Are all clockwise skaters left-handed?

[shadowl3oxer]

I am curious if there are others here that spin/jump clockwise, but are right-handed. I am always called a "lefty" at the rink because I rotate clockwise, but am actually right-handed. Anyone else out there like this? Any ideas why I might have found clockwise to be more natural when I started skating, despite the fact that I'm right-handed?

Just wondering! :)

[Clarice]

I'm your basic, run-of-the-mill, right-handed counter-clockwise skater, but I'm pretty sure from previous discussions that handedness and spin direction do not necessarily correlate.

[Skittl1321]

I'm a right handed clockwise skater. There are also alot of moves that are much stronger on my "wrong" side- because my strength is right sided, but the rotational direction is horribly uncomfortable going CCW.

I can "almost" do a loop CCW- because I am just muscling through the jump- I don't have the muscle in my left leg to jump off the same foot like that. But more than 2 rotations in a two footed spin CCW, and I feel like I can't stand up anymore- so I'm adapting my strength issues to CW.

I believe it's from my time as a dancer on a large drill team. Focus was about everything together- rather than strong balanced technique. We rarely did any spins to the left.

[Kim to the Max]

I am a left handed CCW skater...a friend of mine was a left handed CW skater...but, when I first started, I did my flips the wrong way :roll: Maybe that's because my coach was a CW skater...hmmmm...

[Lmarletto]

My daughter is a righthanded CW skater. She shoots pool, holds a hockey stick, swings a bat and cartwheels like a lefty, but plays golf like a righty. The rest of the family also does a lot of things lefty even though we are all right-handed. I had a coach ask me in group lessons if I was left-handed after helping me with mohawks. I never managed a decent 2-foot spin in either direction, so I can't say if I'm CCW or CW.

DD insisted on doing all her jumps in both directions for a long time but when she was struggling with getting a consistent loop her coach convinced her to stick to one direction. I wonder if right-handed CW skaters are usually sort of ambidextrous.

[Terri C]

I'm a left handed CCW skater!

[kayskate]

I was taught to write rt-handed, though I can also write lefty. I am basically ambidextrous. I skate CW.

Kay

[blackmanskating]

No, A girl in my skating club is right handed but jumps and spins clockwise. Johnny Weir is also right handed but jumps clockwise. And my goodness Rohene Ward can jump through triple lutz in both directions!!!!!! I just wish he could pull his nerves together for competitions. That man has the potential to be the #1 ranked male skater in the world right now but he completely loses everything when he competes. :(


BlackManSkating

[Isk8NYC]

My twin DDs are:

Twin A: Right-handed / Spin CW
Twin B: Left-handed / Spin CCW (Although she can fake a few the other way.)

I've had a number of students who were right-handed CW spinners and a few southpaw CCW spinners.

There's no hard-and-fast correlation between the two things.

Waaaay Off-Topic:
*Sigh* I adore Rohene Ward as a skater; would love to see him skate a clean program in person.
Such talent and so down-to-earth.
I really, really hope he pulls it together - it would be soooo wonderful to watch him do well.

Any news on him for this season?

[doubletoe]

I'm thinking maybe preferred rotational direction is unrelated to handedness, just like which foot people prefer to have as the leading foot in a spread eagle or Ina Bauer (I prefer right foot in front, but a lot of skaters seem to prefer left). I think right-handed skaters are presumed to have better coordination on the right foot, so they are encouraged to land on that foot, which means jumping CCW. In ballet, don't they mostly rotate CW?

[RinkRat321]

i'm a right handed CW skater! I think its because i did gymnastics before i skated and most of the tumbling i did i took off my right foot so when i started skating and jumping i felt more comfortable taking off on my right foot. also pivots on the beam and stuff made spinning on my right foot feel better too so i think thats why skating CW is more comfortable for me.

[mdvask8r]

Dancers train to be balanced. They do everything in both directions.

[Skittl1321]

In ballet, don't they mostly rotate CW?

