Cross Hand Dominance – The Lefty Righty Conundrum

Why we need more sophisticated methodologies to analyze handedness in our children

By Walter Oden

Introduction

As I have started to wrap our summer of tennis camps, I have an observation about children.  The younger the child, the less obvious hand dominance is present.  On the other hand, there are some markers.  Why do we care?  Don’t children naturally gravitate to their genetic handedness?  Parents are often very sensitive to their child using the “correct” hand. My goal is to present some theory to help you understand handedness.

The Premise

I will argue that all human beings fall on a continuum of hand dominance.  Many of you know my obsession with brain dominance theory.  This premise is not that different. There are actually (2) handedness graphs for every person.  There will be one for FINE MOTOR skills and one for GROSS MOTOR skills.

| Left Handed —————— Gross Motor Skills ———————- Right Handed|

 | Left Handed ——————- Fine Motor Skills ———————– Right Handed|

 Throughout this article, we will firm up our evidence for this hypothesis.

The Signs

The best examples of our hand dominance confusion come straight from professional sports.  We will tell stories of handedness from Baseball, Golf & Tennis.

Maria Sharapova

The hard court season in tennis is in full swing.  Memories of Wimbledon & The French Open have long passed.  Yet, I started writing this article during the French Open!  So a little memory lane is needed.

The French Women’s Final had a Romanian newcomer Simona Halep. Her opponent was the veteran Russian Maria Sharapova.  Maria was serving at 4-3 in the third set.  Then, the double fault.  It was her 12th of the match.  For you non tennis players, that is essentially giving up (3) whole games.  Maria is a hall of fame caliber player.  So, this sheer volume in double faults is truly an enigma.  On the other hand, this has happened to Maria before!

We all know she plays tennis right handed.   Yet, her serve is a constant love hate relationship.  It is both a weapon and liability.  How can that be?  How could a world class athlete have a problem with a something as bio-mechanically natural as a serve?

Rumor has it that she is naturally a lefty.  In fact, she recently had a Facebook post playing ping pong.  Yes, she was playing lefty!  Want some evidence?  Check this video out with Ellen DeGeneres.

Maria Sharapova playing Ping Pong with Ellen

At some point, there was a decision to make her a right handed tennis player.  Clearly, it worked.  Yet, how can we get it right for other young athletes?

The Tarantula Test

We do a test with little kids.  I am shocked how often parents tell us “My child is right handed”.  Then, we lay out the premise.  “Place a tennis ball on the ground and pretend it is a giant tarantula.  The net is the rain forest.  When I say go pick up the tarantula and throw it as far as you can back into the rain forest!”  This always gets laughs.  It also gives us information.  We immediately learn what side the player THROWS a ball.  In addition, they have to use GROSS MOTOR skills to pick it up and throw it.  99% of the time, we can determine a child’s dominant throwing arm.  Every now and then, there is the 1% that seems to throw equally with both hands!  That 1% includes Luke Jensen!

The Public School Test

I am always in shock how public schools make an early determination on what hand a child should use to write.  The simplicity reminds me of how they used to cut off legs “just in case” it could go gangrene.  Their “classic” method is placing a pencil on the middle of a table.  Then they observe the child pick up the pencil.  Which ever hand they pick it up with, that is the hand they designate as their hand to write with for life!  I am not kidding either.  That is a typical preschool test.  Then, if the child is having writing problems, they simply assign them to occupational therapy.  Yes, you sense some sarcasm.  That is because there are so many reasons this methodology has a failure rate.  The major failure here is that writing is a FINE MOTOR SKILL.  Whereas, moving and grabbing have elements of GROSS MOTOR SKILLS.  Below, we will address that in even more detail

Throwing versus Writing

There are big differences in writing versus throwing.  Throwing is a BIG MUSCLE group skill set.  We call those GROSS MOTOR skills.  Anything that makes the body move as a whole is a GROSS MOTOR skill.  Running and jumping are also classified as GROSS MOTOR skills.  In tennis, forehands and backhands are in that classification as well.

A FINE MOTOR skill is generally use of the hands or feet independent of the body.  Writing is a classic FINE MOTOR SKILL.  You can also think about using the fingers independent of the body.  In tennis, a volley is often considered a FINE MOTOR skill even though you must use your body to get to the ball.

