ABSTRACT

Aim: The purpose of this research is to determine the perceptions of university student athletes regarding the concept of COVID-19, with the help of metaphor.

Methods: The research group consists of 101(Age average = 21.11±2.96) licenced university student athletes, 52 of whom are women and 49 men, who are actively doing sports in different branches (volleyball, basketball, wrestling, swimming, etc.) affiliated with sports clubs in different provinces of Turkey. As a data collection tool, a ‘metaphor form’ was prepared to determine the participants’ perceptions of COVID-19. The form asked participants to complete the following sentence; “COVID-19 is like …; because …”.

Results: We collected the metaphors in two categories as positive and negative. Positive metaphors consist of a total of three categories and three themes under the categories. Negative metaphors consist of four categories and eight themes under these categories.We observed that participants mostly developed metaphors regarding the concept of COVID-19 in the category of “being blocked”, the concept is followed by the categories of “mental impact” and “perception”.

Conclusion: As a result; in the context of pandemic and sports COVID-19 presents some preliminary observations on sports and being involved in sports is progressing in these uncertain times.

Keywords: COVID-19, athlete, sport, metaphor, qualitative research, university student