LukeParkerno1
Post-Human
A lot of the elite kicks are left footers
Autopsy Official Practice Match: Sydney v Carlton, Blacktown Int Sports Park, Friday 3rd March 7.10pm AEDT
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A lot of the elite kicks are left footers
- Oct 18, 2018
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I often wondered about this myself and I have asked the question myself so many times.
The answers I got were, for the large part, not inspiring.
One answer I got was.
You know when you hear something that makes you think, the light globe in your head turns on, this immediate reaction you get, tells you that there is something to this. This is the closest answer that makes sense to me anyway.
The answer I got was,
Left footers have more time.
I asked why do left footers have more time?
Because most defenders are right handed. ie they favour their right arm/hand to tackle you first. So when they come at you they will naturally attack your right side first, on average. That gives left footers an extra few seconds to dispose the ball.
LukeParkerno1
Post-Human
Sort of makes sense with more being naturally right handed
favouring a right arm to tackle with doesn't mean that tackle is more likely directed at the right side of the player they are tackling, just because they are right dominant
- Oct 18, 2018
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- 10,678
- AFL Club
- Sydney
Not always. But maybe statistically more. Think about it.
My theory on why left footers are better kicks has to do with left / right hemispheres of the brain. Left-handed people are right-brain dominant and they apparently have better connection between their hemispheres. I don't think there's consensus on why that is an advantage. But essentially their brains are wired slightly differently. The right hemisphere is the creative side, so right-brain dominant people are more intuitive, have better rhythm (apparently), better visualisation and are better at reading non-verbal cues. They're all things that transfer into sports and make what they do on the field more intuitive / more easily converted to muscle memory without the need to analyse / overthink it (left-brain being the analytical / rational / verbal side of the brain).
In terms of having more time, I think you can put that down to players being trained to perform in a right-hand-dominant way. So when they encounter lefties, their actions are less intuitive, and would also require an element of mental preparation/ analysis. So that would mean, if you're deverting brain power to remind yourself to push the player onto their non-dominant right side, rather than your ingrained instincts to push your opponent to their left, you have less resources for other planning. There are a number of factors, but I think it has to do with the fact that lefties go against your natural and ingrained expectations so require you to adjust to a less natural way of playing. Also. Those split second decisions would create a lag (even if it's microseconds) between visual inputs and your physical output, so those add up to a small, but consistent advantage to left-handed players.
All in my non-expert opinion of course.
In terms of having more time, I think you can put that down to players being trained to perform in a right-hand-dominant way. So when they encounter lefties, their actions are less intuitive, and would also require an element of mental preparation/ analysis. So that would mean, if you're deverting brain power to remind yourself to push the player onto their non-dominant right side, rather than your ingrained instincts to push your opponent to their left, you have less resources for other planning. There are a number of factors, but I think it has to do with the fact that lefties go against your natural and ingrained expectations so require you to adjust to a less natural way of playing. Also. Those split second decisions would create a lag (even if it's microseconds) between visual inputs and your physical output, so those add up to a small, but consistent advantage to left-handed players.
All in my non-expert opinion of course.
