How to improve your off hand in basketball

3 Tips to Help You Improve Your Weak Hand

Basketball Tip

Most players don’t know the value of being able to dribble, shoot, and pass with both hands no matter the position they play. Many athletes tend to favor one hand over the other because it’s their dominant hand and more comfortable. If you're looking to play in high school or college, it is expected of you to be able to use both hands and can even be the deciding factor when getting a spot on a team.

The players that are comfortable using both hands are the athletes that stand out. They can crossover and overtake their defender quickly with eyes on the court. They can swiftly curve any bounce pass through the defender’s arms, and they can make that breakaway layup no matter which way they’re being pushed. Here are three tips from the Doug Bruno Girls Basketball Camp staff to help players become more comfortable using both hands.

1. Dribble with Both Hands
When trying to develop your non-dominant hand, dribbling should be the first place that you start. Begin by keeping your dominant hand behind your back, forcing yourself to use your weak hand to dribble. Practice this and after time it will start to feel more and more comfortable.

Once you have mastered that, try adding in a second basketball and dribble with each hand at the same time. Remember to keep your elbows behind the ball and force the ball into ground while keeping your head up. This will improve your coordination and ball handling skills in both hands. Being able to dribble with both hands provides a huge advantage over your opponent, you can now dribble down the court on the right and left side which makes it much harder for the defender to guess which direction you plan to go.

2. Weak Hand Passing
Another way to develop your weak hand is through various passing drills. Grab a partner, stand ten feet apart, and put your dominant hand behind your back. With one ball, pass and receive with only your weak hand. As you progress, you can increase the speed and challenge your partner! Each player should pass with their non-dominant hand twenty times equaling one set. Start with four sets and increase as you feel more comfortable.

3. Off-Court Tips
Although it is important to make a point to emphasize using both hands in practice, steps need to be made around the clock to master this skill. Doing daily activities with your non-dominant hand will form the proper habits and allow you to feel more comfortable using that hand. We recommend you eat and cut your food, open doors, drawers and packages, comb your hair, brush your teeth and use your phone all with your non-dominant hand. Initially, all these tasks will feel foreign but if you stay consistent, it will become a routine.

Implementing these practice tips will help you feel more comfortable using your non-dominant hand, which allows for a smooth transition onto the court. For further help with your game, check out more drills and tips and join us this summer at a Doug Bruno Girls Basketball Camp!

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How To Improve Your Weak Hand In Basketball

You may be struggling to improve your weak hand in basketball, but don’t worry! We’ve got you covered with some easy steps that will help you get a stronger weak hand. Your weak hand is important because it can give you an edge on the court when playing against other players. Who are more skilled than you. There are three simple steps to follow for getting a better weak hand in basketball: practice, practice, and more practice!

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Weak Hand Basketball Drills

Dribble Sprints with Your Weak Hand

You can improve your weak hand in basketball by doing dribble sprints with your weak hand. To do this, you want to get a ball and start dribbling as fast as possible from side to side across the court. Without letting the ball hit the ground. By only using one arm for this drill. It will force you to use that weak hand to balance yourself when moving back and forth on the court.

Typewriter Drill

You can also improve your weak hand in basketball by doing the typewriter drill. This is a simple and effective way to get better control of the ball when dribbling. Both with your weak and strong hands. To do this drill, you want to start standing about five feet away from a wall or backboard. So that it’s easier for you to make an accurate shot at the basket.

Then place yourself on one side of the court while holding out your arm straight towards where you think you’ll be able to shoot near right under half-court. Then move over closer into shooting range and keep practicing until you’re successful making shots around center-court distance. Where there would normally be a three-point line. At first, it may take some time before you get used to the weak hand and arm motion. But over time you’ll be able to improve your weak hand in basketball.

The Mikan Drill

The Mikan drill is another great weak hand basketball drill to improve both your weak and strong hands. This one specifically works on the “granny shot”. To do this, you’re going to have a partner hold a ball out for you about chest-high. So that it’s easier to shoot with your weak hand.

You want them to place their other arm in front of them. So they can block your shot if needed from passing over their arms.

To get better at shooting granny shots, try practicing this weak hand basketball drill every day until you feel more comfortable making these types of shots. You’ll even start seeing improvements when using your dominant hand! Make sure not to strain yourself though because fatigue will make it harder to improve weak hands in basketball.

Tennis Ball Toss

To help improve weak hands in basketball, you can try doing the tennis ball toss. This is a great drill to get used to making shots with your weak hand. While also helping it become more accurate when shooting different angles. For this weak hand workout, you’re going to want to start by standing about five feet away from where you’ll be throwing the balls at (like another person or backboard).

Start off tossing up one tennis ball into the air and then shoot once it reaches its peak before catching it again. You should do this for about 25 reps each session. Until your body gets used to hitting these types of shots on the go without much hesitation! If needed though, feel free to bring down your distance if you’d like. Until you feel more comfortable with weak hand shooting.

Full Court Drills for Weak Hand

To improve weak hands in basketball, you can also try doing full-court drills. For this weak hand workout. Start by dribbling the ball up and down the floor to different spots on the court. You should then take a shot from each spot before going back into another line of defense around center-court distance. Where there would normally be a three-point line.

This drill will help you get used to using your weak hand. While getting more comfortable with making shots both near and far away from where you’re standing! Not only that but it’s great for improving weak hand accuracy too when shooting at such angles.

How Long Does It Take To Develop A Weak Hand In Basketball?

