Flexibility is a somewhat complicated concept to define due to the large number of terms and components it
encompasses and there are many stretching techniques we can use. However, the knowledge that university
students of Physical Education have, according to previous studies, is often very scarce. The purpose of this
study was to obtain information about flexibility and the practical application of stretching techniques possessed
by students at the Latvian Academy of Sports Education in Riga, Latvia. A sample of 159 volunteer students
participated in the present study, (male n = 83; female n = 76) from four courses and the first year of Master's
degree in Physical Education (age 21.51 ± 2.40 years). The students completed the survey consisting of 14
questions related to their knowledge of stretching techniques and part of the training session in which they
perform stretching. The knowledge and use of stretching techniques was low for both university and Master´s
students, but the third-year students had more knowledge (1.87 ± 0.672 vs. 0.84 ± 0.569). Most of the
participants do not usually have dedicated stretching sessions and if they do, they are rare (0.20 ± 0.659). Most
participants tend to stretch during both warm-up and cool-down. The knowledge of university students about
flexibility and stretching is insufficient. In conclusion, we agree that the use of stretching by university students
during their training sessions is low. It would be advisable to implement intervention programmes and sessions
dedicated solely to the development of this physical quality at the school and/or university.
