Flow experience and performance: A study of elite Turkish handball players

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the flow states of elite handball players and to examine its effects in terms of several variables. 34 (19 female- 15 male) athletes aged 27.22± 5.44 competing in Turkish Handball Super League participated in the study and as a result of a total of 17 matches (men 10, women 7), 142 participations were included into evaluation. At the end of the matches, the athletes were given Personal Information Forms together with the form on their perceptions of the difficulty levels of the competition and the Dispositional Flow State Scale-2, which was developed by Jackson and Eklund (2004) and adapted into Turkish by Aşçı et al. (2007). As a result of the study, it was found that elite female handball players had higher flow experiences than elite male handball players. Flow experiences of handball players aged 30 and over were found to be significant at a higher level than those of handball players aged 30 and under; it was also concluded that the relationship between perception of difficulty and flow state, duration of game, gender and age are effective determiners. © JPES.