Collective Sports

We explain what team sports are and offer you multiple examples. In addition, we tell you what individual sports are.

What are team sports?

Collective sports or team sports are those in which two sets or groups of rival athletes face each other each of which has the same number of players sharing their score and progress in the competition. In this type of sports, the objective of each group is to beat the opponent, and for that Each team must act in a coordinated and simultaneous manner.

Unlike individual sports, team sports require a certain capacity for understanding among peers, collective cooperation and at the same time hierarchy and horizontality. Thus, for example, in sports practice there is usually a “captain” or “leader” of the team, who has the role of coordinating collective efforts and encouraging others, but when the team wins a competition, all its members will receive maybe a medal.

In practice, team sports usually add to the physical and mental efforts of sport, an essential social aspect, since Collective success normally depends on communication and understanding between its members.

See also: Types of sport

Examples of team sports

The following are examples of team sports:

• Soccer. Traditionally, in a soccer match, two teams of 11 players face each other for two periods of 45 minutes each (in futsal variants there are usually fewer). Each team must score the most goals in the opponent's goal and prevent the rival team from doing the same.
• Basketball. In a basketball game, two teams of 5 players each normally face each other during four ten-minute periods. During this period, each team must try to score the ball as many times as possible in the opposing hoop, and prevent the other team from doing the same in their own.
• Volleyball. In a volleyball or volleyball match, two teams of six players usually face each other, separated by a net suspended in the middle of the court. The purpose of the game is to keep the ball in the air without touching it more than three times simultaneously per team, then cross it to the other team on the court over the net, ensuring that the other team drops it.
• Baseball. In a baseball game, two teams of nine players each face each other, over a variable period of time, but which normally consists of 9 innings or tickets. The teams successively play the role of defenders and attackers: the former throw the ball and the latter must hit it with a bat and run the three bases on the playing field before the other team recovers it. He inning It ends when the defending team scores 3 outseither because the batter fails to hit the ball three consecutive times (called strikes) or because the ball is recovered and reaches the base before the opposing runner.
• softball. A softball game is very similar to a baseball game. In the case of softball, however, the ball is larger and is thrown under the arm, but the logic is the same: two teams of nine players face each other, one as an attacker and the other as a defender, over seven tickets or innings.
• Rugby. In a rugby match, an avoidance and contact sport that originated in England in the 19th century, two teams of 15, 13 or 7 players each face each other, depending on the specific type of game. Each team must control the ball with their hands and score the most points by invading the opponent's court, either by placing the ball in the end zone, or by kicking it so that it goes through the rival goal posts.
• Hockey. In a hockey game, whether on ice, grass or pavement, two teams face each other. Each team is made up of between 5 and 11 players, depending on the type of hockey, one of whom acts as goalkeeper. The goal of the game is to score as many goals as possible by putting the puck or ball into the opponent's goal, using a specially designed stick. Each match generally lasts four quarters of 15 to 20 minutes each.
• Pole. In a polo match, two teams of four players on horseback normally face each other, each of whom tries to take a ball to the opponent's goal, using a long wooden cue. It is a very old sport, which is played on large fields, between 150 and 270 meters long, and whose games last approximately two hours, divided into six or eight periods or chukkas.
• Lacrosse. In a lacrosse game, two teams of ten players face each other, the latter equipped with a stick with a net at the end. With them they must pass and receive a rubber ball, until they put it in the opposing team's goal. Although it can be played in different versions, it is commonly played on grass and over four periods of 15 minutes each.
• Cricket. Cricket is another sport similar to baseball, in which two teams of eleven players each face each other, successively occupying the role of defenders (pitchers) and attackers (batsmen). The dynamic, however, is quite unique, since there must be two batters per turn at opposite ends of the field, who run to the opposite side when the ball is hit, which must pass through a metal structure called wicket. The defending team must recover the ball before the rivals achieve their goal, or a run will be scored.
