HANDEDNESS, ACHIEVEMENT IN SPORT AND BOXING

Abstract

Handedness is a preference for the use of one of the right- or the left-hands. In the large majority of right-handers, speech is controlled by the left side of the brain. Also, the right hemisphere of the brain is usually specialized for recognizing and remembering faces and understanding relationships in space. We live in a right-handed world and that left-handers have an inherent disadvantage in using tools designed for right-handers. Left-handed persons are believed to have better developed motor, attentional and spatial functions. Some studies have explored a possible correlation between left-handedness and enhanced performance in specific sports such as baseball, cricket, fencing, soccer and tennis. The rate of the left-handed boxers was higher compared to the right-handed ones in the National Road Sport Men Boxing Club in Turkey. These results may be associated with two suggestions: 1. the left-handed subjects have an intrinsic advantage over right-handers due to superior spatio-motor skills, 2. advantage in the left-handed boxer and the left-handed other athletes may result from the nature of the game (boxing) or frequency-dependent strategic advantage.