What is a Team Sport?

Team sport is a form of sports that involves teammates working together towards a common objective, which is usually to win by outscoring the opposing team. Some examples of team sports are baseball, soccer, basketball, handball, water polo and football.

Human interest in team contact sports extends beyond a desire to participate and includes a strong predilection for watching teams play (spectatorship), the evaluation (e.g., sports statistics, fantasy football, schoolyard picking) and criticism (e.g., trash talk) of the comparative skills of athletes and teams, as well as a preference for certain teams over others and a pronounced emotional and physiological response to perceived officiating bias (Kruger et al. 2018).

While team sports provide many physical and psychological benefits, they also teach children important life lessons. They learn commitment, hard work and how to set and achieve goals. They learn that it is important to be a good sport and how to handle defeat in a positive manner, turning setbacks into learning opportunities.

Moreover, they also gain invaluable experience in collaborating with teammates, both verbally and nonverbally, to achieve a common goal. This is a skill that they will be able to use for the rest of their lives. These soft skills become personal attributes that allow youth to develop positive social relationships in their daily interactions with others and ultimately contribute to the creation of healthy communities. This is one of the fundamental purposes of community sport programs, including those offered by schools, parks and recreation departments and professional sports leagues.