• Padel. In an ordinary game of padel or paddle Two teams face each other, each composed of a pair of players, separated by a low net in the center of the playing area. Equipped with a racket, players must dribble the ball twice in the opponent's court to score a point, and prevent the opposing team from doing the same. Each game normally covers three sets, which are won by beating the opponent by two points from the third score (as in tennis).
• padbol. Padbol is the fusion of paddle tennis and soccer, and in its games two teams of two players each face each other, whose mission is to make the ball hit twice on the opponent's court. For this, however, they do not have rackets, as in paddle tennis, but rather they must control the ball with their feet, above the low net that occupies the center of the court.
• Water polo. In a game of water polo, an aquatic version of polo, two teams of 6 players each face each other, one of whom acts as the goalkeeper for each team. The mission is to score the greatest number of goals, that is, the ball entering the opposing goal, during four eight-minute periods (32 minutes per game). To do this they must swim from one end to the other, controlling the ball with one hand at all times.
• Bobsleigh. In a bobsleigh or bobsled competition, several teams of 2, 4 or 6 runners face each other, aboard a wooden or metal sled, with which they must travel along an ice track. The team that completes the route in the best time and effectively wins the competition.
• Kickball. In a game of kickingball, kikimbol or kickball, two teams of 9 players each face each other, alternating roles of attacker and defender as in baseball. But, unlike this sport, in kickingball a ball is thrown across the ground that must be kicked by the attacking player, then travel the three bases of the field and score a run. Each kickball game lasts 6 innings or inningseach of which culminates when three outs: the ball is failed to kick three times in a row, the kicked ball is caught without hitting the ground, a runner is touched with it, or the ball reaches the base before the runner on duty.
• Tennis in pairs. In a tennis game in pairs, two teams face each other, each made up of a pair of tennis players, whose task is to pass the ball over the low net that separates the playing field, so that it hits the opponent's court. without it being able to be returned. For this, players use their rackets. Each tennis match lasts 3 or 5 sets, each of which can be won by beating the opponent by two consecutive points, starting from the third point scored.
• Badminton in pairs. In a very similar way to tennis in pairs, in a game of badminton two teams of two players each face each other, equipped with rackets and separated by a net, only this time the net hangs at half height. The objective of the game is to pass the shuttlecock or feather over the net, causing it to fall into the opponent's sector. The team that wins the majority of the 3 sets of 21 points each that lasts each match will win.
• Ping-pong in pairs. Also called table tennis, ping-pong has a logic similar to tennis, since it pits two teams of two players each against each other, equipped with paddles to hit a light ball over a low mesh that divides the table. game in two. The objective is for the ball to hit the opponent's court and not be returned, which means scoring a point. The first team to beat the other by two points in a row from the seventh or eleventh point wins the game.
• Paintball. In a paintball game, two teams of players face each other, of varying but equal numbers, equipped with compressed air weapons that throw paintballs. The purpose of the game, which recreates a war situation, is to establish a tactical advantage over the opposing team, marking the opposing players with their own paint to remove them momentarily or permanently from the game. Depending on the game mode, the victory goes to the team that captures the opposing team's flag, eliminating the entire opposing team or marking the opposing players the most times.
• Team Bowling. In a game of bowling, two teams of players face each other, each with the task of knocking down the greatest number of pins at the end of an oiled wooden track. To do this, they must throw a heavy ball from afar, weighing between 4 and 7 kilograms, in order to make it roll towards the goal. Each player has two rolls (only one if he manages to knock down all the pins at once, that is, one chuza) and in total a game consists of 10 frames or turns per player, at the end of which the team that has obtained the most points by knocking down the greatest number of pins per throw wins.

Individual sports

individual sports are those whose practice pits two rival athletes or sportsmen against each other at a time, without forming teams or collaborating in any way. In this type of sports, everyone competes alone, depending only on their physical and mental abilities.

Examples of individual sports are: chess, arm wrestling, racquetball, nautical jousting, surfing, boxing, wrestling, swimming, running, martial arts, fencing, skiing, golf, darts. , acrobatics, Olympic shooting, archery, snowboarding, certain forms of tennis, table tennis and badminton, and triathlon and modern pentathlon.

References

• “Team sport” on Wikipedia.
• “Collective sports” on ABC (Paraguay).
• “Individual and team sports: which one should you choose?” at UNISPORT Management School.