Opinions on how awards are given

[bogwoppit]

I like the idea of a participation ribbon or pin, something to remember a meet by. But I too wonder if too many awards take the shine off winning and therefore the drive to improve.

We, up in Quebec, still only do medals for 1-3 (and they are bronze, solver and gold) and ribbons to 8th place if there are more than 20 in the group. Lots of girls leave empty handed, it is normal. But to win something, even a ribbon is meaningful. It would be nice here if they had more themes and fun stuff, our meets are BORING!!!

I think the USA is unusual in it's awards, they hand out tons, there is no real ceremony, the kids put the medals on themselves and then they salute for photos. They do not even seem to congratualte the otehr winners. Maybe it is all about the parents, or about not making a kid feel bad.

I"d love to see more input on this. Good question. HOw do you light the fire under gymnasts who "win" even when they do not work hard and get low scores?

 

[gymjourneymom]

I see this as more of an issue with younger girls. A matter of maturity/dedication maybe. From what I've seen, it all turns around in the optional levels. The ones that stick around until optionals seem quite embarrassed to be called to the podium for their "15th place AA" medal, especially when they only competed 1 event! But by then most have learned that it's more about the daily learning & progressing than "just bringing home bling for the sake of bling". They like to EARN awards not just GET awards. The ones that don't make that turn in their way of thinking & motivation probably won't stick with the sport long term. JMHO.

 

[eme777]

I like the idea of awards for top 3 places only & everyone else gets a participant ribbon. It's crazy when they're calling everyone up & we've seen some meets where it's the top 2/3 of the competitors. That's even worse because then you're only leaving out a few girls.

It was funny, at the meet last weekend, the top 1/3 got placement medals and the rest got participant medals. In my DD age group she got 3rd place, out of 33 girls & she was disappointed b/c she thought the participant medals looked prettier. LOL!

 

[taximom]

Here in Ontario girls must be age 9 and up to compete against other gymnasts scores. In this category gold, silver, bronze medals are given out and ribbons for 4-8th places. In the age 7 and 8 category gymnasts can compete but against a standard. They receive a certificate with stickers for each event gold, silver, bronze or merit. They may also receive an AA medal or similar token. Age 5-9 compete in an Ontario Development Program kind of like TOPS. They score handstand development, flexibility and speed and strength. The athletes again compete against a standard in this program and are rewarded in a similar fashion the 7 and 8 year olds.

It certainly would be hard to motivate girls to work hard when not working pays off! Great topic!

 

[MdGymMom01]

The way they do it in the Mason Dixon League is award out 50%. They give medals out for 1st through 3rd and then ribbons the rest of the way. I think they only give participation ribbons to everyone only in Level 4. They usually have a person giving out the awards and actually placing the medals around their necks and shaking their hands. I think this is a pretty good way they deal with the awards--it's a happy medium where there are just enough awards given to acknowledge the good performances and motivate the ones who didn't recieve anything (yet).

 

[gymmomntc2e6]

At most of the meets that DD has been to they give medals out 50% on events. Sometimes gold, silver for first & second. Bronze for the rest. Normally they will medal 100% in the AA with first place getting a trophy.

 

[cathiann]

We've never been to a meet where every gymnast got a medal--typically it's 50% or less, with a lot of meets having ribbons instead of medals. To be honest, I don't mind at all--it's hard on kids when they go out 3 places and there are 30+ kids in that group. I do agree with having the higher ranks getting different awards--medals or trophies instead of ribbons. My feeling--based on absolutely no data ;-), is that they do more now to keep kids in it longer. Or maybe it changed during the whole positive feedback era of childraising--I don't know!

 

[Aussie_coach]

I too have been very surprised when I hear of gymnastics competitions in the USA giving out medals to 32nd place or something. This must be why competitions are so expensive over there.

In Australia, medals are generally just given to 1st, 2nd and 3rd on each apparatus and usually a trophy to 1st, 2nd and 3rd all around. Some competitions will also give out a 4th, 5th and 6th ribbon, and thats it. And there are often 70-80 kids in a division. 3-6 get places and the other 73 get nothing.

We don't have all these different age divisions too like level 4 8 and a half to 8 and three quarter year olds.

In level 7-10 there is usually just 1 age division, in level 1-6 there may be two at the most.

 

[momofthreegirls]

When I competed (late 80s-early 90s) I seem to remember 1st-3rd getting medals and ribbons were given for 1st-8th. Some competitions gave trophies for the top 3 in the all-around.

I haven't been to any sanctioned competitions with my daughter, yet. She will start in the Fall. I hope, for her sake, that all the little kids get at least something (a pin, or participation ribbon). For the older, more experienced kids, I think giving awards to everyone may be a little over-the-top.

