Ten days ago, I did something strange and unusual. I walked onto the basketball court at the local gym before taking a sauna.
Fortunately, there was an open hoop for me to practice something that I have no skill in – and that is shooting a basketball left-handed.
Sure, I can shoot one fine right-handed, but before that day, I had never challenged myself to make a left-handed shot.
So why bounce and shoot one now?
At first, I didn’t rightly know, other than my curiosity to see how bad I was with the so-called evil hand.
In years past, I not only learned wrestling and martial arts techniques well on both sides, I also trained myself to write in cursive with either hand in either direction, and more recently, how to bowl left-handed.
To my surprise, within a month of bowling southpaw, I no longer felt comfortable bowling with my right hand.
As soon as my left hand was on the bowling ball, I noticed how my brain lit up – but as soon as I went back to the right side with the ball, I no longer had the same positive feeling.
Within a year of bowling lefty, people assumed I was left-handed because my bowling had more elegance, grace and skill than my right side. I was told that I had rewired my brain, especially when my scores from the left side were better than from the right.
Even though I was horrible when I began on the opposite side, this reality changed as I practiced.
With this in mind, I figured learning to shoot a basketball left-handed would be a slam dunk.
But I was just as horrible shooting buckets left-handed as I was when I began bowling with my non-dominant hand.
The first day I practiced lefty, I stopped after twenty shots because the level of neural feedback was already on overload.
On the second day, I practiced around 50 shots, and despite all the clumsy, neuro-spastical mistakes I made, I was enjoying the process the same way I did when learning to bowl from the other side.
During my third practice session, I noted the improved proprioception in my fingers and the mild sense of euphoria inside my skull, even though I still could barely make a shot. It was the same sort of experience I encountered with other activities.
The answer to, “Could it and would it happen again?” was affirmative.
Yes, I can rewire my brain and become a mollydooker, not just as a pugilist, wrestler, bowler, and writer, but also with a basketball in hand.
Last night was my fifth session, and although I’m showing slight signs of improvement, this so-called world class athlete is currently in the laughingstock category.
Shooting buckets left-handed when you’re not good at it is instructional. I get to observe, in detail, how my mind works when I make a mistake; how patient I am when I course correct and make improvements.
Oddly enough, there’s something special about being a beginner, especially when it involves your non-dominant hand. The tendency to get upset at yourself for your errors is almost nonexistent. Your brain doesn’t process mistakes and emotionalize them on the opposite side the same way it does when you’re using your dominant hand.
What this means is that you are training your mind to make relaxed and enjoyable improvements in your performance. Because your expectations are not grand to begin with, you are elated with the tiniest of improvements. Yet, the possibility of the non-dominant side surpassing the much more “intelligent” side is real.
I’ve gone through this lefty-learning process in other fields many times before, so I am confident that it won’t be long before I can make a free throw, a 3-pointer, or a sky hook with either hand, but for now, I’m enjoying not making a lot of shots, including the easy ones.
There’s a process for success and a process for failure. No matter which hand you begin with, on anything, your skills are almost nonexistent. Nevertheless (or should I say evertheless) after putting in enough practice time, you acquire abilities you didn’t have before.
What was once difficult, if not impossible – is now easy.
Matt Furey
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