Cross Hand Dominance Defined

I invented the term to describe people that have GROSS MOTOR dominance on one side and FINE MOTOR dominance on the other side.  For example, a person might throw very well with their RIGHT HAND, but write effectively with their LEFT HAND.  I will now present a perfect example of this argument.  He is Mallorca’s own, Rafael Nadal.

Rafael Nadal

Rafa was hitting with two hands on forehands and backhands early in his junior career.  At some point, his coach “Uncle Toni” told Rafa to “pick a hand”.  Uncle Toni recommended Rafa become a lefty for tennis.  I think we can say this experiment was a big success.  Want to see the discussion? Click on this link. It is a whole interview with Rafa and Uncle Toni on his handedness!!

Interview with Uncle Toni

Can you imagine Rafa NOT being a lefty?  Would he have even excelled?  How many athletes start with the “wrong” hand?

Phil Mickelson

Even other sports have signs of left – right hand confusion.  Phil Mickelson is a natural right hander.  Yet, he is a left handed golfer.  Thanks to my PGA Professional friend Jim Beers, I know he warms up throwing a baseball with his caddie in the parking lot!  Yes, he throws with his right hand.

Golf Technique

The technique in golf is not that different than baseball.  In fact, hand dominance issues are the same.  This is why Phil Mickelson is such and outstanding left handed golfer.  He uses his dominant RIGHT HAND to PULL the club through.

The Relationship between Golf and Tennis

In 2010, my great friend and PGA professional Jim Beers and I presented at the Midwest USPTA Convention.  Our presentation, the Relationship between Golf and Tennis, was a full technical comparison between the two sports.  One of the largest conclusions we made was that the technique of a golf shot is more of a PULL than a PUSH.  Therefore, a GROSS MOTOR skill right hander should play golf LEFTY and tennis RIGHTY

Guess who else figured that out?

Ivan Lendl was famous for winning (7) majors.  He later became famous again for coaching Andy Murray to a Wimbledon victory.  He never won Wimbledon himself.  His joke was always “I am allergic to grass”.  One year, he refused to play Wimbledon and played golf during the fortnight.  Yes, he figured out the left – right golf conundrum.

How about the endless array of hall of fame baseball players?  How many of them threw right handed, but bat left handed?

Baseball

I grew up playing more baseball than tennis.  As a young Southern California youth, I probably played baseball (7) days a week.  I picked up tennis as an add-on game.  I always batted left handed.  Or maybe I didn’t.  I remember being a huge fan of Fred Lynn.  Fred Lynn was an awesome player with the Boston Redsox.  He threw left handed and bat left handed.  So, since he batted lefty I did too.  Yet, I couldn’t throw lefty.

It turns out there are tons of Hall of Fame caliber players that threw right handed and bat left handed.  One example was the great Rod Carew.  He was a fantastic hitter.  He bat left handed, but threw right handed.  He is in that amazing 3,000/1,000 club.  He had over 3,000 hits and 1,000 RBI’s lifetime.

George Brett was one of the best hitters in that era.  I never really rooted for him since he played for the Kansas City Royals. Although, the famous charge of Billy Martin in the “Pine Tar Incident” goes down as one of my favorites!

What a hitter.  He also threw right handed and bat left handed.

So what is with all this right handed throwers batting left handed?  It is all in the technique.

In baseball, the dominant hand (like Golf described above) is actually the bottom hand.  You ever see how modern hitting technique includes letting go of the top hand?  So, the dominant GROSS MOTOR hand should be in charge!  That means that the term batting “righty” is not really accurate.  A Right handed batter is in fact using their LEFT hand much more.

The Curious Case of Alison Biltz

You know how they say teachers learn much more from their students?  Alison Biltz is a highly talented Pre Med student at Fordham University.  I met her when she was about 11.  I was teaching her mom (Beth) tennis.  Beth asked if Alison could tag along.  Alison was definitely being “pushed” to try tennis.  Seven years later, she was a STATE OF OHIO high school tennis runner-up.  Alison was always an interesting student to teach because she had so many non-traditional talents.

