south pawed and goofy footed (updated with easier to read poll!)

[danny_galaga]

edit: 'goofy' means when riding a board, you have your right foot forward. this description applies whether you write with your right hand or your left hand. likewise 'southpaw' means if you were to box you would have your right foot and right hand forward. this description applies whether you write with your right hand or your left hand.


note: ONLY VOTE IF YOU EXACTLY FIT ONE OF THESE CATEGORIES

So i was talking to a friend last night who said he was ambidextrous. he's not as it turns out, but we were able to establish that he is goofy-footed and south pawed, as am i. we are both right-handed. that got me thinking about how common this is. i had been told i was south pawed by someone before, but then someone else said im not. so until last night i was never really sure until we checked on wikipedia.

so what are you? even if youve never boxed or been in a fight (like me) its easy to know which stance you have. if you were to box, which foot do you put forward? right foot forward, and therefore your right hand means you are a south paw. this is what most left handed people do. seems strange to me, if you are right handed, it just seems 'right' to have right foot forward. same with being goofy footed, if your right foot is forward on a skateboard, snowboard or surfboard you are goofy, like most lefties.

i suspect that these stances are coupled. if you are goofy footed, you are also going to be south pawed. id never thought about it until last night.

now theres one other stance that could be of use. the way you hold a cricket or baseball bat. in those games, my left foot would be forward. baseball bat over my right shoulder, cricket bat in front of my right foot. is this normal for a right handed person? i havent put this in the poll because it will get too messy.

what im hoping to see, if theres a big enough sample, is that the 'graphs' of this poll should show a similar shape for both left and right handed people.

my friend started out saying he was ambidextrous, and then saying he favoured neither foot in stances. but when we looked at it, he conceded it feels more natural for him to have right foot forward on a skateboard or when fighting (he does judo n stuff). so if you are like him, you should be able to do this poll. if you GENUINELY favour neither foot, then sorry, this polls not for you!

[Ginsu Victim]

I'm lost.... I'm a lefty and I skate with my left foot forward, right foot on the tail. Which is that?

[Ummon]

?? Generally I've found that people are one way or the other. Righ-handed writer equals leading with the left hand/foot in other stuff, and vice-versa. Sometimes, people are mixed. There are also some anomalies, for example, a kid I skated with in high school who was a righty, but took his left and leading foot off the board, keeping his right foot at the back of it, and pushing with his left. He was the fastest of us all, too.

[Kevin Mullins]

Sometimes, people are mixed. There are also some anomalies,

I must be one of those then ..... this poll just confused me.

We'll try to understand that things may be described slightly different in the UK, but for instance....
"Right Handed and South Paw" just doesn't make sense.
Handed - generally spoken about the hand that you write with.
South Paw - Left Handed

Me:
Write left handed
Hammer left handed
Throw a football or baseball right handed
Bat left handed more but do switch hit with the right
Kick a ball left footed
Jab left handed
Power hit right handed
Would have a stance with left foot forward whether boxing or riding a skateboard, etc

And what about those people with two left feet? 

[Xiaou2]

 When you fight... if you are always limited to one side stance... then you have
a very big weakness.   A good fighter will take you apart in a second, by scooting
to your weak side with a counter.

 While Im left handed with writing.. I throw a baseball with my right.  However,
when it comes to the arts... I have trained in a style that stresses equal sided
accuracy.

 Which with very limited training... becomes very natural to do.   Standing on one
side vs the other isnt anything like the precision needed to control a pencil well.
Same for kicks and punches.  Very low tech.  Not very hard to train at all.

 Mostly, a lead leg issue is merely an issue of not having as much strength in the
leg as the opposite leg.  That and or flexibility.   Both of which can be resolved.  Its
just that many people choose to stick to the side that has the greater power and
flexibility instead of fixing the opposing sides issues with much more effort and attention.

 FYI - There are plenty of people who have lost their arm, and learned to draw and
write just as good with the opposite hand/arm.  Samely, many have learned to draw
and do things with their feet with amazing precision.   However, as said.. these are
extreme examples which will take many years to accomplish.  Where as fixing a bad
lead, can probably fixed in less than a years time of soso efforts.  Much faster, with
constant and hardcore attention/work.

