Challenge Coins Make Their Way into Professional Sports

Much like the military, unity is absolutely essential to the success of any sports team. At both the collegiate and professional levels of sports, team unity could be the make or break factor that decides whether a team has what it takes to win a championship. With that said, it should come as no surprise that both collegiate and professional teams are looking to challenge coins to inspire their athletes and promote the idea of team building.

Challenge coins have long been used by the military with the intentions of boosting camaraderie among the troops, and also honoring those that performed an act worthy of recognition. Their history has been well documented, and there are countless success stories that give evidence of their effectiveness in increasing morale.

The world of professional sports has taken notice of the impact that challenge coins have had in the military. Teams are looking for ways to use customized coins in their organizations to encourage performance improvement. One professional sports team that has made use of coins is the National Hockey League’s 2011 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins.

Boston Bruins Build New Tradition with Challenge Coins

After Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference received a Ranger challenge coin from a friend in the Army, he realized that his team could use similar customized coins for bonding purposes. In coordination with team officials, Ference created Boston Bruins challenge coins for each of his teammates.

The challenge coins feature the Boston Bruins logo and the words “Old Time Hockey” and “Since 1924” along the front edges. On the backside, the coins feature the city of Boston’s seal and the jersey number of each teammate. Similar to the military tradition, there are informal rules related to when a teammate can earn their own challenge coin. For example, rookies must wait to get their challenge coins until they have completed various team-oriented tasks.

Using Challenge Coins to Honor Local Amateur Sports Teams

Professional sports teams are not the only ones using challenge coins in athletics. Many collegiate teams are using them to encourage unity among the older and younger members of the team. Local teams involved in youth sports are also finding ways to use customized coins. Coaches of youth teams use the coins to reward unselfish play, and excellent sportsmanship. The custom coins are used to promote team play, as well as to encourage strong practice habits.

For some, such coins give individuals and teams a goal for which they can strive. For others, it provides for a bonding experience between the team that may not have seemed feasible through other manners. And finally, some youth leagues use baseball challenge coins for trading amongst each other at tournaments.

Although customized coins used for sports don’t hold the exact significance as those used by most military officials, they are very similar in nature. Those that hold the coin represent the organization in every action and statement that they make. As such, the challenge coin serves as a reminder to work hard, and to value teammates.

If you are thinking about ordering challenge coins for your sports team, you’ll be able to find the information you need by visiting the Challenge Coins Limited website.



Baseball Challenge Coins: A Hit with Little League Teams

For almost one hundred and fifty years, baseball teams around the United States have used collectible items to recognize and honor those playing the game. From Little Leagues across the country to Major League Baseball, such items as trading cards, pins, pennants and more have been distributed, collected, traded, and sold by kids and avid adult collectors. In the last few years, challenge coins have grown increasingly popular among Little League teams due to their customizability and collectability.

Baseball CoinsNorthside Little League Challenge Coin

Baseball challenge coins can be customized to feature team slogans and logos, photos, and even player numbers. The potential design ideas are limitless, and they can vary in shape and size. Their durability and form factor make them a logical choice for little leagues, as they don’t have to worry about creasing them, or being pricked by a sharp point.

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Customized baseball challenge coins are starting to pop up in Major League Baseball stadiums around the country as well, further fueling their popularity at the Little League level. Aspiring baseball superstars eager to have some sort of connection to their favorite Major League Baseball team love the idea of having a customized challenge coin for their own Little League team.

Using Baseball Challenge Coins to Symbolize Team Solidarity

Challenge coins have been used for decades in the military to build morale and unity among units. Similar to the manner in which they been used at the military level, Little League baseball teams have used them to symbolize team solidarity. Each member of a team is given a baseball challenge coin with the team logo, slogan, or some other unifying image or text.

Some teams require their players to have their team’s baseball challenge coins with them at all times to represent their commitment to their team. Others, however, allow their players to display the coins as they see fit, and even trade them with members of other teams. In fact, the trading of baseball challenge coins has become so popular that many Little League teams issue each player more than one coin to make such exchanges possible.

Honoring Champions with Baseball Challenge Coins

Many Little Leagues around the country are even replacing the traditional trophies and certificates with baseball challenge coins as a way of honoring the league champions, or simply all of those that participated for the year. While trophies are clunky, and can take up a lot of space when displayed, baseball challenge coins are made to a convenient and easily displayed size and shape. Because baseball challenges are customizable in nearly every aspect, they make for the perfect keepsake to meaningfully honor championship teams.

