This is I come across because of the recent runner up of Indonesian master 2014 GPG. Firman Abdul Kholik. Firman is actually right handed, but plays using his left arm. he shakes hand, write, eat and do everything else in his life using his right hand, but for badminton, he uses his left. I also come across my friend who is right handed but plays football by mainly using his left leg. and yes, there are stories and fictional stories of players that switch their dominant hand because they had injury (My favorite is the Major anime) What do you think of players that play with their non-dominant hand? What is the advantage and disadvantage of it? and what's more if they play with their non-dominant hand consciously, not because of injury or their body condition.
Such players can b considered ambidextrous. Being able to use both hands or feet often means both left n right hemispheres of the brain r being utilised in order to initiate the motor skills intended for that particular limb in action. In general, as brain experts claimed, it could as well b that they r smarter than single-dominant people bcoz of the full utilization of both sides of the brain as opposed to just one side of the brain for the single dominants. This subject matter is still left debatable. Just my two cents take on the topic...
I don't think they can be considered ambidextrous, at least not naturally. These are players that in their usual life use their dominant hand, but when they play a specific sport, they use their non-dominant hand. that means, they force themself to use what isn't natural to them. reasons can vary, but I think being left handed has some advantage, that is right handers aren't used to play left handers. but if a right hander decides to play left handed, I think there should be something that differs him from a natural left hander.
As I said, "they can b considered ambidextrous" but they r not necessarily ambidextrous. Have heard some ppl like what u've described. Some r forced due to injured dominant limb but there r others where it just come naturally...it's just them.
this is ambidextrous from the start. and as some of the comments point out, it maybe is caused because the brain left and right side isn't specialized, so there are some misfunctions. what I meant is a research of lefties or righties who uses their non-dominant hand. ofcourse there are examples of people who can have a good achievement, like Rafael nadal, Phil Mickelson, etc. maybe i'll try to train and play with my left hand only for 2-3 months, and then look at the result
In Asia, most are right handed instead of left because of religions. Parents would try to correct this issue from young. As they are trained from young, it might not have significant advantages or disadvantages over the dominant side. Where nature might be stronger than nurture could be in areas where it can't be developed or changed easily, such as the dominant eye or a dominant side of your body. The left side of my body is stronger than my right side, although I'm naturally right handed so things can screw up a bit. Which could explain why I don't really have problems playing against a leftie. But I have problems coping against a right hander...
Because lin dan writes with his right hand. guess you only recently know about this. I think tradtition and culture is the more correct term. It is often sees as a blasphemy and a shameful thing to do certain things with your left hand, like writing, eating, shaking hands etc.
I know about lin dan. My father had the same thing too. He's a lefthanded but he writes and eats with right hand. You may right about culture or religion when it comes to eating. But doing other stuff, i'm not so sure. Though 1 thing i notice everytime he do something that's heavy, he'll use his lefty. Same goes to badminton
I think the whole situation sounds interesting, until you realise how much hard work it takes to play a professional sport. Then, it is no longer interesting as far as I am concerned. Imagine a player that uses his left hand for badminton, but is naturally right handed (does everything else with his right hand when given a preference). You must remember that all these habits were picked up when very young. Maybe that player just decided to pick up the badminton racket with his left hand, got a few lessons and that was that. Before you know it, you are playing using the left hand, and LEARNING using the left hand. Fine. Why would you switch hands? It would be the same as becoming a beginner again (in terms of technique) to learn to use the "dominant" hand. So... why do they use the "wrong" hand? Simple - at some point very early in their badminton lives, they started playing more with that hand. Its that boring. What could be more interesting... at that point in time, WHY did they use the "wrong" hand? Did they chose to? WHY did they chose to (e.g. tactical advantages against other youngsters)? If they didn't chose, was it just random? Just luck as to which hand they practiced with? OR did someone else TELL them they had to play with that hand e.g. a coach or a parent. As I said - once the player starts doing things that way, thats it! They won't bother changing. It doesn't make them ambidexterous, or even different from a regular badminton player - the badminton skills are not linked in any way to which hand is dominant, other than it MAY have an influence on which hand the player first starts to practice with. I am more interested in knowing if, 15 years ago, when that player started, they or someone else (coach/parent?) decided that they should play with the other hand - why was that choice made? Random? Tactical? Or just easier for some reason. Thats my take on it p.s. I know someone who plays badminton right handed, but THROWS and gestures badminton overhead shots left handed - that freaks me out. I would assume that, having developed such a good throwing action for right handed badminton, that they would use that by default... I was wrong!