Why Do Left-Handers Excel at Certain Elite Sports But Not Others? (theguardian.com)

Nicola Davis, writing for The Guardian: From cricketer Wasim Akram to baseball pitcher Clayton Kershaw and table tennis star Ding Ning, the world of sport has no shortage of left-handed players. But now researchers say they've worked out why lefties are overrepresented in some elite sports but not others. The study, published in the journal Biology Letters, suggests that being left-handed is a particular advantage in interactive sports where time pressures are particularly severe, such as table tennis and cricket -- possibly because their moves are less familiar to their mostly right-handed opponents, who do not have time to adjust. "The data suggests that the heavier the time constraints are operating in a sport, the larger the proportion of left-handers," said the study's author, Dr Florian Loffing of the University of Oldenburg in Germany. "We are less used to playing lefties, and [so] might end up in not developing the optimal strategies to compete with them." While it is thought that about 10-13 percent of the population is left-handed, it has long been noted that in certain interactive sports there is often a surprisingly high proportion of left-handers playing at elite levels.

Comments

Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[damn_registrars]

This is why left-handed pitchers are so valuable. Baseball players grow up mostly batting against right-handed pitchers, and the movement of a pitch from a left-handed pitchers is almost the mirror image of what they are used to.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[Anonymous Coward]

The same with left handed fencers. The angles of attack and distance is different. Those right handed fencers that do not practice against left handed fencers are often caught unaware.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[vux984]

I disagree. I mean the theory is sound, but it somewhat falls apart because even though only 10% of people are left handed, because they do so well and are so desirable in these positions / sports they are heavily over represented in them, and the overrepresentation is going to dilute the effectiveness.

I mean around 30%+ of baseball pitchers are left handed.
Half of the top fencers in the world are left handed.

The 'unfamiliarity' advantage of being left handed might be high when its a 90/10 split... but when every other match up is vs a lefty its not a 'mirror image of what you are used to' it becomes 'what you are used to'.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[bloodhawk]

The reality is whiel they may be disproportionate at the top they are NOT that way where most people learn, practise or play the majority of their matches. Even in Fencing where they are around half at the top, you still will not practise with or fight nearly half your matches with lefties. They are an oddity and uncomfortable to compete against even in sports where they are in significant numbers at the top.

Chess

[MillionthMonkey]

Has anyone done a study on how well left handed people play chess?

Let's make a new rule. If you're left handed, your starting position has the king and queen on swapped squares. Then we can see if lefties have a natural advantage there too.

Evil lefties

[Major_Disorder]

It is because they are all evil. So, because they are evil, they will cheat to win.
Obviously some sports are harder to cheat at than others, so those sports do not show a left handed bias.

lefties vs lefties

[BlueStraggler]

It's pretty obvious what the left-handed advantage is when you have sports where lefties can compete directly against other lefties. In my own sport of fencing, lefties enjoy disproportionate success (close to 50% of world champions are left handed), and they are widely regarded as difficult opponents. But pit two lefties against each other and you will often get a shitshow of awkward, hesitant, and poorly-executed techniques, despite the fact that the tactical situation is identical to right-vs-right, the most common and well-understood scenario in the sport.

The reason is easy to understand - everyone, regardless of handedness, gets 85% of their practice against right-handers. Lefties are, quite simply, weird, even to other lefties. We don't get enough practice with them, we don't get the time to develop highly-trained "favourite moves" with them, and we don't ever enjoy the comfort and ease of familiarity. Our cognitive load is increased, and our reaction time is slower.

Unless you're lucky enough to have a left-handed coach, or a disproportionate number of lefties in your club to practice with. Or you simply stick with the sport long enough that the 15% of lefties you meet eventually adds up to a lot of experience.