Customizing Your Team or League’s Baseball Challenge Coins

When planning your order of baseball challenge coins for your team or league, you should first and foremost consider the following:

• The number of coins you will need to order.
• The size and shape of the coin.
• The design of the coin.

Before placing your order, it is a good idea to determine exactly how many coins you plan to have made. The best way to come up with the right number for your order is to ask yourself the following questions:

• How are the coins going to be used? To honor a championship team or superstar player? Or to be given out for to each player in the league or on a team as a token of participation?
• How many baseball challenge coins will each player receive? Will the players be given just one for keepsake purposes, or will they be given multiples and encouraged to trade?

After you have decided the perfect quantity for your order, you’ll then want to decide what size and shape you would like for the coin. Baseball challenge coins are commonly round in shape so as to maintain the same form factor as a ball. The size that you choose, however, will depend on the design that you would like your coin to feature.

When choosing a design for your baseball challenge coins, you’ll likely first want to get an idea as to how the coin will be used. If the coins will be given to the championship team in some kind of ceremonial fashion, you wish to have a design and text that reflects their accomplishment. On the other hand, if the coin is to be used as a means of building team solidarity, you may want to include the team logo and slogan in the design.



Challenge Coins Enter The Sports Arena

The concept of memorabilia is nothing new, and its desirability has existed as long as fans of teams and sports have wanted a small piece of the teams they support. Challenge coins are a relatively new form of memorabilia, at least in the sports world. They originated in the military as a means of building unit cohesion and camaraderie, but have since moved beyond their military background and out into the civilian world. Sports teams have several uses for challenge coins and are helping to propel their burgeoning popularity as collectors’ items.

North High School Challenge CoinsThe high customization level of challenge coins makes them desirable collectors’ items for players and fans alike. Since challenge coins are affordable and easy to customize, teams can make different designs so that people will want to trade coins. Teammates can trade coins within a team, especially if each coin is personalized to identify an individual person or number. Fans can exchange challenge coins with one another so they can collect coins from the best years and the most important events. People who love a particular sport in general can exchange challenge coins with other collectors in order to assemble a collection featuring all teams.

One of the biggest draws of challenge coins is the ability to customize each coin on an individual letter within an order. Coaches will sometimes order challenge coins with names and jersey numbers to hand out to players in order to motivate them for the upcoming season or congratulate them for a job well done at the end of a season. These coins might even be handed out during an awards ceremony in which each coin is minted to reflect individual achievements and superlatives. Combining the highly personal aspect of a name and jersey number with a more general team mascot or symbol creates a memorable and valued piece of team memorabilia that will be treasured beyond season’s end.

Challenge coins are also good for fundraising. An attractively designed coin will be desired by fans of a team, particularly if the fans are regular game attendees. These coins can be sold at and between games in order to raise money to supplement traveling expenses, equipment costs, and league dues that teams may have to pay in order to play. Challenge coins are durable and long lasting, giving them added appeal to fans who want to purchase a piece of sports memorabilia that will not break or wear shortly after purchase.

Personalized coins can also be used as environmentally friendly admittance tokens. Rather than wasting paper on printed tickets, teams can pass out reusable challenge coins instead. Game attendees simply hand the challenge coin to the admittance gate attendant and the coins will be redistributed upon purchase for the next upcoming game. Challenge coins can also be used for promoting special team deals and packages. An announcer tells game attendees that those in possession of a team challenge coin all get a free soda at the concession stand and the fans simply show their coins to the vendor to gain their prizes. Teams can draw in new fans and game attendees by showing themselves to be environmentally conscious and willing to try unique, eye-catching solutions to modern problems.

More and more important gaming events are being started by a flip of a challenge coin. It is not uncommon to hear an official publicly state that the coin that they are flipping to determine possession has one school’s logo on one side and the other school’s logo on the reverse side. They have become collectors’ items by those who want a souvenir from that particular season or game.

Challenge coins make excellent gifts for those who want to reward team players for hard work and good play as well as for fans of teams that want a long-lasting souvenir of a special occasion for their teams. They can be used to raise both team spirit as well as money for team supplies and can be a great means of bringing a fan base together. These coins can also be traded to fans and players of other teams in order to show good sportsmanship and to assemble league and division coin collections. Those with military backgrounds will also appreciate receiving a challenge coin because they will be reminded of teamwork and unity from their times of service. The distribution of challenge coins is ever growing in popularity, so teams would be wise to get in on this newer form of promoting the team’s image now so that they will be seen as forward thinking and relevant to the modern sports fan.

Challenge Coins Limited has designers available to make your next sporting event an even more cherished event – call us at 1-800-818-3229 to see how we can adapt your team logo into the coin making process.



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