Team sport is any sport that involves multiple people organized into opposing teams which compete and cooperate for entertainment purposes. The most popular team sports are basketball, football, baseball and soccer. These sports have different rules and equipment but all require the cooperation of the team members to play well. The goal is to win the game by scoring more points than the other team. Team sports are also great ways to get exercise and stay healthy. They help improve agility, endurance and hand-eye coordination. They are also a great way to meet new people and make friends.
Although elite team sports generate significant financial wealth and widespread media attention, grass-roots participation rates in many traditional team sports have been declining. Possible explanations include a lack of social engagement in the sport, cost and fear of injury.
This study aimed to examine the hypothesis that, due to the inherent requirement of reconciling competing and cooperating with teammates and training partners in team sports, participants in team sports learn to integrate these demands over time. As a result, team athletes’ cognitive representation of competition should exclude cooperating with other competitors to a lesser extent than individual athletes’.
The results of two experiments supported this hypothesis. In the first experiment, team athletes did not show a carry-over effect of competition in which cooperating with uninvolved others is reduced during a subsequent competitive task. In the second experiment, individual athletes spontaneously reduced information sharing with non-competitors during a competitive prime but not for team athletes.