GOOD SPORT–Going left in a right world
Most of you don’t understand me, so after you read this, go dribble a ball or write right-handed. We lefties are a proud few and do not appreciate the shortage of left-handed scissors and baseball gloves!
I’ll bet most people who know me, know I’m left-handed. If you don’t know me well, you are just like the guys from Andrews, but we will get back to that in a minute.
Being a left-handed athlete is quite a different experience than being a right-handed one. The quest for a baseball glove for little league was as if I were searching for Waldo. Also, don’t even try finding a left-handed golf glove. I swear it is nearly impossible. Don’t even get me started the left-handed putter.
It is just flat out not fair that there are plenty of left-handed baseball players in the majors. Manu Ginobili is one of the best shooters ever in the NBA, and he is left-handed. But down here in the trenches, we do not get the recognition. We are made fun of and treated like second-class citizens because we use “that other hand” to do things.
When I got to junior high, the bias really kicked in. Everything in athletics seemed to flow to the right and not the left. The thought of a left-handed quarterback must have scared them, or it might be the fact I was as inaccurate as a shotgun in “Call of Duty”, but I persevered.
When we had tryouts for the basketball team, not once did we ever do a left-handed drill. This delighted the rest of the right-handed guys, but it made me look terrible because my right hand was as useful as eating soup with a fork.
It didn’t get much better in track when Coach Harvey thought it was sooo funny to tell me to go grab the left-handed starting blocks. Such prejudice!
In high school, it did begin to have benefits. Everyone in basketball tends to think right-handed, so I have a distinct advantage. If I am in the right corner I can go left into the midcourt and paint, and it always surprises the defense. How no one knows I am left-handed after all these years amazes me. It is really sad, considering I have played against the same guys from Andrews for six years, and they still don’t know I’m left-handed. I constantly hear, ”Make him go left,” and I am thinking, “Yes, please do see how that works out for you.”
Even though there are a multitude of prejudices against all of us lefties, I am still glad that I am what I am. So I’m just going to drive left out of here and find myself some scissors.
