A team sport is a form of sports that necessitates the cooperation of multiple athletes in order to compete. It is inherently impossible or impractical to execute the sport as a single-player endeavour, and its performance relies on team dynamics. This contrasts with individual sports where the success of competitors may not necessarily depend on team dynamics, for example in synchronized swimming or doubles tennis, where both players perform their routines independently.
The most popular team sport worldwide is soccer (soc), followed by American football, basketball and baseball. Other team sports include handball, water polo and volleyball. Additionally, many track and field events involve teams running relays.
Among the key conceptual resources for understanding coordination processes in team sports is the notion of action guidance provided by the environment, studied in terms of affordances. These are the social and object affordances that guide collaborative as well as antagonistic athlete-athlete interactions within a sporting domain. In addition to these, it is important to consider the spatial and temporal ordering of affordances, including their nested and sequential structure and different levels of complexity (global, main, and micro-affordances) in the action sequence.
Furthermore, it is important to distinguish between embodied skills and the abilities of participants. Embodied skills enable individuals to participate as proficient collective agents capable of responding rapidly and sophistically to the challenges that a particular sporting domain poses. In this regard, it is also worth noting that training in team sports is about enabling athletes to become skilled participants in dynamic sequences of collective activity.
In team sports, players become part of a larger entity that reflects the values and priorities of their culture. They learn to appreciate and respect their teammates’ ability and contribution. They share the joy of victory and the agony of defeat together, because they know that a win is only possible when everyone pulls their weight.
Team sport is also a great way to build confidence, social skills, communication and collaboration in children. Whether they are naturally energetic, athletic or shy, most children can find their niche in a team sport.
In contrast, solo sports are a bit more challenging for kids. They typically require more physical effort and a greater degree of skill to excel, which can lead to injuries. Moreover, they may not be as rewarding if the child becomes more focused on earning individual awards rather than working toward a common goal. Lastly, it is easier for solo athletes to get bored and lose interest in the sport.