Anonymous wrote:Paper plate awards would be so much more meaningful if a coach/other person designed it, write a note on the back, and delivered it privately. This whole “we must share all publicly” never ends well, either due to boredom, embarrassment, sheer team size, lack of originality, people being left out, favoritism, etc. How nice it would be for a child to go to their door/mailbox and find a handwritten paper plate with a note from someone in authority about the child? And how nice for people to collect anecdotes throughout the season so they could write something meaningful to each child? Take it out of the banquet and make it more personalized.

Our team has close to 200 swimmers. The junior/senior coaches are responsible for the paper plates, and trust me...the ones actually helping out (mostly the girls, in all honesty) are working like crazy to get them all done by Saturday. They try very hard to make the "award" itself really personal to the swimmer, because thee reality is there is just not enough time for personal notes on every plate...they started as soon as the team reps provided the swimmer list but these are teenagers all working around practice and jobs and everything else they have going on, and they're not getting any compensation for the extra hours.

Our banquet is a catered dinner/dessert at the pool, which is closed to the general membership, the night of Divisionals. It's $25 per person aged 12+, about half that for siblings aged 4-11, and free for swimmers and kids 3 and under. Every swimmer gets a medal, and trophies are given for high point scorer and runner up in each gender and age group, as well as a Coaches Award and Most Improved in each age group (mixed gender). The kids like it. I find it long and boring, so I don't usually attend but will this year because DC is a senior and asked me to.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paper plate awards would be so much more meaningful if a coach/other person designed it, write a note on the back, and delivered it privately. This whole “we must share all publicly” never ends well, either due to boredom, embarrassment, sheer team size, lack of originality, people being left out, favoritism, etc. How nice it would be for a child to go to their door/mailbox and find a handwritten paper plate with a note from someone in authority about the child? And how nice for people to collect anecdotes throughout the season so they could write something meaningful to each child? Take it out of the banquet and make it more personalized.

I've seen paper plate awards that focus on kids' behaviors or embarrassing incidents during the season - to make a joke out of it. I didn't find them funny at all, and they were done in front of the entire team at the banquet. The coaches thought they were being clever. I thought they were being petty and insulting (especially to the parents who paid for the privilege).

Me too. Some of the plates can be mean and cruel.

Lighten up Francis.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paper plate awards would be so much more meaningful if a coach/other person designed it, write a note on the back, and delivered it privately. This whole “we must share all publicly” never ends well, either due to boredom, embarrassment, sheer team size, lack of originality, people being left out, favoritism, etc. How nice it would be for a child to go to their door/mailbox and find a handwritten paper plate with a note from someone in authority about the child? And how nice for people to collect anecdotes throughout the season so they could write something meaningful to each child? Take it out of the banquet and make it more personalized.

I've seen paper plate awards that focus on kids' behaviors or embarrassing incidents during the season - to make a joke out of it. I didn't find them funny at all, and they were done in front of the entire team at the banquet. The coaches thought they were being clever. I thought they were being petty and insulting (especially to the parents who paid for the privilege).

Me too. Some of the plates can be mean and cruel.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paper plate awards would be so much more meaningful if a coach/other person designed it, write a note on the back, and delivered it privately. This whole “we must share all publicly” never ends well, either due to boredom, embarrassment, sheer team size, lack of originality, people being left out, favoritism, etc. How nice it would be for a child to go to their door/mailbox and find a handwritten paper plate with a note from someone in authority about the child? And how nice for people to collect anecdotes throughout the season so they could write something meaningful to each child? Take it out of the banquet and make it more personalized.

I've seen paper plate awards that focus on kids' behaviors or embarrassing incidents during the season - to make a joke out of it. I didn't find them funny at all, and they were done in front of the entire team at the banquet. The coaches thought they were being clever. I thought they were being petty and insulting (especially to the parents who paid for the privilege).

Unclench woman. My kid get embarrassing paper plate awards every year. It’s funny. But you have to have a sense of humor. They also put them in your font yard.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Geez I’m always shocked at how many people seem to not like their summer team and still participate

Ours is great! A meet and B meet kids are friends, A meet and B meet parents volunteer, everyone gets a paper plate award, a few kids get special awards buts its usually not the A meet kids (my kid is an A meet kid and never gets anything special and we’re all good with that)

Banquet is catered at the pool with a slideshow. It’s wonderful! We feel lucky it still feels like summer swim. Some annoying competitive parents, sure, some complain-y kids, but overall great. Sad it’s over this weekend!

I'm fairly certain our kids are on the same team and I agree--it's really a warm, welcoming place and the banquet is such a fun way to end the season. After reading some of these threads, I realize this is clearly not the case at a lot of pools and that's a major missed opportunity to build community and give kids great summer memories.

Sounds very similar to ours. The only dfference is we don’t have A and B meet kids.

Anonymous wrote:

At the banquet all 8 and unders get trophies. Ever huh one else gets a medal. Trophies for highest point scorer in each gender and age group for A and B meets which sounds better than what some pools are doing. The most improved and sportsmanship are usually a joke as the coaches pick their favorites and don’t use any real data to quantify the most improved. Awards aren’t terribly long and then it’s a slideshow and late night swim.
.

