Does It Count If You Didn't Do Anything

As kids get older and the sports teams they're involved with get more "serious", some kids inevitably end up sitting on the bench - third or fourth line in hockey, occasional substitutions in volleyball, bench warming in basketball. Now, if these teams go on to win the city championships or some other title, what do the kids who sat out (and the parents of those kids) think about this? Yes, the team won the championships, but my kid didn't get to play much. Happy, sad or mad about this?

My first reaction to this kind of situation was a mad "No fair!" We'd paid just as much for our kid to be there, the kid had worked plenty hard all season and was about the same skill level as some of the other kids, and it's a TEAM sport after all - everyone should play. Another parent, in the same situation, was thrilled for their kid, and I couldn't really understand why, until I asked for their point of view. "My kid gets to say they were on the city championship team, the best of the best, and didn't have to work as hard or risk anything near what the other kids did. It looks just as good on the ole resume!". I was surprised, as this was essentially an opposite value system from mine, yet I can't say it's wrong. Behaviours you can't understand usually have their roots in values that are very different from your own. This happens a lot in the workplace.