She would describe how she wrote.  One hand was for the chalk board and another was for pencils!  She naturally threw a ball lefty.  We made sure she played tennis lefty for the serve relationship to throwing.  On the other hand (pun intended), she had a much better backhand.  She also could play right handed with no problem.  In fact, during her senior year, she had so many injuries in her left arm (wrist, arm and shoulder) she played right handed until the post season!  Luckily, she was advanced enough academically that no one stopped her from changing hands regularly.

Some final thoughts on Tennis

As we come full circle back to tennis, I would argue that it is one of the few sports where both hands are critical.  A GROSS MOTOR right hander should play tennis right handed.  Why?  So they can serve with the hand they throw.  Yet, a player with a two handed backhand will be using a TON of their left hand in this scenario.  Two handed backhands in tennis tend to USE their TOP hand much more than GOLF and BASEBALL!

Terminology & Teaching

Is the major problem in this discussion labeling?  Should we really call a right handed batter a righty?  Here is the funny part too.  A right handed batter stands on the left side of the plate!

I think the key to success is to have knowledge.  People need knowledge in sports too.  Be careful in labeling people right handed or left handed too quickly!  Also, be careful on labels that may not describe a technique.  People are all individuals.  You can have different hands to do different things.  I might even go out on a limb.

Out on a Limb

Dominant Right Hand throwers (GROSS MOTOR SKILL) should consider playing TENNIS right handed.  On the other hand, they should also consider playing GOLF and hitting a BASEBALL left handed.  This “dangling limb” theory is based on coaching technique.

David W. Smith

My old friend from Utah is used to be most known for his writings in tennis.  On the other hand, he is currently coaching a future LPGA player!  He was the Senior Editor at the highly acclaimed TennisOne.com tennis instructional website.  He is also a national proponent of teaching a two handed forehand.  His first tennis book, TENNIS MASTERY, goes into detail on this theory.  His premise allows children to develop bilateral handedness early in their career.

Carla Hannaford

I was tipped off to a real genius in teaching.  Carla Hannaford is well known in education circles.  On the other hand, I am surprised by how many supposed “neuroscience” people have never heard of her!

Carla has written quite a few ground breaking books.

Two that are fantastic are THE DOMINANCE FACTOR and SMART MOVES.  These are not books you have to read cover to cover.  Rather, you can read sections of chapters randomly.  Her premise in the DOMINANCE FACTOR was that all human beings have a DOMINANT side, but they don’t always synchronize well.  In other words, you might have a person with a DOMINANT right arm and DOMINANT left foot.  In most circumstances, these differences don’t matter. Yet, add elements of STRESS and there can be a FAILURE rate to these differences.  I am painfully paraphrasing.  I highly recommend these books.  I am fairly certain she has not received enough “acclaim” for her work.

What we might take away

I think my biggest conclusion is that we need to develop more human beings to use:

• BOTH hands
• BOTH feet
• BOTH eyes
• BOTH ears
• And BOTH hemispheres of their BRAIN!

That means allowing our children to practice all sorts of GROSS and FINE MOTOR skills using both sides of their body.  Long term, they will gravitate towards certain dominant traits.  Yet, as pointed out with my “Cross Hand Dominance Theory”, this may allow for our children to work out all their unique differences without too much influence.

As always, I really appreciate your time and energy you took to read this!

Copyright Walter Oden, July 2014, all rights reserved.  Please review global copyright notice on sidebar on home page.

The Happiness Project – Part I

How to quantify and gain awareness of your personal happiness

by Walter Oden

Prelude: 

I am generally a very happy person.  Yet, I have had some really low times.  We all face challenges in our lives. These challenges test our outlook on life.  Sometimes lows overshadow the highs.  I have been waiting to post on this topic for some time now.  I never seemed to find the right time.  I decided I would publish at a time I was REALLY HAPPY.  I also think I was nervous.  We are always wary when sharing some deep feelings.  Every holiday weekend is a time of reflection.  This weekend was no exception.  I thought about my dad often.  Yet, I really did have a wonderful weekend with my family.  Alas, happiness has motivated me to write about happiness.

Introduction

I originally wrote this article on New Year’s Day of 2012.  I actually shared it with a couple of friends at that time.   My dad was approaching the end of his life.   I was in a pretty dark state.  He had reached Advanced Parkinson’s Disease at that point.

