7 tips for end-of-season awards

If you have got an end-of-season awards ceremony coming up, you might be wondering how to approach it.

Use our top tips to help you, and your players, get the most out of it...

01 Align awards with the values of your team

Don’t feel you have to do the ’typical’ awards. Give out trophies that match the values of your team, or make your reasons for giving certain awards align with your team values.

For example, if ’passion for the game’ is one of your core values, give an award which aligns with that. 

Or, if your team is development-driven, rather than results-driven, choose a selection of awards that focus on effort and improvement, rather than statistics.

02 Spread the awards across the team

You might have one or two stand-out players who could be rewarded for numerous things – but try, where possible, to give as many of your players recognition as you can.

While those stand-out players absolutely deserve rewarding, it can be disheartening for other members of the team to see them take home all of the plaudits.

03 Don’t dish out awards for the sake of it

By the same token, players and parents will often see through it if you give out awards for the sake of it.

If a player doesn’t fit into an award category, don’t feel you have to find something for them. 

As important as it is for players to be rewarded for their efforts, it’s also important they learn that you can’t always win. It may give them something to aspire to next season.

04 Don’t choose all the winners yourself

In the spirit of soccer being a team game, get the team involved in choosing some of the awards, whether that’s through voting for a certain award, or making award suggestions. 

You could even ask parents or guardians to vote on an award – doing so will help to make them feel included.

05 Be careful with ’comedy’ awards

Often, joke awards – such as ’Last one to leave the changing room’, for example – can go down really well. 

Sometimes, though, they can have the opposite effect, and make a player feel a bit of a fool, demotivating them.

If you are planning to give out a few comedy awards, consider your team first – what age group are they? How do they respond to things like this?

Are they going to take it in the spirit that it’s intended? 

If there’s a risk that they won’t, it might be best staying away from these types of awards.

06 Give the winners something tangible

Whether it’s a certificate, a trophy, or a medal, it’s nice for the award winners to have something physical to take away with them. 

It’s not just a lovely moment for them to receive something on the day – it also means they can go home and put it up somewhere, pride of place, or show it off on social media to people that couldn’t attend the awards ceremony.

If you don’t need the trophy or medal back for next season, maybe they can keep it to look back on in years to come.

07 Make a big deal of it

When you’re giving out player awards, let each player have their moment.

Make sure you explain why a player is receiving an award – giving everyone a chance to listen to their successes. 

Ask the player to come to the front of the room to receive their award, but don’t force it if they don’t want to. 

Let their parents or guardians take pictures, and perhaps even offer them the chance to give a short ’Thank you’ speech if they want to.

Of course, this might be time consuming, so make sure you’ve planned the schedule accordingly!