[shardian]

Do most everything right handed.
When I skated, I pushed with my right foot.
Throw right, but was a good switch hitter.
Can play tennis with either hand well (I learned lefty when I broke some fingers on my right)
Strongly favor my left foot/leg
Was a lefty when playing roller hockey
And by far my most irritating trait, even though I am a dominant righty, I can't dribble a basketball with my right hand to save my life. With my left I can dribble easily. Unfortunately, I shoot right handed. Doesn't exactly give you a strong inside game if you can only dribble on your weak side huh? 

[Donkey_Kong]

I'm lost.... I'm a lefty and I skate with my left foot forward, right foot on the tail. Which is that?

That's regular footed, and the opposite would be goofy foot. Not sure if being right or left handed has an effect on the terminology for those two stances, AFAIK.

[shardian]

I'm lost.... I'm a lefty and I skate with my left foot forward, right foot on the tail. Which is that?

That's regular footed, and the opposite would be goofy foot. Not sure if being right or left handed has an effect on the terminology for those two stances, AFAIK.

Does it count if I preferred Goofy Foot when playing NES Skate Or Die? 

[danny_galaga]

I'm lost.... I'm a lefty and I skate with my left foot forward, right foot on the tail. Which is that?

That's regular footed, and the opposite would be goofy foot. Not sure if being right or left handed has an effect on the terminology for those two stances, AFAIK.

Does it count if I preferred Goofy Foot when playing NES Skate Or Die? 

 

[danny_galaga]

just some notes on what southpaw and goofy foot means. these two terms do not necessarily relate to which hand you write with. they only relate to 'stances':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southpaw_stance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footedness

as xiau2 says, a really good fighter will learn both stances. however, most people will always feel more comfortable with one over the other

ok, ive edited the left hand descriptions a little. i see now that it was a bit confusing. the problem being there is no simple name for the contrary left hand positions.

[danny_galaga]

I'm lost.... I'm a lefty and I skate with my left foot forward, right foot on the tail. Which is that?

ok, now ive fixed up the descriptions a bit, it would seem you are the mirror image of me. lefties would tend to have their right foot forward...

[Ginsu Victim]

Well, I'm also a lefty who plays guitar right-handed and tends to have a left foot forward stance.

[danny_galaga]

Well, I'm also a lefty who plays guitar right-handed and tends to have a left foot forward stance.

so both you and kev have the same attributes for my poll. yet theres only one vote (should be the last left handed option).

you guys are the mirror of what i do. we are mirror image screwy 

[Ginsu Victim]

I voted "LEFT HANDED and left foot forward on boards"
The last option doesn't apply to me, because I box right foot forward.

[Kevin Mullins]

so both you and kev have the same attributes for my poll. yet theres only one vote (should be the last left handed option).

Yay, does that mean I win ?!?

I voted "LEFT HANDED and left foot forward on boards"
The last option doesn't apply to me, because I box right foot forward.

So your strong hand or "power" hand would be your left then. (right?)

BTW - I strum a guitar with my left and fingerboard with my right.

(note that I used the term strum, lord knows I can't play it)

[shardian]

I looked up the skateboarding terms, and it appears I was "Mongo footed". I prefered the feel of my left foot on the tail, and liked pushing with my right. My left leg is dominant, and I felt more in control that way. Pushing left footed felt weird though.

[Ginsu Victim]

You push with your front foot?!? WHAT? That's messed up.

[mountain]

That is how my son skates. I skated with my right foot in front and pushed with my left. 

[Ginsu Victim]

I just don't see how someone could have their foot on the tail and push with the other. Does not compute.

[shardian]

I just don't see how someone could have their foot on the tail and push with the other. Does not compute.

I can't compute how you can push with a foot on the front of the board, so we're even!

Of course, I also was never very good either and stuck with bikes mainly.

[Kevin Mullins]

I just don't see how someone could have their foot on the tail and push with the other. Does not compute.

I was kinda thinking the same thing.
Typically if you push with your left foot then your right foot would be on the FRONT of the board.

