A temporal analysis of flow-clutch in table tennis: real versus virtual reality

The study aimed to examine the differences in flow and clutch states in virtual and real table tennis within a three-point tournament in which each player was required to play four rounds. A sample of 57 table tennis players (5 girls; Mage = 29.92; SD = 14.47) participated in the study; 39 participated in the real table tennis three-point tournament, and 18 participated in the virtual reality table tennis three-point tournament. In total, two reality tournaments were carried out, and one tournament was carried out using virtual reality. Results of Wilcoxon test revealed: (a) significantly higher scores of the overlapping characteristics of flow-clutch (i.e., I was fully absorbed in the activity) in virtual reality in comparison to reality for time 1 (T1), T2, T4 (and marginally higher scores for T3); significant higher scores of effortlessness of flow (i.e., “the activity felt easy”) in virtual reality in comparison to reality for T2; and (c) significantly higher score of characteristics of clutch (“i.e., I was analysing the demands of the situation”) in virtual reality in comparison to reality for T4. In conclusion, it seems that table tennis players experienced higher scores of flow-clutch states in virtual reality table tennis in comparison to reality. This means that virtual reality table tennis could be a more absorbed modality than real table tennis. Nevertheless, more studies are needed to examine the differences between virtual reality versus real Table tennis.