You know, for a country that calls itself "The United States" its citizens seem hell-bent on doing anything that remotely involves unity. The idea that the ideal is to be as individual as possible has been cited as a possible contributor toward unhappiness and feelings of isolation. As others have mentioned in this thread, team sports can be valuable teaching tools for soft skills like working together and supporting each other.

One thing that strikes me is the seriousness with which Americans tend to take sport at any level. That attitude is divisive as it's, "us" against "them" and "you're" letting "us" down if you're not great at sports. Furthermore, in gym class it really seems like public schools tend to use them most often as a way of burning off kid's extra energy when really it could be a true physical education.

According to the theory of multiple intelligences, the kinesthetic intelligence is extremely powerful and in my own teaching, I have found this to be true. If applied properly, physical education encompasses much more than dodgeball. It may help to develop spatial cognition, gross and fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, etc. The real reform, in my eyes, needs to come at a fundamental level. Educators need to teach students how disparate seeming subjects actually tie in to one another so that the art student understands and appreciates the need for math and science and vice versa.