 

[coachmolly]

I hated getting participation awards as a gymnast. If I didn't earn it, I didn't want it. I just felt embarrassed to be getting a participation ribbon or medal. In levels 4 and 5 my gym competed in a local league. It was USAG but just tiny local meets. We got a ribbon for each event and all-around that the coaches would give to us, the color was based on score. In level 4 we didn't have a state meet at the time so we had a league meet. For that they awarded ribbon rosettes that went around your neck for places 1-3. I got 3rd my second year of level 4 and it was the best feeling in the world to be one of a few who got something special in addition to the normal ribbon.
I think it's fine to award a percentage of the participants with medals or trophies, it makes it fair for the bigger age groups. But not to an excessive extent. USAG has awards requirements which have to be followed so that's a pretty good guideline.
I think there should be some kind of trinket for all girls, but I know I was much happier when that was something like a t-shirt, grip bag, small teddy bear, or something rather than a medal or trophy.

 

[NotAMom]

My feeling--based on absolutely no data ;-), is that they do more now to keep kids in it longer. Or maybe it changed during the whole positive feedback era of childraising--I don't know!

I think you hit it right on the head there. The same thing goes for the introduction of earlier competing levels such as 1, 2 or 3 as well as the elimination of critical (but tough) skill requirements for Level 4. Now, every kid who can do a cartwheel can be a competing gymnast. It's all about feeling good and making the competition more of a money making business.

With that said, because of the false sense of success and accomplishment, the longer that you stated (and I highlighted) above can only be temporary. Before long, these same gymnasts will realize it will take a lot more skills and effort to stay in the sport.

Boy, I love controversal topics! :whistling:

 

[bpatient]

With that said, because of the false sense of success and accomplishment, the longer that you stated (and I highlighted) above can only be temporary. Before long, these same gymnasts will realize it will take a lot more skills and effort to stay in the sport.

These young gymnasts should not have a “false sense of success and accomplishment”; their accomplishments are real, and their success—at any competitive level—comes from sustained effort. They should be proud.

The Junior Olympics program is not designed to produce future Olympians or even Level 10 athletes, any more than Little League baseball is designed to produce a few multimillionaire draft picks each year. The emphasis in Little League and in the USAG Junior Olympics programs is and should be on participation. In recent years, on average, roughly 17,000 to 18,000 girls competed in the Junior Olympics program at Level 4, while about 500 graduating high school-age athletes were considered “recruitable” (Level 10 or elite) and able to vie for perhaps half that number of NCAA scholarships: clearly, almost all the girls leave the sport after only a few years, or if they stay with it (only about 15% of USAG athletes are older than 14), they don’t reach Level 10 at all. About 1 in 100 of those enthusiastic Level 4 girls can hope to compete past high school.

By reducing the difficulty requirements at various levels in recent years and by expanding the age and ability range, USAG seems to be moving towards the reasonable position that, for both USAG and for the kids themselves, encouraging athletes in the sport is better than having them quit. For the overwhelming majority of USAG atheletes, continued participation in an enjoyable and healthy activity should be both the major goal and the most important reward. The awards ceremonies should reflect this.

 

[NotAMom]

These young gymnasts should not have a “false sense of success and accomplishment”; their accomplishments are real, and their success—at any competitive level—comes from sustained effort. They should be proud.

While I totally agree that the accomplishments are real and the children and their parents should be proud (and I meant nothing less), this celebration should be no less for, say, any kid that works hard, including recreational gymnasts. So, with that logic, every hard working recreational gymnast should also get awarded for what they do. And, why aren't they?

Being labeled a competitive gymnast should put a kid into a different playing field altogether, hence my point. I understand the motivation for the feel-good factor in attempt to retain lower level gymnasts. But, this is only a temporary fix at best. Kids still quit for the same old reasons once they reach L6/7. Worse yet, some now get their taste of disappointment once they reach L5 when they realize that they are struggling with their kips or can no longer pulling their high 9s on every event or aren't placed top 3 consistently. At least with the old system, the love for the sport, the perseverance, the dedication and the attitude still won out.

BTW, the lax requirements in recent year mostly apply at lower levels. The opposite is true for the optionals -- especially for Level 7s and some 8s this year. So, why the disparity based on the reasoning you stated alone?

 

[gymdog]

The most ridiculous thing is that this over-awarding has been spreading through the higher levels. I've competed optional gymnastics within the last three years and literally went to some meets where they called EVERY 9 and 10 up for the AA, in early season meets, where half the competitors were competing one, or two events (let me say again - FOR THE ALL AROUND). In some cases these are 17, 18 year olds. No one cares about their participation ribbon at this point!!!! It's 10 pm and everyone wants to go home. Waste of time and money. There were award ceremonies where we were literally laughing. It was obvious they were just calling everyone up because they had the awards left over at that point. Nice thought, but really.