I recently saw a poll result on general “Happiness”.  The report indicated that the average happiness of people was dropping dramatically.  One theory was that we are becoming too “technology” focused.  My theory is that “pressure” was taking over our lives.

Why Happiness is Important

Ask any parent what they want for their children.  Most will answer “I want them to be happy”.  What about your own life?  How do you want to breathe your last breath?  We have all seen the quotes describing what we will be thinking when we get older. They all have the same theme.  You will never say “I wish I spent one more day at the office”.  End game happiness is the goal. If we can learn how to do it, we can teach our children.  Then we will fulfill our mission.

New Year’s Resolutions

I make the same New Year’s resolution each year; Focus on happy.  This may sound like a cliché.  On the other hand, who hasn’t become a big cliché?  I am considered to be a “Tweener” by many.  I am not talking about the tennis shot between the legs.  A “Tweener” is term used around social circles to describe a state in your life.  If you have  people OLDER and YOUNGER relying on you for their well being, you are a TWEENER.  You also understand the special pressure that goes with this label.

My History

I have a beautiful loving family and my health.  I have a job I value.  Yet, the years of pressure from my dad’s health, debt, the economy and shear work load has added up.  In fact, it has robbed me of pleasure over the years.  It has robbed me of enjoying what is really important.  I have even occasionally described myself as unhappy.

Being weighed down by negatives is probably what is called “clinical depression”.  Do you see problems as bigger than they really are? This kind of negative stress has a big impact.  It affects you, your family and everyone around you.

My dad’s illness first became prevalent about seven years ago.  The first “hit” was when he lost everything he owned.  That became the least of our issues.  We were fighting so hard for his well being.  We wanted any glimpse of hope.   He lost his fight during January of 2013.  During his decline, I felt helpless most of the time.  Stress + Helplessness + Money Woes + Responsibility and you get one giant ball of unhappy.

Yet, I am going to hypothesize a strange concept; Unhappiness is a mirage.

Why do the Project?

I would try to go see my dad in the nursing home for long visits about once per week.  On other days I would pop in and out.  I was always guilty I couldn’t be there more.  He told me on New Year’s 2012 how “unhappy” he was.   During our visits it was very hard to focus on any positives.  My dad had not come to terms with his plight.  He was also very aware of what is coming.  My dad had dementia that kept getting worse.  He was very scared.  If I tried to bring up the past, he resisted it.  This was his defense mechanism.  It was almost like if he remembered the past, he got more depressed.  He wished it was the past and it wasn’t.

A Call to Action

And now for another cliché.  How do we live in the “now”?  Do you have a habit of waiting for things to happen to you?.  Are you always looking for that change that will make you truly happy?  Could more money or a better house make you happy?  Maybe, but not necessarily.

Yet, if we don’t get to happy right now, we’ll miss it.  That is because happy isn’t a moment in time.  It is time itself.  Having “time” is what happy is.  My dad was out of time.  He didn’t have much happy left.  He missed the opportunity to embrace his time when he was happiest.

I don’t want to get to the end of my life and say “I guess what I used to have was happy”.  I missed it.  I don’t want to ignore what is happy.

The Concept

I was trying to conceptualize this plight in the last couple of years.  I wondered if happiness was simply a state of mind.  I wondered if it was a state of awareness.  Could I be happy and not see it?  It reminds me of the movie It’s a Wonderful Life.  You go through life and can’t realize how lucky you are to be you.

By the way, I included the imbedded link above to also answer a favorite trivia item of mine.  Ever wonder how the characters Ernie and Bert from Sesame Street were developed?

So I said to myself “I wonder if we can define happiness in something that is NOT SUBJECTIVE.  How could we create a definition of “Happiness” in terms of something that is totally OBJECTIVE.  Could I take a math approach to happiness?  How about an accounting approach to happiness?  Could I tally things and record them on a balance sheet?  Could I create the financial statements of life?

The project

I am about to show the reader why I quit being a CPA.  I have to explain some basic accounting to the reader.  It will take you about 3 seconds to pass out with boredom.  Please trudge through it, it matters.

