ribbon, green under 8, red between 8-9 and blue 9+. Similar for AA. I did work out (by our last meet of the season!) that they called the girls out in AA order so you could see who did best in a session but there was no focus on placing at all and no podium.

Seems to work well for the lower levels - not sure what happens at NL7+

It depends on the meet. I'm in your state and some of them give AA Gold/Silver/Bronze banded medals on top of a banded ribbon for each event.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Geez, I always thought the 50% + 1 you,often see I. The U.S. Is crazy. Our meets (QLD Australia) rarely dive out participation anything. If they are lucky they might get a certificate, one comp gives a participation ribbon.

The comps will the. Give 1st- 3rd ONLY on each apparatus and All Around. Then if the division has 10 or more kids they might give 4th-6th. That's it, some divisions have over 100 kids. But they still only give 6 places.

It is good, kids don't compete for the medals.

 

[Bess]

Ha! If Little Bit competed for medals the child would've quit last year...

 

[justanothergymmom]

Stop the madness....seriously? No. This is definitely not the norm. 10+ years with multiple children competing in this sport (and they've competed in almost every region)... and I have seen a lot of strange things...this I have never seen. I think my children may feel humiliated being called out and recognized for NOT competing an event.

 

[vagymmomma]

I already thought participation medals were ridiculous. But at Tinker Bell's first meet this weekend, they gave "honorable mention"/participant medals to kids who scratched an event. As in, the kid saluted, touched the equipment, saluted again, and scored a zero. This earns you a medal. Now I know why the meet fees are so high--they are buying five medals for every single kid.

I may have been at the same meet if it was this past weekend -- drove me absolutely crazy! Our girls are optionals so they know the drill and when they do well. I could even see if they did it for all around (or for younger compulsory), but to do it for every single event felt ridiculous. There were girls who competed 1 event that were walking away with 5 medals.

 

[wrzos]

I'll never forget my dd's first season as L2. She had a broken arm and missed the last 2 meets, but we attended to support the team. When it came time for awards, they kept calling her up in last place for all events. Despite the fact that she clearly wasn't dressed to compete, AND that she was in a full arm cast... SMH....

 

[bookworm]

To play the devil's advocate here, and as someone who has been in charge of awards at meets in the past, if you've already bought medals that go out so many places , and are specific to that meet ("Yahoo Invite 2015") , we would give out medals to kids who were registered, and may not have competed. The medals were going to be useless anyway and some of the kids liked the shiny new necklace.

Going forward after the first time doing that, the medals came specific to our meet but not the year ( "Yahoo Invite") so that if we did have scratches, the medals wouldn't be wasted..

 

[gymdog]

Well they definitely did this on purpose. It's an ongoing thing. I'm trying to remember back, I know they always called the kids as honorable mentions, but I think they gave ribbons or something, but a few years back started just giving a smaller medals. Honestly I thought MOST level 3s liked it and didn't really know the difference, the older levels it's a bit overkill but I think it's a nice enough gesture. It's the first meet of the year for most so you can see it as a recognition of the work done to get there. They like to go all out for awards and give each parent a photo op.