alt Hacker NewsI always faced left when riding a skateboard back in the day, otherwise known in skater parlance as being "goofy-footed". Facing right felt as difficult as writing with my left hand. I always wondered whether that was just the way I first rode a skateboard and it stuck, but if that was the case, I would expect the distribution of which skateboarders face which way to be about even. But goofy-footed riders are in the minority. I'm right-handed as well. I wonder what's up with that.
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I think this is probably related to which eye is more dominant for you. I've never skateboarded, but if I imagine myself doing it, it would also be facing left. And it's because my right eye is dominant and I would like that to be facing forward.
Me too, but on a snowboard. (I suppose I'd be the same on a skateboard) My second time snowboarding was quite a few years after my first, and I just could not get the hang of it, wondering how I was faring so much worse than before. It took me all day to remember I was "goofy", and once I switched it was much better.
I'm goofy footed as well - skate boarding with my left foot forward is like trying to throw a ball with my left hand. I also found that if I was rollerblading or ice-skating, turning to my left (counter clockwise) with a foot-over-foot action I can do super easy, but turning turning clockwise I always struggled with.
I'm right-handed, but I snowboard goofy. Coincidence (or not?) my left leg is dominant. I can kick a ball just fine with my left foot, but when I try to kick with my right foot I feel like I'm going to capsize. When I'm riding a bike and I have to stop, my right foot goes down. When I start again I use my left leg to muscle the crank through the first revolution or two.
Do you hold a baseball bat lefty too?
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!
I think skate stance is much more evenly distributed (closer to 50/50) than handedness (about 10% left).
What does "face left" mean? Left foot front? That's regular.
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I overused my right hand with computers - mouse + many keyboard keys like arrows, enter, backspace, etc
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.