The Hand-Me-Down Gold Medal

The need to reward is ruining sports. Nowadays, it seems as though there are awards given to and recognition bestowed upon every player, to the point that awards are being created so that as many people or teams as possible can win.

Two summers ago, the powers that be at USA Water Polo decided to change the format of the Junior Olympics competition so that ‘more teams and players could participate’ (read: more money could be generated). Now, instead of being a select, 24- to 48-tournament which played out using the double-elimination format, it is a 24- to 48-team tournament. Had that been where the changes stopped it would have been fine. A larger tournament would only bring about more interest in the sport.

But USA Water Polo decided to take it one step further.

For this explanation, lets assume that it is a 48-team tournament. The first move USA Water Polo made was to divide the top 24 into the Championship Tournament (yes – that is its name) and the bottom 24 into the Challenge Tournament.

Ok, this is getting to be a little much.

Next step, after the first two to four games of the tournament, the teams are divided once again. In the Champions, the top 12 teams enter into the Platinum division and the bottom 12 into the Gold. Likewise, the top twelve in the Challenge enter the Silver division and the bottom 12 into the bronze. And now the kicker- the winner OF EACH DIVISION earns a gold medal.

So congratulations, kids, you took 37^th. Here’s your gold medal.

Kelsie H.