Not in good ballet- a ballet dancer should be evenly trained in both directions.

But for the most part the vast majority of "dancers" do rotate primarily CW, as it is usually "easier" (the right pirouette is done on the left leg going CW, chaines and piques go CW) and so it is practiced more because studios put it into routines. So many dancers, who are more performance based, rather than training based, get much stronger rotating in that direction.

Growing up dancing I probably did 50 CW turns to 1 CCW turn. I have never tried some turns CCW, actually. Because dance is so accessible there is a lot of "bad" dance training out there. I never wanted to "be" a dancer, so I enjoyed the dancing I did- but it's a bad thing to be that unbalanced as a real dancer, and it is NOT uncommon at all to see that.

[blackmanskating]

Waaaay Off-Topic:
*Sigh* I adore Rohene Ward as a skater; would love to see him skate a clean program in person.
Such talent and so down-to-earth.
I really, really hope he pulls it together - it would be soooo wonderful to watch him do well.

Any news on him for this season?


I haven't heard anything from him since the 2007 Liberty competition. But I agree with you. He's such an amazing skater and he seems like a good person. I haven't met him personally but I have seen him skate and his potential is mind boggling. He's one of the reasons why I set my skating goals so high. That's motivation that I can do this, regardless of the perceived setbacks.

BlackManSkating

[Rusty Blades]

I am a lefty and prefer CW now. A LONG time ago, as a teenager, I could go either way though first learning anything seemed easier CCW. Go figger!

[Skittl1321]

Waaaay Off-Topic:
*Sigh* I adore Rohene Ward as a skater; would love to see him skate a clean program in person.
Such talent and so down-to-earth.
I really, really hope he pulls it together - it would be soooo wonderful to watch him do well.

Any news on him for this season?

I didn't get to see him at regionals- because by the time I was done making all the senior ladies copies the senior men had already skated- but I did see his short program protocols and he landed a quad toe-double toe combo. Everyone said his program was fantastic. I didn't see the long, or the protocols for it- but heard coaches gossiping that it was "typical" Rohene, so I assume he must have caved under pressure :( Hopefully he'll have a good showing at Sectionals.

[2salch0w]

I am curious if there are others here that spin/jump clockwise, but are right-handed. I am always called a "lefty" at the rink because I rotate clockwise, but am actually right-handed. Anyone else out there like this? Any ideas why I might have found clockwise to be more natural when I started skating, despite the fact that I'm right-handed?

Just wondering! :)

I'm a right-handed CW skater. I started as an adult and there was never any doubt that I wanted to rotate CW, though I didn't know I was going the less typical way at first because I learned on inlines. When I got to my first freestyle sessions on ice I figured it out. I do remember, however, trying to decide (on my inlines) if I wanted to waltz jump lefty or righty. I went with lefty.

Like many skaters, I can do a waltz jump and salchow the wrong way. I have eeked out toe loops CCW, too, and can almost do a loop.

Skating made me realize that I have other lefty tendencies as well, and my family has many lefties. My tennis backhand is significantly better than my forehand (CW rotation), I hold a phone with my left hand, deal cards, cartwheel, all lefty style.

Writing is strictly righty. And here's a test - ever try to mouse w/ the other hand. Nearly impossible!

Tim

[Scarlett]

Not all CW skaters are left-handed but I'm one of them. I'm strongly left-handed and am a clockwise skater. I do write with both hands (mostly my right) though do to a strongly opinionated nun when I was young but that is another story.

[sk8er1964]

Like many skaters, I can do a waltz jump and salchow the wrong way. I have eeked out toe loops CCW, too, and can almost do a loop.

Skating made me realize that I have other lefty tendencies as well, and my family has many lefties. My tennis backhand is significantly better than my forehand (CW rotation), I hold a phone with my left hand, deal cards, cartwheel, all lefty style.

I can jump through a flip in the opposite direction, as well as do an upright spin. I'm RH and CCW.

