Is your lefty really a lefty???

[imported_Lady_Knights]

Been working with my grade school girls (3-6) about 2-3 times a month since September. One little girl I have been working with over this time came to me throwing and hitting left. She is eight years old, first year of coach pitch, and her fourth year of ball. She doesn't catch very well, and doesn't throw much better. Which after 4 years I thought would have been better.

Right before the Christmas Holidays I really started watching her a little more closely and something in her throwing mechanics just looked un-natural and awkward looking. Tried to make some corrections, that just didn't help. So I asked her to try catching and throwing right handed to have something to compare it to. Personally, she appeared to see and catch the ball better, not shying away from it, and her throws looked more natural and harder. I thought right then and there we should switch her to a right hand thrower, but never got the chance to mention it to her parents before they got away.

Two months have passed and I got the chance to work with this little girl again this past weekend and I'm still noticing this awkward lefty. So I asked her mom if we could switch her and have some other coaches evaluate. After three coaches watching her, one who is a lefty, we all agreed she seemed more confident and had better success catching and throwing the ball after just five minutes.

Now I'm in a delimma as to try and switch her or leave it alone???

My question is to any of you "Have you ever dealt with this situation and what did you do??" Or is there any sort of test or drills you used to better help you decide??

She has a beautiful lefty swing that I really don't want to switch, but I haven't even tried to let her swing righty.

Thanks!!
Shayne

 

[Hitter]

Been working with my grade school girls (3-6) about 2-3 times a month since September. One little girl I have been working with over this time came to me throwing and hitting left. She is eight years old, first year of coach pitch, and her fourth year of ball. She doesn't catch very well, and doesn't throw much better. Which after 4 years I thought would have been better.

Right before the Christmas Holidays I really started watching her a little more closely and something in her throwing mechanics just looked un-natural and awkward looking. Tried to make some corrections, that just didn't help. So I asked her to try catching and throwing right handed to have something to compare it to. Personally, she appeared to see and catch the ball better, not shying away from it, and her throws looked more natural and harder. I thought right then and there we should switch her to a right hand thrower, but never got the chance to mention it to her parents before they got away.

Two months have passed and I got the chance to work with this little girl again this past weekend and I'm still noticing this awkward lefty. So I asked her mom if we could switch her and have some other coaches evaluate. After three coaches watching her, one who is a lefty, we all agreed she seemed more confident and had better success catching and throwing the ball after just five minutes.

Now I'm in a delimma as to try and switch her or leave it alone???

My question is to any of you "Have you ever dealt with this situation and what did you do??" Or is there any sort of test or drills you used to better help you decide??

She has a beautiful lefty swing that I really don't want to switch, but I haven't even tried to let her swing righty.

Thanks!!
Shayne

Shayne is she being forced to being a lefty by the parents?

Does she write with her left of right hand?

I have converted many right handed throwers to left handed hitters, not just slapper but hitter also! I have never had a right handed thrower switch, ever! This is strange indeed and deserves talking to the parents. My brother and sister switched me from left to right however I still kicked left footed and it helped when I took martial arts and boxed.

See if she can kick left footed or right and try one more exercise for me. Get about 50 pennies and put the pennies in front of two glass or ceramic coffee cups. Time her for 30 seconds and see which cups have the most pennies in it after 30 seconds. They did this test with Ken after he came out of the coma to determine which area/ side of the brain was damaged the most. For 7 years it was always the left cup that had the least number of pennies in it. This was the right side of the brain that was injured and where the paralysis was.

They also bounced him balls and he had to catch left verses right and then switch to see which side he had more success with.

Thanks Howard

 

[GOINGDEEP]

We have had similar things to this. Not as extreme but thought I'd share anyway. My DD is the ONLY lefty in the whole family. ( guess i better get a DNA test haha ) We knew it very young. But she bats right. I've had so many try to switch her to bat left, but she looks like a fish out of water. Our other ace pitcher is a righty, but bats left. Again she looks foolish batting right.

People know us as the team with the lefty batting right.......and the righty batting left. Kinda a inside joke.

 

[Coach Al]

It is unusual for someone who is a righty to be converted to a lefty, most of the time it is the other way. I was a lefty who was made to be a righty by my parents, back then it wasn't considered a good thing to be a lefty. So I was taught to write, throw and bat as a righty because I was asked " what hand do you write with". If no one asked me, I would of learned as a lefty. Later in life, when I learned something new, playing a guitar or hockey( I shoot right, which is what a lefty does), I always felt better doing it as a lefty. I would say to a youngster just learning to bat, "do you feel better swinging from this side of the plate or the other side."

 

[newsoftballdad]

Interesting.

When I was a rec. coach with 6 and 7 yo's we had a girl who was a bat right, throw right. About a week before the end of the season she put her glove on her right hand by mistake and threw with her left. 100% better! It was bizarre to see. I am not sure if she made the transition after that, as I have not coached her since, nor did we try to switch her to hit lefty as the season was over. My daughter is converting at 9 yo to throw right and bat left, with full swing and slap, it will be a long process but she is getting there.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

My niece had to change hands very young. She writes lefty, so her dad expected her to throw lefty. Wrong.

It was good for her, because she is a catcher.

 

[imported_Lady_Knights]

As far as I know this young lady does everything with her left hand. She has played ball the last 4 years as a lefty thrower and hitter. As I stated previously she is eight going on nine, and small in stature.

To give you an idea, her throws left handed resemble what it would look like if you tried to throw with your opposite hand, and when balls are thrown to her she tries to catch them like a basket and shys away. When I put the right handed glove on her she stayed right in there and caught nearly every ball I threw to her, and her form throwing looked alot better.

I had two other coaches watch her, one was a lefty, and they felt the same way I did that she looked more comfortable throwing and catching right. But I hate to just switch her without some solid evidence that it's the right thing and just not me jumping the gun.

Howard I will try a couple of the things you recommended and get back with you.

 

[InsidePitch]

I think I was that way. My first glove was for a righty. My next glove for a lefty. My parents said they couldn't figure it out based on tendencies. Many years later I'm a lefty that does everything but write and throw right handed. Bat, golf, kick and shoot on the right side. Small detailed things are done with the left hand.

I think it was due to being Right Eye Dominant. Maybe check this kid for eye dominance.

 

[absdad]

I've always wrote left, but have done everything else right. That's just what seemed natural to me, and my parents never tried to force me to one or the other. I did try as a kid, hitting and throwing left and it didn't feel good at all.

 

[amanda_cake]

To be honest, I feel like it is really a personal preference. I'm a right handed person, but I do a lot of things the way a left handed person would do. I knit the way that is preferred by left handed people, I hold my knife in my left hand when cutting something like steak, etc. Our high school coach is big on playing small ball and working on left handed slaps... if you work at it, you can switch to the other side. So she believes, anyway. I've tried before and it was ugly. I'm definitely interested in working on it though, slapping is a great tool to have in your back pocket. I know coaches who encourage hitters to bat lefty if it is remotely comfortable for them.