“I got them because I worked hard. And it would make me want to work even more hard to get even more trophies.”
Timothy Ferebee has played football all his life and proudly showcases his Pee Wee League trophies from the Boys and Girls Club’ Spartans in the living room of his home.
“Do you believe trophies should indicate how valuable a player is to a team?” ,
The question seemed to take him aback. “What do you mean?” he asked, glancing over to his own trophies.
I decided to clarify. “Do you think that just because one person has more trophies than another person on the team, it means they are more valuable? And just because one player doesn’t have as many trophies as another, it means they are not as good?”
“Well,” he began. “No. I don’t think just because somebody has a lot of trophies they’re the best person on the team.”
“Why?” I asked. “You probably have more trophies than most people I know.”
“Yeah, but some of them are just for being on the team,” he said, pointing to one that read Participation Award. “I think they do that so that people don’t feel like they’re not as good as everybody else. Trophies are nice to have if you feel like you did something important, like help your team win some games during the season, or you really did well in practice.”
“But you have a lot of trophies,” I continued. “Would your opinion be different, or would your confidence be lower if you only had a few?”
“No,” he said, quite sure of himself. “Because I would know that I worked for them. I got them because I worked hard. And it would make me want to work even more hard to get even more trophies.”
I laugh. “That’s fair. What’s your favorite trophy?” I asked, to wrap things up.
“This one,” he responded, picking up a small, gold statue with a football player jogging on top of a red, swirling base. “Because I worked really hard that year. It’s the one I feel like I really earned,” he said, handing it to me. The little gold plate read, Timothy Ferebee, Most Improved.
By Amanda Howard