US state could soon ban participation trophies being given to kids for sport
Rachel Lang
Featured Image Credit: MBI / Alamy Stock Photo. Svetlana Lazarenka / Alamy Stock Photo.
Lawmakers in one US state are on a mission to ban children from copping trophies for participating in sporting activities.
Three Republican state representatives from North Carolina introduced a bill to the state senate on March 30.
Senators Tim Moffitt, Eddie Settle, and Bobby Hanig want to see only children with sporting prowess awarded for their skills and achievements.
The one page bill states that any trophy or award given to children for any youth recreation activity should be based on merit.
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"Youth sports or other youth recreation activities operated under the authority of a local government shall not include awards for participants based solely on their participation in the sport or other activity," the proposed law reads.
Vice reports that participation medals and trophies have been a common gripe for US conservatives for decades.
But, looking back, it is a practice that has actually been in place for more than a century.
A newspaper in Ohio called out the practice in 1922 after each player who participated in a high school basketball playoff.
If you fast forward to today, North Carolina is now trying to outlaw the practice.
But, interestingly enough, the bill being slammed by US conservative media channel Fox News.
Greg Gutfeld, host ofThe Five on the right-wing news channel, criticized the proposal and dubbed it a 'waste of time'.
His co-host, Dana Perino, echoed his sentiments, adding the one-page bill was 'nonsense'.
She said: "You don't actually need to legislate anything. Let parents make this decision or their schools make the decision or the teachers, whoever."
Youth sport coaches in North Carolina joined Fox News hosts in lambasting the proposed legislation, arguing the practice doesn't harm small children.
Football and basketball coach Mark Johnson, from North Carolina's Guilford County, hit out at the attempt to take trophies away from kids.
"I feel like a kid should get something for finishing a full season with a team," the coach of two decades told WFMY News2.
"If they came to practice all year and tried their hardest I would have no problem with that at all."
Greensboro youth coach Chauncey Carter agreed that children should get participation trophies, but only up until a certain age.
"You have to teach a winning attitude, you have to teach a winning mindset but you also have to let the kids know that you have to accept your losses also," he said, as per WFMY News2.
"When you start dealing now when you're dealing with 12-16-year-olds, they're looking for more than wins, they're looking for scholarships and looking to be the best at their position, and losses don't make you the best."