I heard some players at my local club having a heated discussion and so thought I would gauge people's opinions on here.
So, here's a question for you guys, and I'm interested to hear your responses.
Do you think left-handers gain any sort of advantage, if the majority of players in a club are right handed?
Good players can adjust to play left handers (which explains why there is no significant trend in WTTC Rankings) but if 8/10 opponents in a club are right handed, then do you think the left handed players have any sort of advantage from this?
Discuss
Fun Fact - Google reckons anywhere between 70-95% of people in the world are right handed
Great discussion question!
Initially I will say yes, left handers do have an advantage as they are more used to playing right handers. But then, it depends on the circumstances. If in a hypothetical situation, where a group of TT players are trapped on an isolated island, with 8 right handers and 2 lefties, then you can say, the lefties get to play more righties. But then, if they were to play each other for an extended period of time, they will eventually get used to each other's play style. That includes the righties getting used to the style of 2 lefties.
Now in a different situation, if you were to say whether the lefties will have an advantage of playing against righties overall (not limited to the players in the club), I would say, they probably do, but also depends on whether the righties in other clubs have made an effort to play against lefties more often. For example, during my stay in HK, I have actually been playing against lefties more often than righties, so if I was to play against a leftie when i go back to aus as compared to a player of equal skills and fitness who has not been playing against lefties, well then you can say I do have a higher chance of winning against a leftie given I am more familiar than the other guy against lefties.
I think this applies to the top players in the world as well. If a country wants to develop a top rightie player but they don't let that player to play against any lefties, the rightie won't do well when he does face a leftie, but they won't do that, because it is crucial that the rightie also get exposed to lefties, preferably with high expertise as well.
So I guess, it can become an advantage for the lefties if the righties allow it to happen, by not grabbing the opportunities to play against lefties. Yes I know, there are more righties than lefties, but doesn't mean you cant find any leftie to play against (unless where you live really have no leftie and you have no means of getting exposed to them). Otherwise where there is a will, there is a way.
P.S. still waiting for OSP to come back
