Early Success: A Case for Token Medals
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After reading an article today about early success in sport and how that encourages the athlete to have a longer term vested interest in their sport had me reflect on the token medal in powerlifting.
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A token medal means you were unopposed in your weight or age class and you received a gold medal because of your efforts.
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Initially, I was opposed to all the medals given out at local meets. Granted, I have lots of unopposed medals, but now, a little older and a lot more experience, I have seen the value of these medals when first time athletes receive them. Some athletes have never played a sport prior or even done anything physical, so when they receive a medal, it means something far more than we can imagine. It is an object to their testament of work and struggle to try something completely new and be recognized for their efforts.
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The next component is early success. When athletes receive praise or recognition early on, they are far more likely to remain in the sport and the community abroad. So having early success may improve their overall enjoyment, willingness to continue, and longer term success. Starting on a high note makes a world of a difference when trying something new.
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Basically, my thought is we should look at the token medal through a different perspective. Everyone starts at a different point and having a little more praise early on may end up keeping more athletes around longer and continue to develop our athlete pool.
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Finally, these medals can be an object of remembrance from the event. It doesn’t even have to be about your performance, it can be a friend you met for the first time, a funny story in staging area, or anything else.
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What do you think?