Team sport is an activity that requires players on the same side to work together towards a common objective. The goal is usually to win a game or match, which can be done by outscoring the opponent. Some examples of team sports are American football, association football, cricket, rugby league, field hockey, basketball, water polo and lacrosse. Each team has a fixed number of members, although they may be substituted during competition matches (McEwan & Beauchamp, 2014).

Most team sports require extensive communication between teammates and coaches, both spoken and unspoken. For example, players must listen to locker room pep talks, pick up non-verbal cues during practice and games, and communicate their feelings during post-game debriefs. This type of communication can help develop students into well-rounded individuals who know how to express themselves and understand the perspectives of others.

While the majority of research on team sport focuses on identifying individual-level predictors of performance, there is growing interest in studying team dynamics as they occur during actual competitions. The dynamic nature of these “organizational laboratories” is appealing to researchers from a variety of disciplines and is ideal for testing theoretical models that draw on evolutionary thinking.

The study of team sport offers numerous windows to explore human behavior, from adolescent development to the impact of social media on fan-induced violence in the stands (Kruger et al, 2018). It is important for researchers to cultivate more consideration and analysis of this area of study as it has the potential to improve the lives of all individuals.