so I switched to a left-handed mouse. I cursed for about a week, then sometimes fumbled, and then it just worked.
Now years later, if I use a right-handed mouse to do say a first-person-shooter, I overcorrect like I'm drunk on wildly pitching ship.
left-hand is dialed in and precise.
I think some of this stuff is learned and not innate.
but yeah, goofy-foot on skateboard feels... just wrong.
I overused my right hand with computers...
In your teens, right? Happens to a lot of people. :)I think it's more about a person's personal stability/biomechanics. The back foot is the stable one, forward is the "quick" lead. The preferred "plant" foot when kicking a ball is the stable one (though many people use both, so this is best used only when there is a strong preference), the one used to push off with when at the bottom of stairs or jumping is the stable one (the lead foot is the `quick` one). The best way I found to help determine footedness: have a person stand straight (feet together) walk around them (pretending to look at posture or something), once behind them push them forward (evenly with some force). Watch for which foot they catch themselves with. Thats the lead foot.
As for the eye dominance, in archery having the right eye dominant means your stance is regular (left foot forward). An archery open stance is near identical to a snowboard neutral stance (~ +15°, 0°). The 2 most important things to get right in (olympic recurve) archery is eye dominance and a proper open stance. As a goofy footed snowboarder and a right eye dominant archer, the archery stance took awhile for me to adapt too. It still feels weird.
Obviously it won't sudenly make you a perfect regular-stance skater though. :)
I skate/surf goofy (or used to... haven't done much of either lately :P) and prefer to hold a baseball bat or a golf club lefty, despite being right-handed. And I have an immediate family member who's left-handed but bats righty!
Of course, I’m terrible at baseball and my handwringing is atrocious, so maybe I’m just broken.
"Out of the 610 professional skateboarders, 291 ride regular and 329 ride goofy. This means that 53% of skateboarders ride goofy and 47% ride regular! Way more skateboarders than expected ride goofy." ²
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¹ Dobija-Nootens, N., & Harrison-Caldwell, M. (2017, October 12). What determines your skate stance? Jenkem Magazine. https://www.jenkemmag.com/home/2017/10/12/determines-skate-s...
² Bande-Ali, A. (2024, August 25). Skateboarding: How many people ride goofy? Azeem Bande-Ali. https://azeemba.com/posts/skateboarding-how-many-people-ride...