On the Issue Of Handedness

People often ask, after watching me play tennis (which I love), or occasionally darts or billiards:

Are you right-handed or left-handed?  My reply: "Yes!"  

For quite some time now - I'd guess since I was a child, even before I can remember - I do believe this question has come up from time to time.  

I remember my mother bragging that my kindergarten teacher would explain that one day I would finger-paint left-handed, then the next day practice writing my name right-handed.  Then, I got to first grade, and went to a catholic school where being left-handed was considered an inconvenience - all students who wrote lefty were given separate desks on the far side of the room.  I think it was at that point, being quite shy, I decided to always write right-handed.  

This same scenario played out again in sports.  At this point, I was playing baseball and throwing right-handed, but I wanted to bat left-handed.  My Catholic Youth Organization coach said: "If you throw right-handed, you should bat right-handed."  So that is what I did - in organized sports.  I continued to switch hands, seeming to naturally trend left-handed in any sport requiring fine motor skills.  This would go for archery, shooting, darts, softball and tennis (sort of - I served right-handed).   

As the years passed, I grew into a husky kid who could hit a baseball quite well from either side of the plate, but when I reached the age of 13, a stigmatism developed, causing my eyesight to decline.  Wearing glasses was never easy for me while playing sports, so I stopped playing baseball.  Later, when I discovered tennis (at about age 21), wearing glasses was no big deal - except I found myself switching between lefty and righty forehands naturally (an instructor told me I could not do this - then watched for a while, and said "I guess you can?").  

As time went on, and I became an adult, I noticed I did a great many things left-handed, but I'd just never noticed:  cut meat with a knife, sweep with a broom, shovel dirt, deal cards and many more.  I am also a self-taught guitarist of some ability (having played in bands), and of course, I play left-handed!

When I tried to switch and do most of these things with the other hand, I found I probably could, but it was not nearly as comfortable.  People who do some things with one hand, and some with the other are are said to have "mixed laterality" or are cross-dominant.  This was once considered to be a disability by the medical profession, but this was likely due to bias or anecdotal information.  

In any event, I am quite happy with my unique "aflliction".  Less than 1% of the population has it, and in some sports (such as baseball), it can be a distinct advantage.