As a parent, whether you agree with giving out end-of-season individual awards or not, this is the time of year when youth football teams host parties or banquets to celebrate the time spent together over the past few months.

Often, that celebration includes handing out not only team trophies, but also individual awards. I’ve seen this happen with 5-year-olds on a flag football team all the way up to high school coaches singling out individual players on the varsity team.

I’ll keep my opinions about the ritual of individual awards – especially at the younger youth sports levels – to myself.

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However, I will chime in about the process. In particular, one player who is often overlooked by the coaching staff during the selections – the head coach’s kid.

Last year, our head coach awarded his own son the most valuable player trophy. This was received with a loud round of applause from the entire coaching staff and his teammates. However, the loudest cheers came from the parents. Not the MVP’s parents, but the rest of us.

Why? Because the MVP award for this particular head coach’s kid was long overdue. This player was by far the best on our team this year, and arguably was the previous two seasons. However, his father didn’t feel comfortable giving his own son the top individual award. That first season, he didn’t. And the second season, the coach made it a tri-MVP award, which his son was included in. However, this season the head coach really had no choice but to single out his own son as the MVP.

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We were all very, very happy for him. Him meaning the player, and his father.

It’s very rewarding as a parent to see your child celebrated as the top player on the team. Even the most unselfish parents will admit it’s quite an occasion when it does happen. There’s not one parent out there who wouldn’t want their child named the MVP of a team at some point.

I’m not naïve enough to think a head coach’s son is never given an unjustified award. But in this case, it was very, very well-deserved.

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So as the team parties unfold in the coming weeks, remember that. Just as the head coach’s son is sometimes the quarterback because he’s the best player for the position, that same player just might be the one who deserves the MVP award the most.

Whether he’s the coach’s son or not.

Jon Buzby has been involved in and writing about youth sports for the past 30 years, originally as a coach and board member with his now-adult son and most recently "just as a dad" with his 8- and 10-year-old sons. Jon is an award-winning writer and his latest book, “Coaching Kids Made Easier,” is available on Amazon. Send comments or future blog topics you'd like to see to JonBuzby@hotmail.com and follow him @YouthSportsBuzz on Twitter.