My son is RH, but he plays hockey, bats, and golfs left handed. When he spins around on his skates when he's bored during practice, he goes CCW. However, in the few times that he's been on figure skates, he's jumped CW. Guess he's a bit of a mess. 8O :lol:

[Muskoka Skater]

I'm a clockwise skater also but I write with my right hand. It's not just figure skating that I'm like that, I'm also like that in golf, baseball, and trampoline. I guess it is because my mom is left handed and my dad is right handed. I'm also pretty good at writing with my left hand but I write with my right!! I also have a coach who is a clockwise skater, she made up this joke about how all the clockwise skaters spin the right way:lol:(get it we spin to the right!!), that night all the clockwise skaters were laughing and the counter clockwise skaters didn't get the joke. I can also jump and spin pretty well counter clockwise way.

[Isk8NYC]

I'm a weirdo also but I write with my right hand. It's not just figure skating that I'm like that, I'm also like that in golf, baseball, and trampoline. I guess it is because my mom is left handed and my dad is right handed. I'm also pretty good at writing with my left hand but I write with my right!! I also have a coach who is a weirdo, she made up this joke about how all the weirdos spin the right way:lol:(get it we spin to the right!!), that night all the weirdos were laughing and the normals had no clue what we were laughing about!! Oh ya, I can also jump and spin pretty well the oppisite way.
I don't believe that skating CW qualifies a skater as a 'weirdo.'
Is that a reference to Johnny Weir? (Who is a CW skater)

If not, some people might find it insulting.

[TreSk8sAZ]

Not in good ballet- a ballet dancer should be evenly trained in both directions.

But for the most part the vast majority of "dancers" do rotate primarily CW, as it is usually "easier" (the right pirouette is done on the left leg going CW, chaines and piques go CW) and so it is practiced more because studios put it into routines. So many dancers, who are more performance based, rather than training based, get much stronger rotating in that direction.


Wow. I was a dancer for 16 years and have to say that I've never encountered this, even in the lower levels that were more "recreational" dancing that either I taught, my friends taught, or our instructors taught. I've been trained quite evenly, and am actually more comfortable CCW -- which transferred into my skating.

I'm completely ambidextrious and do most things both ways (writing, eating, sports, etc), but skating I'm firmly CCW. It's quite odd, actually, as literally most everything else I do is even both directions. :lol:

And to whoever said about the strict nun, my father was raised that way (left-handedness was bad in the Church).
I was purely a lefty as a child, apparently, and my dad kept feeding everything to my right hand! I always had to be careful (even through high school) at the dinner table that I ate with my fork in my right hand or else he would say something. Hence how I became ambidextrious!

[SkatingOnClouds]

I'm a left-handed CCW skater. I do most sports right handed, including bat sports, but not raquet sports. Right footed kicker for soccer too. I'm pretty ambidextrous.

My very right-handed daughter could naturally jump and spin both ways, didn't bother her. Just depended which foot she happened to push off onto as to which way she did it. I wonder if autism spectrum disorder makes a difference there.

[jazzpants]

I'm a right handed CW skater!!!! :mrgreen:

[airyfairy76]

Wow. I was a dancer for 16 years and have to say that I've never encountered this, even in the lower levels that were more "recreational" dancing that either I taught, my friends taught, or our instructors taught. I've been trained quite evenly, and am actually more comfortable CCW -- which transferred into my skating.

This is something I've actually been thinking about quite a lot recently!

Both in my early dancing years, and in my later professionally trained years, we always had to do exactly the same exercises in both directions: Triple pirouette clockwise, triple pirouette counter-clockwise. Pique's from the left corner (CW), pique's then from the right corner (CCW).

However, my preference was always for clockwise as I felt much more balanced that way.

Interestingly, on the ice, in the tiny bit of spinning I have started to do, I prefer spinning CCW . . .

[kayskate]

And here's a test - ever try to mouse w/ the other hand. Nearly impossible!

Tim

I can do it equally w both hands and trade off to avoid overuse.