Basic financial statements include a Balance Sheet and Income Statement.  The Balance Sheet lists all your Assets, Liabilities and Owner’s Equity (Sometimes called Retained Earnings).

The Income Statement (Sometimes called the P&L) is a picture of income and expenses during a given time period.  That period is usually a calendar year.

This concept has not changed in accounting in a hundred years.  Even Ebenezer Scrooge understood this.  Although, his accounting methodologies included slave labor that took food out of the mouth of Tiny Tim.

If you are still awake, you may be asking why do we need to know this material?  The answer is what I call the “Happiness Project”

Getting Started – Your Balance Sheet

We need to build financial statements to your life.  We will begin with a Balance Sheet. Start by listing all of your assets.  These are not just things you OWN!  These are things that are positive to your life.  Some examples include:

1) A wife that loves me

2) Three very different kids that love their dad.

3) Own a home

4) A job I like

Then you need to list your liabilities.  These are the things that are potentially negatives.

1) Debt

2) House has huge flaws that can only be fixed with lots of money

3) Job requires long hours that take away from my family

4) Father in nursing home with incurable disease.

5) Wavering belief in higher power/purpose

Finally, you need to list what positives or negative you NET after your years.  That is the statement of retained earnings

1) Fairly youthful looking from years on tennis courts

2) Home is worth more than I owe from years of paying mortgage

Your Current Year – The Income Statement

Now we need to build an Income Statement.  This will require daily recording of Income (Things that make you happy) and Expenses (Things that block your happiness).  You need to religiously record this data every day for 30 days.  Record everything that made you happy, especially the simple stuff.

Monday

Income

1) Kids came running to door yelling “daddy!” and attacked me .  They squeezed me dragged me inside.

2) Had more than (3)  beers in the fridge

3) Great dinner waiting on stove top

Expense

1) Got into a conflict with co- worker today

2) Cash flow went negative today

3) Leak in pipe in basement appeared today

Working list and results

It is impossible to create all these statements in one sitting.  Our subconscious does an incredible job blocking things out.  You may be adding to your balance sheet as you develop your income statement. That is totally fine.

Analysis of your statements

You can have a good year or bad year (income statement).  The key is to focus on the income.  Why?

This is YOUR HAPPINESS PROJECT summarized!

Take all the INCOME items you listed for 30 days.  Put them on a single sheet. That list is your roadmap to happiness. It’s kind of like how you value a business.  Sometimes, you just want to know how much revenue the business earns each year.

Happiness is a cumulative conglomeration of happy moments all rolled up into a single ball.

This project forces you to be aware of your happy moments.  Happiness does not guarantee a life devoid of unhappiness or negatives.  In fact, the key to this project is being able to accept negatives and SEPARATE them from the HAPPY.  Focusing on the happy, is merely a matter of getting organized.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

This movie starred Jim Carrey,  Kate Winslet & Kirsten Dunst.  It got mixed reviews.  I thought it was brilliant.  The premise was that we had invented a way of erasing memories.  In fact, you could erase any BAD memories and eliminate your sadness.  The movie created a hypothesis through its story.  A person’s happiness is eternally linked to all moments in your life.  Eliminate the unhappy and you risk eliminating the happy.

Life experience, much like our income statement, includes both Happy and Unhappy moments. Our project allows you to focus on the happy without ever “erasing” the lessons learned from the unhappy.

Conclusions & Part II

This project will NOT add happiness to your life.  This project will not eliminate sadness or disappointment.  The bigger plan is to make you aware of what you already have.  That happiness is a state of mind.  It is a state of awareness.  We can either choose to be happy or not be happy.  I am choosing happy.  We will explore methods for improving your financial statements of life in PART II.

My Dad in 1968

Copyright Walter Oden & “I Have an Idea” –  January 2012 – All rights reserved.  Please review the global copyright notice on the sidebar.

Monopoly – lessons learned while moving a shoe

by Walter Oden

Background:

Call it reality, call it a fact.  That doesn’t mean I have to like it.  My son had a sleepover last night.  Guess what they wanted to do the whole night?  Play on their tablets.  You know what I mean.  If not Minecraft, it was  some other artificial interactive reality. They wanted nothing to do with the physical world.