My child won coach's award one year. I can't remember what the coach said in the speech. The real reason my kid won the award was due to a private health issue only the head coach knew about. There must have been some parents wondering why my kid was picked.

Anonymous wrote:Geez I’m always shocked at how many people seem to not like their summer team and still participate

Ours is great! A meet and B meet kids are friends, A meet and B meet parents volunteer, everyone gets a paper plate award, a few kids get special awards buts its usually not the A meet kids (my kid is an A meet kid and never gets anything special and we’re all good with that)

Banquet is catered at the pool with a slideshow. It’s wonderful! We feel lucky it still feels like summer swim. Some annoying competitive parents, sure, some complain-y kids, but overall great. Sad it’s over this weekend!

I'm fairly certain our kids are on the same team and I agree--it's really a warm, welcoming place and the banquet is such a fun way to end the season. After reading some of these threads, I realize this is clearly not the case at a lot of pools and that's a major missed opportunity to build community and give kids great summer memories.

Anonymous wrote:Our team only does a high point award by gender, so only two for the whole team. They should definitely switch to age group, my kids take high point in their age group almost every year. They’re being robbed!

So stingy!

Our team only does a high point award by gender, so only two for the whole team. They should definitely switch to age group, my kids take high point in their age group almost every year. They’re being robbed!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our team’s paper plate awards are frustrating. About 35 paper plate awards for 230+swimmers and 15 coaches. That’s only three plates per coach. Then the paper plate awards usually go to board members kids over and over again, who are also highlighted in most of the social media posts. Then a slide show which also highlights the board members kids and their besties. It’s sad and pathetic, and could be so much better.

Seen this too, but include the team reps' and team officials' kids.

Ours does not include the officials. But, the team rep kids barely can swim and one complains the entire practice. It’s discouraging for the kids who practice and win

And the coaches won't call them out for their behavior or lack of effort because they want to keep their jobs (that season or for the next season). This is also a reason that club swimmers don't come to summer practices.

Anonymous wrote:Paper plate awards would be so much more meaningful if a coach/other person designed it, write a note on the back, and delivered it privately. This whole “we must share all publicly” never ends well, either due to boredom, embarrassment, sheer team size, lack of originality, people being left out, favoritism, etc. How nice it would be for a child to go to their door/mailbox and find a handwritten paper plate with a note from someone in authority about the child? And how nice for people to collect anecdotes throughout the season so they could write something meaningful to each child? Take it out of the banquet and make it more personalized.

I've seen paper plate awards that focus on kids' behaviors or embarrassing incidents during the season - to make a joke out of it. I didn't find them funny at all, and they were done in front of the entire team at the banquet. The coaches thought they were being clever. I thought they were being petty and insulting (especially to the parents who paid for the privilege).

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s weird that some people think that their kids shouldn’t have to be disappointed sometimes. Every year my kids hope to get a paper plate award, and every year 2/3 of my kids get one and the same child (who isn’t as magnetic as the other two) does not. She is usually disappointed, especially when she was 7 and her 5 year old sister got one. But, truly, that’s ok. She is wonderful at other things, and we celebrate her wins (which are different) when they happen.

I don’t think it’s the swim team’s job to make sure kids aren’t disappointed. But our team has achievement, sportsmanship, spirit and most improved awards. As well as the silly paper plate awards. When our team had 250 kids, most kids got just the participation trophies, and that’s fine.

Celebrating other peoples’ wins while being disappointed yourself is such a life skill. Not to mention that you can’t choose to pursue things for the accolades, because they are totally out of your control.

I don't think anyone has taken it to the extreme of "kids shouldn't have to be disappointed sometimes." If you are the ONE kid left out from getting a paper plate award, as PP's example, that's very painful. There's no concrete reason. That's very different than coaching your kid through the disappointment of only being chosen for one event, while someone else, with slightly faster times, gets slotted for three.

I think teams can choose to recognize a few kids with a few special awards - normal and healthy. But you can't have the norm of paper plate awards for every kid and leave a kid or two out. It's about how many kids get something vs. nothing, and the basis for these awards.

Reading through all these, I feel like what we do maybe hits the sweet spot (not too long, everyone gets something, pretty informal, Sunday evening after Divisionals but pool is still open).

-Opportunity to order pizza for a big delivery - or BYO
-Cake free for everyone
-Everyone gets a medal and a little cutout of our team mascot that has been decorated specifically for that swimmer by coaches or team captains (but not called up individually)
-Each gender/age group has a high point and a most improved award - then everyone from that age group comes up for a group pic
-Graduating seniors have a chance to say something about their time on the team and advice to current swimmers
-Wrap up and head down to swim and maybe parent/coach relays

Doesn't drag out by having to call every swimmer's name and have them come up. Age group awards are very objective (points or improved time) vs coaches' favorites. Everyone goes home with something personal. And it doesn't cost extra money!