 

[bpatient]

I think every child who chooses to pursue a healthy goal—whether it is music, athletics, or any of myriad other activities—deserves the support and encouragement of her family and her community. “Being labeled a competitive gymnastâ€￾ shouldn’t change that (or “put a kid on a different playing field altogetherâ€￾), since (as I indicated above) very few competitive gymnasts who begin in the lower levels of the USAG Junior Olympics program ever reach elite or even Level 10, unless perhaps it would be useful to weed out the great majority of less dedicated, talented, or fortunate athletes early on—but USAG apparently recognizes that is not a reasonable approach. Regarding the “lax requirementsâ€￾, it seems that recent changes in Level 9 (e.g., higher start values for easier vaults) should allow more girls to reach Level 10 and thus, perhaps, encourage some athletes to continue in the sport beyond the point where they might otherwise have quit. I think it would benefit USAG and the majority of USAG athletes if much more emphasis could be placed on encouraging continued participation in the sport. Frankly, I think the Olympics-style award ceremonies are quite silly, problematic, and counterproductive; a supportive end-of-the-season team banquet suffices in other youth sports, and such a celebration may offer better opportunities to recognize individual achievements and, importantly, to encourage continued efforts by all the athletes who can benefit in some way by participating in gymnastics.

 

[Panda-girl's Mom]

I agree some at some of these meets the awards are crazy. The last 2 meets my daughter has been to they have gone out 50%. We have had to wait about an hour after the meet for the awards to start. My daughter who is 10 knows that if she gets like 12th place is really not that great so she really does not care about the awards. I can understand giving awards to maybe 5-7 year olds but beyond that it is just silly to give 10th place to a 12 year old. At some of the meets they give out colored ribbons with their scores on it, I think that is nicer than a medal that does not having any score on the back.

 

[emorymom]

I would prefer they give out medals to just the top 3 and maybe ribbons out a little further. I do think in a year or two it will embarrass my daughter if she's forced to go to the podium for 19th AA. It's a little more discrete, is it not, if most of the kids just don't win?

I will also give out the opinion that a child who needs more encouragement at the lower levels than a $172 dollar outfit and $60 meet fees and a parent getting up at the crack of dawn should probably do their parents a favor and move on.

Swimming gives out a lot of ribbons but does not make quite the deal of the participation type award as gymnastics does. My kids are little and have only competed summer league swimming, but in summer league they give ribbons for every race. They give them quietly at some time after the meet. They are printed on the back with their event and time so you can track progress. An expensive memo card if you will. (Though I doubt it's really too expensive.) They do not give anything more than ribbons until the county meet. There I think they medal the first 10 in individual events and ribbon 11-20. The winner of each event also gets a t-shirt. But that means the vast, vast majority of the kids don't get anything but the thrill of participation. Everybody seems fine with that ... There will probably be 150 or so kids in the more heavily populated age/sex groups.

Our summer team had an optional (parents pay for it) participation trophy last year for the end of seasons party.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

Double post - sorry

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

I agree that handing out 50% awards is a great way to let the other half know exactly where they sit, sometimes ignorance is bliss. Sure the young ones need some recognition but not with an award/prize unless earned.

NZ has a long standing system in place which I think works well. Each gymnast in level 1-6 has a ribbon card that they bring to competitions. For each apparatus the score is recorded in the card. They receive a ribbon for each apparatus at the first competition. In order to get a new ribbon at the next competition they must score up to the next ribbon.
Before the open ended code it was
Gold 9.000+
Red 8.25+ (this was the pass mark)
Blue 7.5+
Green 7.499-
This creates a nice balance between rewarding excellent performance and effort. The girls at the top are getting medals, but everyone else can be happy about getting their first gold, or getting all their reds or even getting their first non green etc... It’s great too, because at five/six it’s easy to brush over the green (it’s just a pretty ribbon) and they can still feel great. To me it fits with the journey aspect we love to promote here.
Ribbons are handed out at the apparatus or by the coach at the end with participation certificates

A few states in Australia have a system like this in place for the very low levels, but they give a full set of ribbons at each competition.

 

[NotAMom]

NZ has a long standing system in place which I think works well. Each gymnast in level 1-6 has a ribbon card that they bring to competitions. For each apparatus the score is recorded in the card. They receive a ribbon for each apparatus at the first competition. In order to get a new ribbon at the next competition they must score up to the next ribbon.

NASTAR in the US works that way. It allows the competitor to measure against all others and oneself's performance.

One starts with nothing. At the next level, you get a pin that is one of bronze/silver/gold/platinum. You a new pin when you overcome your handicap to get to the next level. All results are tracked in history. Works pretty well.