Possession (sports) determined by several methods, including a coin flip (American football and cricket), home team status (baseball), or by giving the teams an equal opportunity to physically take possession; this may be called a dropped-ball (association football), a ball-up (Australian rules football), a jump ball (basketball), or a face-off (hockey). In some timed sports, the team with possession may try to "run time off the clock" by keeping the ball and not attempting to score, in order to deny the opposing team possession. A shot clock speeds gameplay by requiring teams to attempt to score within a certain period of time
Possession (sports) Possession (sports) In sports, possession is control of the ball or other implement of play by one team, which typically gives that team the opportunity to score. Generally, the team with possession is said to be on "offense", while the other team is on "defense". Sports have different rules governing how possession is kept or lost ("turned over"), which affect the strategy of gameplay. The number of possessions or total time of possession are often useful statistics of team or individual performance. In goal-based sports, including basketball, all forms of football, hockey, and lacrosse, the team with possession has the