# Right handed, left eye dominant child NASP



## ctf58

Hello everyone,

I have a 10yr old petite daughter that is starting the NASP program. She is left eye dominant and right handed. Our coaches never said anything about needing to shoot left handed because of left eye dominance. We are a new team and they were borrowing bows from another team until our team bows came in. My daughter is so small that they were having to adjust the Genesis bow all the way down to 10lbs. Well the next practice they would have to go through the same process of adjusting a bow down. I did not think that this was fair to whoever normally shoots these bows so I went ahead and ordered a bow for my daughter and also to shoot at home to build strength. Of course I ordered a right handed bow as she had been shooting at practice and she loves to shoot it. BUT she literally has to aim a full lane over to the right (5-6ft) to be on target.

I took the BAI class to help out because I have never shot a bare bone bow and it has been years since I shot at all so I wanted to help her learn the right way. The first thing we talked about was eye dominance and if a new shooter was left eye dominant then they should shoot left handed. Well crap! I have a nice right handed bow!

As small as my daughter is and she has a condition where she muscle mass is lower, should I try her with a left handed bow and try to sell this one? Or should I try to get her some shooters glasses and tape the left eye or have her wear a patch over her left eye? She shoots with both eyes open.

What are your suggestions


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## subconsciously

I successfully shoot right handed but am left eye dominant. It can be done but.......

Considering her age and your willingness to get it right, "I" would go lefty for her. There are many benefits to shooting with both eyes open. I would not deny her these advantages.


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## DugK

My son was born right handed but left eye dominate. I taught him how to shoot left handed after we tried right handed. His form was way off right handed, once he started left handed and built up muscle, I could see a dramatic improvement in his shooting


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## Warbow

ctf58 said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> I have a 10yr old petite daughter that is starting the NASP program. She is left eye dominant and right handed. Our coaches never said anything about needing to shoot left handed because of left eye dominance. We are a new team and they were borrowing bows from another team until our team bows came in. My daughter is so small that they were having to adjust the Genesis bow all the way down to 10lbs. Well the next practice they would have to go through the same process of adjusting a bow down. I did not think that this was fair to whoever normally shoots these bows so I went ahead and ordered a bow for my daughter and also to shoot at home to build strength. Of course I ordered a right handed bow as she had been shooting at practice and she loves to shoot it. BUT she literally has to aim a full lane over to the right (5-6ft) to be on target.
> 
> I took the BAI class to help out because I have never shot a bare bone bow and it has been years since I shot at all so I wanted to help her learn the right way. The first thing we talked about was eye dominance and if a new shooter was left eye dominant then they should shoot left handed. Well crap! I have a nice right handed bow!
> 
> As small as my daughter is and she has a condition where she muscle mass is lower, should I try her with a left handed bow and try to sell this one? Or should I try to get her some shooters glasses and tape the left eye or have her wear a patch over her left eye? She shoots with both eyes open.
> 
> What are your suggestions


There isn't, AFIK, a hard and fast rule for whether to teach based on handedness vs. eye dominance. Each can have advantages and disadvantages for any individual kid. And eye dominance in kids can change. At the program I work at we start with handedness and switch if the kids are having problems--and the difference can be dramatic for those kids who are struggling. You can put frosted tape over the dominate lens on a pair of shooting glasses. But, it may be easier to work with her natural inclinations rather than against them. I think you should try one of the left handed program bows and see how she does with it. Used archery gear does depreciate a bit, but not as much as some stuff, such as books


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## newbie to bow

if you can try and find a left handed bow she can shoot at your NASP program. compare how she shoots with both. i'm right handed and left eye dominant. i learned to shoot right handed and very good at it but just more natural for me to shoot left. but every one is a little different.


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## dchan

current thinking for many coaches is to use hand dominance first. for young kids, eye dominance can change from day to day until they mature.. a lot depends on their genetics. Some kids are almost evenly dominant with eyes so one weekend it will be left, the next week it will be right. For kids like this, you can train them to make one eye dominant when shooting. Sometimes its just a "wink" as they start to setup and focus. Sometimes just telling them to close the left eye when shooting will "retrain" them to use the right eye when shooting. I am left eye dominant but shoot right handed. over the several years of shooting compound, I trained myself to shoot with both eyes open and still focus with the right eye. 

With hands however, they develop fine motor skills over time by writing and doing things all day long. Unless they are sort of active with both hands, it can be weeks or even months of frustration to put an arrow on the string with the "wrong hand" 

Each case needs to be evaluated on it's own.


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## HOYTINIT

Just close the left eye..


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## ctf58

Thanks for all the replies! We have tried the close the left eye and see was able to shoot more "on line" but after about 3 arrows she would fling one waaaay left because she would forget and open the left eye. She actually hit the lane to the left target from 15 meters. She went to the eye doctor 2 weeks ago and the doctor said she is definitely left eye dominant. We will try a left bow if there is one tomorrow at practice.

Thanks again


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## dchan

Did the doc say "strongly left eye" or just that she is left eye dom? You can always put an eye patch on her, or if she does wear glasses, you can put some frosted scotch tape on her left lens. Just the blurry view will generally make her mind use the right eye..


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## HOYTINIT

JUST DONT DO THIS...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gbl3Qo2Ut8


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## ctf58

dchan, I believe the Dr. actually did use the (strongly left eye). the Dr. kind of laughed and said "no question about it, she is definitely a left eye kid."


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## threetoe

Start her out left handed.


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## dchan

ctf58 said:


> dchan, I believe the Dr. actually did use the (strongly left eye). the Dr. kind of laughed and said "no question about it, she is definitely a left eye kid."


Then you have a case for teaching her left handed..

An example for us.

We had a child just a few weeks ago that insisted she was right handed and wanted to shoot right handed (small for her age, 8 yr old) As soon as we handed her a bow with her feet set as a right handed shooter, she tried to hold the bow in her right hand and pull with her left (yes aimed at the target) twisted all the way around to get lined up. We asked if she wanted to shoot with her other hand and she claimed "I'm right handed" so we put the bow in her left hand and started over. She struggled with pulling, struggled to get lined up, and clearly was using her left eye (head bent way over to sight with her left eye). She was struggling with our 10lb recurve, so of course that was the first thing we noticed. Off to the container to grab an even lighter bow. . We have a couple of 6-7ish lb bows. Now she wasn't struggling as much with the weight but still bending her head way over to see out her left eye. two or three more arrows of this and I head over to the container and grab the 10lb, 48" lefty bow.. "I'm Right handed" she exclaims. I kneel on the ground in front of her (on the shooting line) and explain gently, "That's fine, I just want to see if this helps you shoot. If you don't like it, we can just switch back!" I change her arm guard, turn her around walk her through the steps again (now left handed) and she pulls this bow back fine, and fires off a pretty good shot.. (little low and right) but it was almost no struggle, she got lined up, didn't have to look over the string, and now she has a huge smile on her face!. I smile back and exclaim, "Now that's the way to shoot!" Let's try this for a while. She eagerly agrees and I leave her to finish her set of arrows while one of the other instructors supervises.

So loading the bow, dexterity is tough for her and she is struggling to load the bow with her left hand so she grabs the bow with her left hand, sometimes kneeling on the line so she can rest the bow on her leg, loads the bow with her right hand, then switches hands as she stands up and sets her feet to shoot and then shoot. So it is very clear her fine motor skills are with her right hand but her overwhelming need to see with her left eye, made everything else a struggle. Clear case of teach her to shoot left handed/left eyed and let the fine motor skills in the left hand develop.


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