I saw a post on social media that read, “In the old days you had to win to get an award. Today you just have to participate.” It made me think about the “old days” when I competed in sports. Most of my sports were in school settings but the competitive spirit kept me going until I was in my 70s and still competing in some form of competition. Eventually all that competing and age caught up with me and I had to back off a bit.
The idea of getting an award is usually a recognition of an outstanding achievement that the person had accomplished. It was not always sports but could be in community service, business, achieving goals that were set before you, or any outstanding accomplishment in a recognized field. The recognition could range from a fancy certificate, money or a big trophy or medal. When a person graduates from high school they can buy a class ring for recognition of achievement. If they went to college and graduated, they could buy a bigger class ring.
I have a sock in my dresser drawer that had some of my medals from competition. I mainly focused on track, wrestling and weight lifting. I was somewhat amazed at the changes that have occurred over the years. I looked at my medals for winning the state in wrestling, the New England YMCA area wrestling championships, the low hurdles state third place, and the weight lifting titles in AAU meets. The medals were the exact same size as a quarter. I admit it was better than the colored ribbons we got for school field day competitions.
