Team sport is a form of group activity wherein members interact with one another in order to achieve an objective. This objective might be the completion of a task, such as a race or a game, but it may also be more personal in nature.
Unlike other conventional groups, sport teams are regulated by the rules of the game and/or by the league to which they belong. This often imposes extensive controls over internal processes, including the maximum number of members that can be recruited and the number of games they can play.
Role Clarity and Acceptance
A key characteristic of a team is that each member has a unique role to play in the overall outcome. This can be difficult to accept at first, but it is important for each person on the team to understand that their individual actions contribute in some way to a positive outcome for the whole team.
Shared Mental Models
A shared mental model between members of a team enables them to work together efficiently and effectively as a unit to accomplish an objective. It can be developed by encouraging team members to discuss their own goals, strengths and weaknesses as well as the challenges they face and how they plan to overcome them.
Ecological Dynamics
The interaction between the ecological environment and the participants in a sports team is a critical factor in team effectiveness (Carron, Bray & Eys, 2002). Studies suggest that ecological dynamic effects in sport domains are similar to those found in other settings, which could be harnessed to predict team performance.