Kay

[kateskate]

I'm thinking maybe preferred rotational direction is unrelated to handedness, just like which foot people prefer to have as the leading foot in a spread eagle or Ina Bauer (I prefer right foot in front, but a lot of skaters seem to prefer left). I think right-handed skaters are presumed to have better coordination on the right foot, so they are encouraged to land on that foot, which means jumping CCW. In ballet, don't they mostly rotate CW?

I agree. I am a left handed, CW skater but I prefer all turns on my left foot regardless of the direction. I do ina bauers and spreads with my left foot leading and prefer spirals on my left foot. So I think I am just stronger/more coordinated on my left side.

There is a left handed skater at my rink who jumps CCW and the only other CW skater at my rink is a right handed!

[Lmarletto]

And here's a test - ever try to mouse w/ the other hand. Nearly impossible!

I had to learn when I developed carpel tunnel in my right wrist. Mousing left came a lot easier than I expected. Writing left still seems impossible, but I can't say I've pushed it.

[Mrs Redboots]

I'm very right-handed, but still spin clockwise for preference. I have a theory that this is because I find most skating skills easier with my right foot, though, rather than because I'm a clockwise skater.... I jump (such jumps as I do) anti-clockwise, though, and can spin anti-clockwise when I have to.

[Sessy]

I switch right and left mousing cuz otherwise I get RSI.

[Verena]

Hi!

I am also a right-handed clockwise skater... It came naturally from the beginning...

[sk8tmum]

Most Learn to Skate programs seem to encourage beginning skaters to jump in the "usual" way, and spin in the "usual" way. And the little ones generally go along with it.

however, I've also seen a few skaters (more than a few!) - who, when their natural "jumping" direction was determined, significantly improved with a change to the "different" direction. It just took some painful retraining ... worth it in the end.

I wondered why, when my baby started skating at age 4, the coach (she's coached privately, because we believe that early direct instruction saves a lot of grief down the road) - brought a soccer ball out on the ice and got her to kick it - several times over the course of some weeks. Apparently, it was to assist in determining the proper jump and spin direction right from the beginning, to avoid issues later. Turns out ... she's a reverse spinner, which causes some grief when she DOES have a group lesson, as the coaches model a normal direction, the other kids do a normal direction ... etc etc ... and of course little one wants to go along with it. Our coach intervened with the group coaches to get them to encourage her to spin and jump in her own way, now, though - something we would never have realized was an issue without someone actually assessing her direction from day one.

(BTW: the little one is ambidextrous, right hand slightly dominant).

[sk8tmum]

I switch right and left mousing cuz otherwise I get RSI.

me tooo ... so I have two mice, both ergonomic design - but one for LEFTIES (hard to find) - and one for RIGHTIES. But, as I'm aged anyways, I still find mice to be an annoying excuse to have to remove my hands from the keyboard (long live the command prompt, long live DOS).:bow:

[thumbyskates]

I am right handed...very right handed...and am a CW skater.
My story is funny though. I switched by choice to CW when I was about 7 or 8, because that's the way my best friend did it. And I wanted to be "different" like her. How special.

To do this day my coach says I look awkward when I jump, and thinks I could have been a much better skater the "normal" way. Unforutnately, after 16 years of skating one way, it'd be too hard to switch.

A note with the LTS programs - I never tell a child which way to spin. I don't say anything about direction, unless they move up into the Group Starskate lessons (level 4 or 5 Canskate) and they continually switch back and forth. Usually then I'll ask them which hand they write with, or later on in the session or next day, when they're not thinking about it, to do a 2 foot spin.

[chowskates]

And here's a test - ever try to mouse w/ the other hand. Nearly impossible!

Tim

I'm a right-hander, but have been using the mouse with the left hand since college for a silly reason - my desk in the dorm room was set up such that there was more room on the left side!

