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In many team sports, defense or defence is the action of preventing an opponent from scoring. The term may also refer to the tactics involved in defense, or a sub-team whose primary responsibility is defense. Similarly, a defense player is a player who is generally charged with preventing the other team's forwards from being able to bear down directly on their own team's goaltender. Such positions exist in football, ice hockey, water polo and many other sports.

In ice hockey, some defense players are better known for their offensive prowess than for their close defensive play. Such players are known as offensive defense. Others are not known at all for their goal scoring; these are sometimes known as stay-at-home defense.

In water polo, if an offensive player, such as the center forward, has the ball in front of the goal, and the defender cannot steal the ball, he may intentionally commit a foul. The forward then has a free throw but must pass the ball off to another offensive player, rather than making a shot at the goal. Defensive perimeter players may also intentionally cause a foul and then move toward the goal, away from their attacker, who must take a free throw. This technique, called 'sloughing', allows the defense an opportunity to double-team the center forward and possibly steal the inbound pass. The water polo referee may refrain from declaring a foul caused by a defensive player, if in his judgment this would give the advantage to the defending team. This is known as the Advantage Rule.

• Offense (sports)
• Defenceman (ice hockey)
• Defender (football)

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