There’s really no easy way to say this. It’s been a long time coming, and needs to be formally put forward. It cannot be denied that our decades of heavy involvement in all levels of sport has provided us a relatively new and unique perspective; that is, an awareness that your handedness—left, right, or mixed (ambidextrous)—usually plays a large role in motor-skill control, body movement, and overall behavior! Not a big deal? Yes, it IS a big deal.
Or to put it another way, if you’re an athlete and you choose to hit, swing, throw, or kick from the left or right side (or both, as in “switch-hitting”), the choice you make will have a significant impact on your motor skill control and aptitude. For example, if using your left (assuming contralateral brain configuration which is 90% likely), you’ll increase coordination of the gross motor muscles (“whole body”) in athletics.
If you’re not an athlete, and you're left-handed or ambidextrous (assuming contralateral brain configuration, which is 90% likely), then your right-brained attributes will be enhanced, as using the left-side of the body further activates the right-hemisphere. In other words, your L or A-handedness will (likely) amplify right-brained behavior. The aforesaid RB attributes include increased aptitude for art, creatvity (in general), and felt emotion.
The effects of handedness are most evident in “L” left-brain dominant (or athletes with Left-lateralization) athletes who are left-handed, and even appreciable among right-brain dominant athletes that are right-handed, and yet have chosen to use the left side.
The rationale and observable evidence appears something like this: Left brain dominant Ls who use the left side, are noticeably smoother in their performance than Ls who use only the right side. And, those Ls who utilize the left side are also more inclined to incorporate the gross-motor (“big”) muscles of the body.
Application If you’re one of the eight Left-brained BTs who are naturally more mechanical (in movement) and methodical (in pace of play), our experience suggests that you will benefit from incorporating the left side into your repertoire (whether entirely, or partially). If you’re one of the four Left-brained BTs that are fine-motor dominant (i.e. FEIL, BEIL, FCIL, BCIL), then you’ll receive the extra benefit of having greater access to the gross-motor muscles (in the sense of training your brain to use them), which would have otherwise been arguably unnatural for your BT.
If you’re an “R” (right-brain dominant) athlete who is right-handed, you are and will be smooth (relatively speaking) in your motor-movements. If you’re an R athlete who is left-handed (or choosing to utilize a practiced left side), then you’ll likely be even more graceful (depending on the sport), and will use more of the gross-motor (“big”) muscles than you would have otherwise.
Helpful Example
For basket-ballers, if you're a right-handed shooter, then you're inclined to use more left brain, which will make for more of a mechanical & fine-motor controlled motion. If you're a left-handed shooter, you're prone to use more right brain, which will make for a more fluid & gross-motor controlled motion.
The degree to which your shot can become more fluid, or involve more of the gross-motor muscles will be largely predicated on each respective BT. For example, Empirical Animates (EAs) who are already gross-motor dominant, and fluid, will have those attributes enhanced even more, etc. Are you Contralateral or Ipsilateral?
Probably not the usual question you'd ask on a date night. But let us not think for a moment that it's a meaningless inquiry. First, some background for you. Coincidence? I don't believe in luck. Having recently watched Oak Hill Academy (famous for producing NBA players such as Rajon Rondo, Kevin Durant, & Carmelo Anthony) play winning basketball at the well-attended Tournament of Champions in Springfield, MO, my attention was directed yet again to Oak Hill Academy--particularly a graduate from 2013, namely Nate Britt. Perhaps old news to some, I came across an informative article entitled UNC guard Nate Britt describes why he changed shooting hands, which chronicled his unique ability and recent evolution from shooting from the left to the right hand.
Now a North Carolina Tar Heel, as a sophomore, Britt is looking to raise his all-around shooting percentage from his freshman year, which totaled 36.7% from the field. With many opinions surrounding his recent change, what advice might we give him from a BT perspective? As it happens, Nate Britt and the author of this article have something very important in common. What's that? I was born ambidextrous (using either side) and have shot the basketball with both hands--even from downtown (3-point range). I've played most sports, using both sides of my body.
So what does shooting with both hands have to do with Brain Type? Let's explore--first things first. Now, unless you're in the minority (fewer than 10%), your brain is likely wired to your body in a contralateral manner. That means one side of your brain controls the movement of the opposite side of the body, or your right brain controls your left side, and so forth. If you're ispsilateral, then your right brain controls your right side, etc.
Helpful Translation
For all contralateral basket-ballers (that's most of you), if you're a right-handed shooter, then you're inclined to use more left brain, which will make for more of a mechanical & fine-motor controlled motion. If you're a left-handed shooter, you're prone to use more right brain, which will make for a more fluid & gross-motor controlled motion. For your consideration, here are some examples:
This is a very important consideration. Did you catch that? We've learned that right-siders (hands or feet) use more of the fine-motor muscles, and left-siders (hands or feet) use more of the gross-motor muscle groups. This is news to some of you, but old news to BT aficionados. And as an ambidextrous athlete who has played most sports for many years, I can vouch for the truth of this.
Let's get back to Nate Britt--a #1 FEAR Brain Type. His _EAR wiring tells us that he's already gifted with adept and fluid use of the gross-motor muscles (a la Chris Paul), whether he shoots right or left. Up until recently, Nate used/favored his left hand, which enhanced his gross-motor muscles within the shot all the more. (We'd also therefore contend using the left side produces a more natural, efficient, and effortless stroke--in contralateral ballers.). So why the reported "hitch" in his left-handed shot? Not sure. Didn't see anything wrong with it, from our perspective. And why is he still shooting from the left-side from the foul line, but from the right side otherwise? Perhaps it's because his left-side is his natural hand, and he feels more comfortable that way with a set shot (foul shot).
So now, he's opting to make the right hand his "go to," which admittedly does surprise us. Why? For the aforementioned reasons, and because his decision to go from left to right may be the first we've known in the annals of upper-level basketball. Perhaps his reason(s) is complex, but we theorize Nate may believe his shot mechanics are better from this side, or perhaps he's just looking for any solution to his shooting woes? Comparing his shot motions, his right does have a nice high release, and better wrist action, but his left-handed shot is smooth. One observation, we did notice his left-handed shot seems to require a slower release. That is to say it takes longer for him to release the ball, left-handed; this may be attributable to the aforesaid gross-motor control from that side. And, it may very well be an important consideration in a sport where "open shots" are hard to come by and man-to-man defense can be near-suffocating.
To be sure, we wish him the best. Either way, my advice to Nate Britt would be to keep BOTH guns in his holster, just as he did growing up in ambidextrous shooting drills, with his father. Why limit yourself? Go with the defense and use whatever gets the job done. Shooting the ball can be as instinctively subconscious as playing a piano piece (I know from experience).
I'll never forget (or forgive?) my left-brained (FCIL) and commanding high school coach adamantly telling me that I needed to "pick a hand and stick with it." Looking back, I think that was some stodgy traditional-minded advice. Basketball has evolved since the early 1990s, and will continue to! I fully expect that top-notch players in the next decade will--in looking for the competitive advantage --add shooting from both sides to their repertoire. Perhaps not evenly (50% from both), but at least in greater distribution than we presently are accustomed to. For most, all it will take is lots of practice and some determination!
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