It has been really useful, though, since it means I can navigate the computer and write at the same time. Certainly saved time on the computerised GRE tests! ;)

Cheers,
Chow

[Muskoka Skater]

Last night my friend and me were Public Skating and she did a waltz jump and she jumped clockwise. So now I'm really happy that I'm not the only clockwise skater ar my club, also she writes with her right hand like me!!

[peanutskates]

NO to the OP. I'm right handed, jump/spin CW. (although I have a bad CCW waltz jump and a 2 revs forward spin CCW!! because I wanted to try)

[Award]

I think that a person should be able to learn how to spin or jump in either direction. It just requires some amount of time for getting used to it as well as to develop the muscles or power on that side to get the results.

There was some article in the news some time ago about how people can really learn to write with the other hand without any problem....and it doesn't take a long time. This is also probably like those driving stick-shift/manual cars in different parts of the world and then needing to switch to a country where the gear stick is on the other side of the car. Fortunately, only the gear stick is shifted ..... and not the positions of the foot pedals hahahaha

[emkayy]

I'm also CW and right-handed.. I can do waltz jumps and about 6 rev one-foot spins CCW. When I very first started skating I would spin CCW then one day I was showing my mom something we were doing in dance (except I was doing it on the ice) which I guess required somewhat spinning CW and found it was much easier. So since then I've been a CW skater!

[BatikatII]

I'm right handed and prefer to spin and jump CCW.

My coach makes me do waltz jumps, salchows and toe-loops in both directions though. We do a circuit of the rink doing consecutive, alternating direction jumps and with the waltz jump, by the time I finish I sometimes can't even remember which is my 'good' way. In isolation however, I can't perform the CW jump nearly as well as CCW:??

I find the salchow the hardest to do CW (wrong for me) direction - maybe because of the rotational bit in the take off - I can't spin in the wrong direction. Although I'm better at clockwise twizzles but that's probably more to do with leg strength. Coach and friends reckon they cant' see any difference between my salchows in either direction ( which I think is worrying - does it mean my right way CCW jumps are bad!!!!!;)

Most of my turns are better CCW except back outside and inside 3's which are much better clockwise - so maybe I'm only CCW going forwards!

I did once learn to write with my left hand when I broke my right wrist but it was very untidy. Looked similar to when I write upside down or mirror writing (or even more fun: upside down and mirrored writing:lol: )

I like the fact coach makes me jump both ways (although I was horrified when he first made me try it!) as it must help to keep the body more balanced. Just a pity you don't get any credit for it in comps or I'd have it in my programme.

[kayskate]

A note with the LTS programs - I never tell a child which way to spin. I don't say anything about direction, unless they move up into the Group Starskate lessons (level 4 or 5 Canskate) and they continually switch back and forth. Usually then I'll ask them which hand they write with, or later on in the session or next day, when they're not thinking about it, to do a 2 foot spin.

I actually had a skate director bark at me for letting kids spin CW. I thought she was way out of line.

Kay

[cherryliphoto]

And here's a test - ever try to mouse w/ the other hand. Nearly impossible!

Tim

I just totally navigated my way with my left hand! there's really no difference besides having to remember to use the *other* hand to hit the enter key!

and I'm right handed, spinning CW... thus having a bit of trouble with some jumps because left leg is not as strong.

[doubletoe]

I can do it equally w both hands and trade off to avoid overuse.

Kay

I trade off between mouse hands on the computer, too! I think that skating has made me more ambidextrous because we're forced to do patterns & turns in both directions & on both sides. I wouldn't be surprised if that creates more connections between the two sides of the brain.

[peanutskates]

I actually had a skate director bark at me for letting kids spin CW. I thought she was way out of line.


OMG :!: :!: :!:

[flikkitty11]

Im a right handed CW skater but i do most sports left handed. i usually put it that im right handed and left footed... recently ive found that writing with my left hand is pretty easy so i usually write with left when im bored in class (english :oops: )
The MAin thing i dont like about being a CW skater is that most (if not all) skating fiction books are in CCW and when the moves are described i usually have to translate. cough silverblades cough.