The Fundamental Appeal of Team Games

The feeling of belonging matters to humans.   At a cellular level.  The release of oxytocin, the hormone which evokes feelings of contentment and security, makes people feel happy to be part of a group.  It helps explain why identification with a family, town, school or team is such a fundamental part of the human experience.  It also explains the appeal of team games.

Sharing interests and endeavours, collaborating to greater gain and combining to vanquish a foe are experiences which are as old as humanity.  Whilst the rules of games may be artificial, the foundation on which they are based is far from that.  Which is why there will always be a place for team games, and also other shared assaults on adversity, such as expeditions and endurance events.  They feed a deep human need.

All surveys attempting to understand children’s motivations to take part in sport are dominated by the principal driver: “To have fun with my friends”.  This goes across both sexes, all sports and all levels of ability.  The attraction of teamship is not the preserve of high performance: it is a universal benefit.

Working together is a fundamental driver.  It explains why societies succeed and fail.  Collaborating to make a whole greater than the sum of the parts, working together to create improvement: connectedness is a primal urge.  Sports provide a meaningful microcosm of life.

Selflessness and service are celebrated worldwide at this time of year.  These qualities have been approved and applauded throughout history.  They were the foundation of chivalry.  In a world which recognizes these qualities, but provides fewer opportunities to develop them, team games continue to have a significant place. Showing commitment to shared goals, tolerating inconvenience and discomfort for the benefit of others have been desirable qualities through history.  They are still prominent in sport.

Combat, and battle, are primal concepts.  All competitions have their basis in this.  Invading territory, the head to head dual: these are not recently invented concepts, but characteristics of almost all societies throughout history.

Focusing exclusively on technical outcomes limits the impact of games.  Most of the world can’t bowl a leg break, or drag flick, and seems to survive without these skills.  Sports coaching must align itself with the deeper appeals; those that have captured the hearts of participants long before coaching – or even cones – had been invented.

At a time when team games are under threat - and under pressure to justify their primacy in school programmes – it is perhaps reassuring to understand that their appeal has deep roots.  Team games feed fundamental needs, and for that reason will always have a place that provides meaning in lives.