Then, I got involved.  “How about a board game?” I asked.  “Board games are lame!”  What kind of world do we live in where a 9-year-old says “Board games are lame!”  I put my foot down.  “We are going to play Monopoly!”.  Here is the funny part, my son’s sleepover guest said “I have never played Monopoly at my house”.  Yes, there are some kids that have NEVER played Monopoly!

So, we started to play.  My 11-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son joined us.  Excluding the conflict caused by “I want to be the dog!”, we finally got started .  Guess what?  We had to quit for the night to begin again in the morning!  When the dust settled,  I realized how much we learned.  First, I am sharing some rules we use to make the game more exciting.  Second, I have some thoughts on the life lessons.

Alternative Rules:

• Dish out $1,500 per player in JUST $500 bills and $100 bills.  Make change as you go.  It saves a ton of time and is less messy with kids trying to organize their bills.
• All money that is paid for ANYTHING goes directly under the NO PARKING slot.  We all know why.  If you land on it, jackpot!  This makes that game have a little extra lottery feel.  All purchases of properties and such are included in this rule.  This huge injection of cash allows for quicker building and fast changes in the game leaders.
• Jail is a waste of time:  We make the fine $100 to get out and move on with the game.  I see it as a tax to pay and play.
• Emphasize trading properties:  We have a rule in our games.  You can negotiate trades on any properties at any time.  Yet, no money can be exchanged in the trades.  That means that are some deals that are not perfectly even.  Yet, it creates an emphasis on cutting deals to get monopolies.  You also start to root for a game mate to land on a property you need!
• Time Limits:  Monopoly is famous for never ending.  We set a strict time limit.  When time limit is reached, the game is over!  That creates an urgency to play fast and make fast deals.
• Winner’s defined:  We use a strict “cash on hand” rule to determine the winner.  That means the person with the most cash wins.  Yet, we do give a liquidation value to each property owned.  $100 per property is the maximum.  The premise is that property values are always a lot lower when you have to liquidate your assets!

Lessons Learned:

•  Good old-fashioned math:  Kids must do quick addition and subtraction to buy properties and pay rent.  They have to make change.  They even have to calculate 10% when they land on “Income Tax”.  Kids also start to visualize where their pieces will land based on the dice.
• Patience:  Monopoly forces kids to slow down and wait their turn.  This is no small lesson in the world of immediate gratification of electronics.  Kids learn to use this time to plan their next move.  This next move might be to negotiate a trade, or build on an existing monopoly.
• A little luck (good & bad) is part of the game: Much like life, Monopoly definitely has the luck element.  This is a great chance to teach children to celebrate good fortune, and not fixate on things that go awry.  It teaches kids to “laugh at luck”.  Luck becomes a whimsical spirit that simply exists in the universe.
• To spend or not to spend:  Since we have a time limit rule, it forces kids to think about whether to invest or not.  Clearly, there is a chance I will buy a lot of properties and be out of cash.  The risk is obvious.  First, I may not be able to pay my rent.  Second, time may run out and I may not have adequate cash to win.  Later, these analogies become great for how to save for retirement versus living in luxury today.
• When to take on debt:  I encourage the kids to mortgage their properties if they need the cash to invest and grow.  I love this feature of the game because we ALL HAVE MORTGAGES.  The goal is still important.  We want to pay back our debt and keep our properties!
• Taking a loss doesn’t mean losing:  This lesson is so hard to teach children.  It is really hard to teach in tennis! Children take losses very personally.  They never see the future.  I love how Monopoly teaches kids to hang in there until the end of the game.  Then there is the ultimate lesson.  Even when the game is over, there is always another game on the horizon!
• Giving up something of value is OK to gain something of value:  Ever seen the show “Hoarding”?  I almost get it.  We never want to let go of anything that might be valuable.  Monopoly, especially with the trade rule, teaches kids to give up things of value to acquire better things.
• Real winning is CASH:  This lesson is missed by many.  “Cash is King”.  The winner is the player holding the most cash, not the player that owns the most stuff..  What a great lesson in personal finance!

 Please share your thoughts!  If you roll doubles, you can comment twice…

Copyright Walter Oden, March 2014, all rights reserved (see global notice in sidebar)