This is interesting, PWD race with no timer and no losers

[4wheeldrift]

An inlaw's derby is tomorrow, and we thought we'd stop in to see how another pack's derby goes. I exchanged messages with him and he was telling me it'll be like nothing we're used to in terms of competitiveness. He said they just have the kids run the car down the track and everyone gets a certificate and a patch.

I'm sure the kids will have fun and maybe this is the solution to the retarded rule changes. Just let them run them and forget about tracking results.

 

[Guest]

Ha! Kind of a cool idea.

If nobody ever told them it was a race, they would not even know it, or miss it.

I like the idea of a freestyle event. There should probably be some type of judging for the coolest trick though.

360 kickflip?

 

[sondo007]

Interesting idea, I got a feeling you will see mass confusion, but the thought is nice. I would like to see some picks of this arrangement and hear what you thought afterwards.

I'm still of the of old school opinion. I'm not a fan of the everyone gets a trophy for participating. You have a winner and you have a loser and on any given day that can change. But that's just my opinion. What do I know.

 

[Resophonic Racing]

Its always a nice gesture to have everyone be happy. I've been a Coach, Den Leader and Cub Master for over 10 years. I've been around a kids off all ages. When this race is over the kids are going to know who won and lost and they will tell each other. Hope it goes well, sometimes letting the inmates run the asylum is not a good thing.

 

[sondo007]

Its always a nice gesture to have everyone be happy. I've been a Coach, Den Leader and Cub Master for over 10 years. I've been around a kids off all ages. When this race is over the kids are going to know who won and lost and they will tell each other. Hope it goes well, sometimes letting the inmates run the asylum is not a good thing.

+1 on Resophonic comment.

 

[Kinser Racing]

This is my opinion, whether you guys like it or not. This is communism embedded into our society. I go out and do the best I can, shouldn't I be as rich as Bill Gates or Warren Buffet? Of course I should! It doesn't matter that I made stupid choices and dropped out of college or that I never had the guts to take some chances. I should have it just as good as them. Right? No, that's wrong! And that, my friends, is a personal truth.

It's another prime example of socialism. The wussifying of our kids. They should all get the same certificate and patch. We shouldn't recognize the exceptional because it'll hurt the tender little feelings of others. Shame on us for hurting the feelings of others because they didn't care enough to do the work.

 

[aircooled]

Kinser, you are spot on!!! The current thinking in White House is the people who have made it need to give back so everyone will be happy. Life isn't like that and giving kids ribbons and metals because they showed up isn't teaching them a thing about life. There are winners and losers, figure out what you need to be a winner and go for it. Sometimes it doesn't come easy, but it will be worth it in the long run.

 

[bracketracer]

+1 on Kinser's comments. We need to teach our kids how to be a winner in life. You don't win by just showing up. Scouts are supposed to do their best, right?

 

[TRE]

i agree kinser 1000 %

 

[Spirit Racing]

+ 1,000,000 Kinser. Dead on target.....SPIRIT......

 

[IAE Racing]

REVEREND! +1 to your plus 1,000,000,000 to 1000% to your +1. Sorry, just had a "Blazing" moment

 

[IAE Racing]

I'm currently stuck in the middle of something similar. Our pack is down on kids 20 or less. We've been doing overall speed, then in ranks plus division for show. So it's like seventeen trophies. We had always done participation medals for everyone. This year we skipped the metals and got several more small trophies that say "good job" cause they're cheaper then the medals. ?????????????? So every body is going to get at least one trophy, seven with two and I'm sure by the time it's over there will be plenty of bellyaching to boot. ????????

 

[MBL Racing]

+ 1,000,000 Kinser. Dead on target.....SPIRIT......

DITTO!!!

We decided against medals or ribbons this year but put a little more cash into the trophies including a siblings race and the "Old Farts" race which obviously I look forward to /images/boards/smilies/smile.gif I think it is more incentive for the boys as opposed to dinky trophies after all that hard work. EX: last year our Pack champion trophy was 26 1/2" tall !!! and the district champ trophy only 12". Ours won't be nearly that large this year however I'm sure they'll still be quite bigger an nicer than the district. I'm thankful we have a group that loves PWD and many of us more competitive dads lend a hand to the boys that we know will really need it.

 

[4wheeldrift]

Well, you guys were pretty spot on with the comments. We got there about half an hour late and while the kids were all running around and having fun, I'll admit that it seemed a bit like controlled chaos and made my head hurt. It was totally different than what I think a lot of us are used to.

I understand the intention and it was fun for the kids, but there was still some trash talking among the kids. My son took his car and did a few runs with it. People noticed we weren't from the pack and I heard some comments about his car cause it was putting several car lengths on other cars.

Resophonic nailed it in his comments about the kids keeping track of who did what cause my son said there was some trash talking going on amongst the scouts. I didn't hear anything, but he said another kid came up and said 'let's see how you do against me' or I bet I'll whip you, etc. So timer or not, they were still battling for bragging rights.

And I'm fine with all of this cause this has always been my argument against the trash talkers in our own pack...isn't the primary motto of scouting 'do your best'? So I'd tell folks, we're doing our best and don't lay it on me if you're trying to slap wheels on your ride the morning of the race.

I had briefly met the pack leader when I was leaving and he said that they hadn't timed the event for a number of years and got away from it because of the extreme competition that was developing. But after we chatted for a bit, he said that they may return to timing the event. We didn't see the whole event, but what I saw was they gave certificates to each participant, but it was for something unique to them (best stripes, best color, etc.). Funny thing was that I saw this car (missing a wheel btw) that got 'best stripes' but I didn't see any stripes on the car(?).

As mentioned in the other posts, this little gym mentality where everyone is a winner and gets a medal can be a source for disaster. I know I went through that with my son where he'd cry and be upset if he didn't get a trophy, ribbon, trinket. But he eventually grew out of that, but this wouldn't be possible if he kept getting exposed to the 'everyone is a winner' syndrome.

Nothing against the other pack, but I'm glad that we've always had timed racing and competition because it builds character in dealing with winning and losing.