Left-handed students find troubles in their uniqueness
Although there are some advantages, many simple tasks are hard to do left-handed
In a relay drill, senior Drew Novak throws the ball to his teammate during practice on Sunday, March 9. “Playing baseball left-handed is really difficult when you first start out,” Novak said. “You really have to be willing to put in a little extra work in order to catch up to the right-handed kids and figure things out for yourself.”
As he steps up to the plate, senior Drew Novak waits for the pitch. The ball is thrown and he prepares to hit it. Novak analyzes the spin of the ball carefully because of a trait that makes baseball harder for him – his left-handedness.
“In baseball, it’s like the real world: not a lot of people are left-handed,” Novak said. “When right-handed pitchers throw … it’s harder for left-handed [hitters to pick up the spin]. Obviously, right-handed pitchers have an advantage over left-handed hitters.”
Overall, left-handedness is an uncommon trait. According to RandomHistory.com, approximately 10-12 percent of people are left-handed. This amounts to roughly 30 million left-handed people in the U.S. Due to right-handed people being the majority, tasks such as writing in notebooks are considered to be a nuisance among left-handed people.
“Notebooks were not made for left-handed people,” sophomore Madison Remijio said. “When you write on them, it ends up leaving a binder ring on your arm [and a pencil] stain on the side of your hand.”
Some, such as freshman Ben Hoepner, learned to do things as he saw them done by others for the sake of ease.
“I just [learned] the right-handed way,” Hoepner said. “That was the way I saw it done, so I learned it quicker.”
Others, like Remijio, struggled with doing tasks the left-handed way.
“I got yelled at when I was in kindergarten and preschool because I wrote my letters backwards and upside-down [since I was left-handed],” Remijio said.
Although she is right-handed, sophomore Morgan Nelson said she understands left-handed problems somewhat well.
“My whole family is left-handed, so I kind of get it,” Nelson said. “I feel bad for left-handed people because it’s harder for them [to do things].”
However, Novak does not think right-handed people understand these problems well enough.
“They kind of think it’s a joke,” Novak said.
Due to this, Hoepner said products for left-handed people are rare.
“It’s tough,” Hoepner said. “Left-handed people are a novelty, so left-handed products [tend to be] more expensive.”
Despite this, there are some advantages to being left-handed.
“Being left-footed helped a lot [when I used to play soccer],” Remijio said. “Most people are right-footed, so all I had to do was move the ball to my left foot and it made it more difficult for people to take the ball from me … It made me a stronger player.”
Although there are struggles, Novak sees the bright side of being left-handed.
“Right-handed people are jealous they don’t have that hidden talent,” Novak said. “I’d have to say I enjoy [that]. I take pride in being left-handed.”
