Team sport - Definition and Overview

Team mates cooperate to beat the other team

Team sport is a term used to distinguish between sports based on one-on-one direct confrontation (such as most raquet sports, boxing or Martial arts) or timed races (such as athletics or swimming), as opposed to those which are practiced between opposing teams, where the players interact directly and simultaneously between them to achieve the objective, such as football (in its various forms), baseball, handball, hockey, basketball or volleyball.

Most team sports involve a ball or other object. In some sports such as football, basketball or hockey, the teams contend for possession of the object, which must be passed through some sort of goal; in other sports, such as volleyball, the teams pass the object back and forth in an attempt to place it in contact with a certain area of the playing field or court. Baseball, as well as similar sports which use a bat to strike at the ball, is relatively unique in that the team playing defense controls the ball, with the team attempting to score trying to propel the ball away from themselves while the players themselves attempt to reach a specified goal.

Relay and pairs events are not considered team sports.

"This is a team sport!" is a negative criticism, implying selfish play, often heard in sports such as soccer, basketball and ice hockey, when the players (usually the most skilled) go for individual plays rather than acting collectively through teamwork.