Question about lefties

[ahbroody 1]

Okay I am confused about something.

My son appears to be a lefty. He throws 2x harder with his left then his right. He writes with his left. He eats with his left. When he skates his strong side appears to be his left. I men if given a choice he turns to his right over his left, the reverse of pub skate direction. He is fine turning to his left but seems to always turn to his right if not requested to do otherwise.

Now the issue is he prefers to shot a puck and hit a baseball right handed. Should I be forcing him to go lefty? His preference may have been my fault cause I always assumed he would be a righty. So he is naturally better at righty now because when teaching him I always set him up to be a righty. He is still just 3.5, but he desnt even want to try shooting lefty generally. When I set him up to shot lefty with a straight blade he starts trying to back hand everything. He shots whats seems to be pretty hard right handed for his age, but dont know how to approach the lefty issue. I am guessing I should just let him keep going this way cause he has been shooting and hitting righty for over a year now.

My last question is to the lack of left handers or if there is one. I know generally there are fewer lefties then righties. I am wondering if shooting lefty may be advantageous as he grows up do to the lack of left handed people.

Any input appreciated. He is going to start playing in a few more months and think it would be bad to switch him over now.

[automorph 0]

there are WAY more leftys in hockey than rightys from a Canadian standpoint........if he is a standout better if he is a righty (less competition/unique)

[dumbpolak9 1]

im mostly dominate with my right hand but i shoot lefty. it just felt better for me when i started to pick it up. i always hear of the superstition of having the strong hand on top to help stick handle. if it looks like hes doing better with a righty stick then let him be or influence him to shoot both handed. this could be an advantage to him just in case he breaks his stick and another player give him a lefty stick. im not sure if it would be an advantage of being a lefty over a righty. its pretty much the same thing just different scoring angles. plus hockey doesnt have set positions as in you have to stay there like baseball of instance.

[fawn111 0]

There is another thread about lefty or righty with some interesting information.....

http://www.modsquadhockey.com/forums/index...c=46292&hl=

Get him a completely straight blade....no curve... that way he can switch from left to right until one side becomes more dominant.

[shooter27 116]

The Canadian school of thought has generally been to have the players strong hand be at the top of the stick. In your case that would be your son's left hand, which means he is now shooting "Righty" (with his right hand low). The argument has always been that the top hand is the one that controls your stick so that should be the stronger hand. You can see the evidence of this in the fact that the large majority of the world at large is right handed but the large majority of NHL players shoot left handed. I would venture to say most of these left handed NHLs write, throw, etc. with their right hand.

[K9 Unit 1]

The Canadian school of thought has generally been to have the players strong hand be at the top of the stick. In your case that would be your son's left hand, which means he is now shooting "Righty" (with his right hand low). The argument has always been that the top hand is the one that controls your stick so that should be the stronger hand. You can see the evidence of this in the fact that the large majority of the world at large is right handed but the large majority of NHL players shoot left handed. I would venture to say most of these left handed NHLs write, throw, etc. with their right hand.

+1 on that...most canadian boys grow up learning that way but you know let him choose when he gets big enough but for now i would teach him the "right" way, especially nowadays, i'm definitely seeing more people use their dominant hand on the bottom, so the traditional way might become a lost art someday =P...i know for a fact that luke schenns a lefty but he shoots right

edit: i also know ovie is left legged...but not sure on hand xP

[Ital79 0]

Canadians grow up playing hockey. When a kid is small, they're usually going to grab the top of the stick with their dominant hand and go with that. It's kinda like sweeping the floor or vacuuming the rug - you use your dominant/strong hand on top.

Basically, get your kid a straight blade stick and let him shoot/tear up the house shooting however he wants. When he's better on skates and starts playing in a league is when you should look into a right-handed stick.

[Law Goalie 147]

Or just let him keep using a straight stick, and he can throw a reverse like Esposito!

[Leafsrule16 5]

The stronghand isnt always the best for your top hand however. I'm a lefty at everything i do, write, eat, you name it i do it left handed. Yet, when it comes to hockey instead of having my left hand on top and shooting right, i shoot left. I have no control of my shots right handed, there almost as hard if not the same but no control what so ever. I would just let him shoot right handed if he is comfortable with it who cares?

[Ahriman 1]

I'm very lefty. I bat and play hockey righty. There is nothing unnatural about that.

[JJ Thompson94 0]

It doesn't really matter what side you use. Like someone said, it's not baseball where being a lefty is a huge plus. Which ever side your kid is more comfortable is the side for him.

I'm a righty and I shoot lefty. Right hand on top of the stick like everyone said. However, I golf righty and I bat righty. I can play golf decently lefty but I can't bat lefty for sh!t. I've tried to be switch hitter but just can't do it. I never think about why or why not, I just go with what I got and do it as best I can.

[Race4LastPlace 31]

i do everything right handed. This includes shooting rh in hockey. Its more comfortable for my left hand at top and i have no problems if i need to have it in just 1 hand. But trying a wrister with my right hand on top is just not pretty for anyone watching. Id say whatever way he feels more comfortable let him go for it...

[simnorm 2]

I'm a lefty and proud to be one :)

I think that being a lefty has always been an advantage for me in sports in general. But I have to admit that it sucks for writing.

baseball - throw with left hand and bat on the right side

golf - right

hockey - right

Tennis - left

[ahbroody 1]

Guess I will try to source him some straight blades for his sticks or just pick him up some straight woodies.