I guess there is the possibility of having your foot kinda centered on the board and then sliding it back a bit when needed in order to put your pushing foot on the front.

Ah... what am I talking about.... I could never skateboard anyways.
I stuck with bikes, you push with both feet.  

EDIT: Just read Shardians post which hit before mine did.   

[crashwg]

That's funny.  I never knew there was a name for the "F"ed up way I skate...  I too, have always skateboarded "mongo".  Not that I skateboard much, but when I do, pushing with my left foot (I ride goofy) has always just not worked for me. 

It must have something to do with why when I'm snowboarding and I use my left (back) foot to push myself around at the bottom of the mountain I can't seem to push with my foot on the toe side of the board but rather I do it on the heel side.  I've only ever seen one other person do it that way.  I was actually considering getting this thing called "fronts" which is a rotating plate you put under your front foot so you can point your toe forward for shuffling around the flats...

Here's a link to the fronts system BTW...
http://www.frontssnowboarding.com/

[Ummon]

Recall that I mentioned someone who was 'mongo footed', first - he was just a righty - if I'm getting it right that it's not a matter of which foot is forward, but that one pushes with it.

I don't really do anything anymore that requires footing a certain way. Handing, though, has gone to a bit of both, after I decided to teach my left some things several years ago.

[danny_galaga]

I just don't see how someone could have their foot on the tail and push with the other. Does not compute.

I can't compute how you can push with a foot on the front of the board, so we're even!

Of course, I also was never very good either and stuck with bikes mainly.

same here. goofy=mongo more or less and i push with my front foot. again, i wasnt much of a skater. but these things are intuitive. i saw on that wiki link that one way to see which foot you prefer is for someone to shove you in the back and see which one comes out first! also, which foot do you use first when climbing stairs? sure enough, now i think about it, i pretty much always use my right foot first to mount stairs...

[Paul Olson]

I am a lefty with a southpaw stance, but I board normal. I tried goofy at first because I assumed that was the correct way for a lefty, but not for me.

[shardian]

i saw on that wiki link that one way to see which foot you prefer is for someone to shove you in the back and see which one comes out first! also, which foot do you use first when climbing stairs? sure enough, now i think about it, i pretty much always use my right foot first to mount stairs...

I guess I'm odd that way then. When I'm pushed, I put out my right. When I start stairs, or exercise equipment I start with my right. Technically, my right is stronger.

However, I have far better balance and dexterity with my left. I always prefer to kick with my left foot in sports and in martial arts. It's like the right side of my body is made for brute force and my left side is for finesse (it takes finesse to catch a baseball, and force to throw it you know).

So it makes sense that I would push with my right foot and control the board with my left.

[Mauzy]

I always had a normal stance, but I never boarded much. My racket was inline hockey, and we found that right handed players tended to use their right foot to stop. Theres no way I could describe a "hockey stop" (never knew a real term for it...), but it involved the more powerful leg being set at a sudden angle thus bringing the player to a dead stop immediately. This allowed for really quick turning.

What about this guys: Im right handed and I can ride a bike with one hand like everybody else. I CANNOT ride with just my right hand. I get wobbly and I can't accelerate nearly as fast as I could with both hands. I can, however, ride exactly like I would with both hands while only using my left hand. I always thought this was weird.

[Jess--]

What about this guys: Im right handed and I can ride a bike with one hand like everybody else. I CANNOT ride with just my right hand. I get wobbly and I can't accelerate nearly as fast as I could with both hands. I can, however, ride exactly like I would with both hands while only using my left hand. I always thought this was weird.

same here, bet you will push a bike far lower into a left turn than a right one too, with me left turns I will scrape the handlebars and not be worried, right turn I cant get anywhere near

[Ummon]

i saw on that wiki link that one way to see which foot you prefer is for someone to shove you in the back and see which one comes out first! also, which foot do you use first when climbing stairs? sure enough, now i think about it, i pretty much always use my right foot first to mount stairs...

When I start stairs, or exercise equipment I start with my right. Technically, my right is stronger.

However, I have far better balance and dexterity with my left.

Just need to do a bunch of one-legged squats on each leg.