A team sport involves a group of players competing as a single unit. A team may substitute players during a match, but the final outcome of the competition depends on the performance of all members of the playing team. Some examples of team sports include football, cricket, basketball, rugby, water polo, handball and volleyball.
One of the most important things to learn from a team sport is the ability to respect others. This is a skill that will help you in all aspects of your life, especially when dealing with difficult people at work or at home. Team sports also teach you to be able to put your personal opinions aside for the benefit of the whole team, which is a useful skill in all walks of life.
Studies have shown that kids who participate in organized team sports often have better health and psychological outcomes than their peers who do not play any sport. This is particularly true for girls. A recent study found that girls who participated in a school sport in 7th, 9th, and 12th grades had lower depression symptoms and reported less stress and anxiety than their non-athlete classmates three years later when they graduated from high school. This suggests that participation in team sports during adolescence improves mental and social well-being into early adulthood, though the exact reasons are unclear. This special issue explores a range of themes related to the development and persistence of team contact sports, including (i) human interest in watching teams compete (spectatorship), a predilection for evaluating and criticizing the comparative skills of players (trash talk, Kniffin and Palacio 2018) and strong and widespread preferences and loyalties for particular teams and their athletes (Kruger et al. 2018).