Apparently I wasnt as clear as I should have been. He can and is already skating and shooting at the same time. Infact dad plays goalie in the garage almost everynight while he uses his rollerblades and practices his shot while carrying the puck. He is already lifting the puck a little with his shot and as he is figuring out how to snap his wrists. That is cute. Like I said though switching his hand position he becomes a clumsy looking kid where shooting right he looks very natural.

I guess my confusion comes from the fact that I am a righty and while in baseball I switch hit through high school, I had more power right handed. I think you guys are right about confusing with baseball. I didnt start playing hockey till in my 20s when I stopped playing baseball. I always just assumed right handed equals right handed shot with hockey, golf and baseball.

[Jarick 5]

If he's comfortable right now playing righty, perfect. His dominant hand is on top, but more importantly that's how he likes to play.

I think the confusion is with people who have no preference how they should be, and usually there's some preference for dominant hand on top.

[hockeymom 2]

My daughter is left handed so "ought" to be shooting right with her dominant left hand on the top of the stick. She started off with a straight blade, and naturally gravitated to shooting left. She felt she had better control of the stick with her dominant hand down low... and I'm sure she did because it wasn't too much about finesse at that stage of the game.

Now that she has more finesse at stick handling, she realizes it would have been better if her left hand was on top... as that is the hand that generates the finesse. She participated in a demonstration at a hockey camp that proved to *her* that she's wrong handed. Too late to tear that one down.

[JR Boucicaut 3803]

And that's how you get Stonehands. :)

LOL next time I see Miss D I think she's just gonna beat my ass for talking so much smack about her.

[westcoastsniper 0]

I feel sorry for kids that get all twisted up on how you should be doing things, and what's the 'correct' way of doing something that's supposed to be fun and a personal expression (such as using a hockey stick, everyones got a different way of using it, just look at how Chris Simon uses it compared to Wayne Gretzky eh?)

Let the kids play and it will sort itself out!

[Larry54 243]

My daughter is left handed so "ought" to be shooting right with her dominant left hand on the top of the stick. She started off with a straight blade, and naturally gravitated to shooting left. She felt she had better control of the stick with her dominant hand down low... and I'm sure she did because it wasn't too much about finesse at that stage of the game.

Now that she has more finesse at stick handling, she realizes it would have been better if her left hand was on top... as that is the hand that generates the finesse. She participated in a demonstration at a hockey camp that proved to *her* that she's wrong handed. Too late to tear that one down.

I'd be very curious as to what kind of demonstration could prove something of the sort. And skeptical.

I feel sorry for kids that get all twisted up on how you should be doing things, and what's the 'correct' way of doing something that's supposed to be fun and a personal expression (such as using a hockey stick, everyones got a different way of using it, just look at how Chris Simon uses it compared to Wayne Gretzky eh?)

Let the kids play and it will sort itself out!

Well said.

[spor 13 0]

I write with my left-hand, but there hasn't been a single sport I have come across where I use my left hand. I shoot righty, throw righty, bat righty, golf righty. Heck, play guitar right handed too. Even my right leg is dominant. Took me a while, and still feels a bit wierd to do crossovers turning right. Maybe I was supposed to be right-handed..but screwed up somewhere :lol:

[Jarick 5]

Yeah I'm right handed, play guitar and drums right handed, but was a lefty in baseball and hockey.

I wonder about baseball though, if I played goalie I'd be normal (catch with left hand), but I caught with my right hand playing ball. Of course, I was awful at it. Do you left handed hockey players who also play ball catch with your right or left glove?

[JoeyJ0506 192]

I write, throw a baseball, play bass, and shoot a basketball right handed.

The first sport I ever played was hockey, and because my dad's oldest brother (Left Handed) taught him to shoot left handed when he was really little, my dad put a left handed hockey stick into my brother and I's hands. This translated into both of us learning to hit a baseball left handed.

So I catch a baseball with the glove on my left hand, throw right, and bat left. Some people still cannot figure that out when I go to write something and pick the pen up right handed... Oddly enough, I eat left handed?

[andysly 1]

I'm a lefty in everything. I play hockey, softball, golf all lefty. I write and eat lefty too. The only I do backwards is kick with my right foot.

[ahbroody 1]

Well I dont know. He is definetly very comfortable shooting right, but he is definetly a lefty. I took one of the shin yesterday :(

I will leave him shooting right for now as he has a good shot and decent control/movement for his age.

I was talking to a guy at practice yesterday who played college ball. He is not very open to new ideas. He was like me though batting and throwing righty. I attempted to discuss the possibility he should let his boy try shooting left. He would not even hear of it.

[Kevin 5]

Everyone is different. I do everything righty, including shooting. My father is the same way. My younger brother writes righty, throws righty, shoots lefty, bats lefty, and golfs righty. My father’s younger brother writes righty, shoots lefty*, and does everything else righty.

*My uncle can actually shoot both ways and back in the old days when playing with a straight stick would sometimes switch it up on a breakaway. As a fortysomething hockey coach he could shoot his “offside” better than my brother (who was a D1 forward at the time) could shoot his strong side.