Team sport involves a group of players interacting directly and simultaneously between them in order to achieve an objective, usually involving teammates facilitating the movement of a ball or other object in accordance with a set of rules. Among the most common sports that fall under this category are basketball, football, soccer, volleyball and baseball.
Communication skills are also developed in team sports, as athletes must communicate information instantly and effectively. This requires excellent hand-eye coordination and the ability to quickly read other players’ cues.
Accountability, dedication and leadership are a few of the qualities that kids learn through their team sport experiences. This can help them develop a sense of responsibility, perseverance and patience that they will need later in life.
Having a supportive coach and fellow teammates are also valuable in learning these traits. They are able to show the kids that a team is bigger than the individual player and that they have to work together as a team to reach their goals.
Moreover, team sports entail a higher demand for competition (for starting roles and other status-related resources) and cooperation (for team success) than individual sports. This is evident in the fact that accumulating individual performances to a joint “team score” like in relay competitions is more common in team sports than in individual sports (cf. Rees and Segal, 1984; Van Yperen, 1992).