It’s tough to say exactly how long it’ll take for weak hands in basketball. But you should see results after about a month or two. You don’t necessarily have to practice all these drills daily either unless you’d like to. Because the point is just getting used to using your weak hand more often. Rather than doing too much at first, that might cause fatigue! If practicing one drill each day still seems tiring though. Then feel free to spread out the weak-hand workouts throughout the week instead so you’re not overworking yourself.

Also, remember that there are other ways weak hands can develop naturally as well. Even without extra effort on improving them. This happens when someone has only ever played with their dominant hand which ends up causing their weak hand abilities to be weak. They might start playing with their weak hand more often though, and before they know it they’re already used to using it in a variety of situations!

That said, if you want to improve your weak hands faster then feel free to get started on any of the above drills or even try doing them all at once over about two weeks. It’s up to you how many weak hand workouts you’d like per week but just make sure not to do too much so that fatigue doesn’t set in and cause injuries while also making improvements harder rather than easier!

Shooting With The Weak Hand In Basketball

We also want to mention how important it is to practice weak hand shooting in basketball. At first, you might feel like your weak hands are bad and that there’s no way they’ll improve but the more you use them then the better they’ll be!

This happens because by using this weak hand for shots over time, our muscles will naturally grow stronger without us even realizing it until we start seeing improvements from not just practicing weak-hand workouts but from playing actual games too.

Whenever someone only practices with their dominant hand all day long then it can weaken their weak hands as well since those same muscles won’t get used much at all which means injuries could potentially happen if these players were suddenly try using their weak hands during games.

Weak Hand Dribbling In Basketball (The Off-Hand Dribble)

We also want to mention weak hand dribbling in basketball as well. This can be a really useful skill for players who have weak hands since it helps strengthen their weak hands by getting them used to using that same side more often!

To practice the off-hand dribble, you can simply begin with your weak hand and make sure not to switch sides throughout the drill. Make sure both of your knees are bent while keeping your chest up high too so you don’t end up slouching over from fatigue or other things like this which could cause injuries if continued for longer periods without breaks between each one.

Practice doing about 20 reps going back and forth across the court before taking a quick break then going right back into the weak-hand dribbling drill again. Focus on keeping your weak hand low by making sure it’s always below your dominant hand, and also make sure not to use too much power with this weak side since you don’t want any unnecessary fatigue either!

Conclusion

In conclusion, weak hands can improve in basketball! It’s important to practice your weak hand so you get more comfortable using it, and also make sure not to do too much at once.

We hope this blog post has been helpful for those who have weak hands on their dominant side since there are a variety of ways they can improve these weak hands with enough effort put into them!

Here are Some of our Favourite Basketball Sneakers

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What did we expect vs. what we got. Is it maybe overrated/underrated?

Elite

Here’s our pick from the very best of the bunch.

Pro

On your way to the pro leagues? Here’s our pick.

Beginner

Want something to start with? Have a look at our pick.

How to develop your left hand if you are right-handed?

Most people during their lives train and develop only the right hand, and the left is given only an auxiliary role. But if our hands are the same, why not try to learn how to perform the same actions with your left hand, and why is this necessary?

The answer to this question lies in the peculiarities of the human brain. The left hemisphere controls logical thinking, speech, writing and is responsible for the work of the right half of the body, while the right hemisphere is the focus of intuition, creative perception, and coordinates the left half.

According to the observations of art therapists, the drawings made by the left hand are distinguished by extraordinary figurativeness, emotionality and realism. This is typical for artists, and those who have never been involved in drawing. In addition, people who have managed to develop the left hand along with the right, note how their life has changed with the inclusion of intuition in it and the activation of the creative perception of reality.

According to one of the theories of classical psychology, the human personality is a set of subpersonalities - different internal images: Parent, Adult, Child. The first two are critical, reasonable and rational. They live in the left hemisphere. And the third, the Inner Child, spontaneous, irrational, creative - in the right.

Therefore, the development of the left hand is the establishment of contact with the creative essence of oneself.

Developing the left hand, a person makes the brain work more productively, connecting intuitive, creative channels to logic and rationalism.

There are several effective ways to develop the left hand, and regular training will certainly lead you to achieve your goal.

Learning to write with your left hand

It's a fun, if not easy, activity. Motivation is needed to be successful in this business. For a person striving for self-development, the goal will be to enrich logical thinking with creative potential.

To make training enjoyable, you need to comfortably equip your workplace. The table lamp is now on the right, while the left side of the table is left free, as there is now a hand and a writing pad.

A stylish pen and a bright notebook with a notebook will create the right emotional mood, so that when you look at them, a desire to work arises. You will need lined paper for writing, as you will have to learn to write again. The main thing is that the process of writing with the left hand brings joy, otherwise the training will soon get bored and become ineffective.

How to arrange the notebook? To make your hands less tired during work, the upper left corner should be placed slightly higher than the right, and the left elbow should be conveniently placed on the table.

For writing with the left hand, you will need writing instruments longer than usual, since the left-hander holds the pencil a little higher than the right-hander, the distance from the sheet of paper to the grip of the pen is 3-4 cm. , and then phrases, as first graders do. This will develop the technique of writing and develop a beautiful handwriting. If such activities are not to your liking, then you can write down your thoughts or write out your favorite quotes from books, catch phrases.

In the early stages of training, it is better to write in block letters, then switch to capital letters. You need to start by writing the alphabet. You can also use the technique of tracing text written in pencil with a pen. For fun, the method of mirror writing is suitable. The letter on the contrary, with a turn of letters by 1800, will help to achieve the desired result. So did Leonardo da Vinci, in whom both hands were equally developed. In addition, writing from right to left is natural for left-handed people with a dominant right hemisphere.

To be successful, you need to practice regularly for a few minutes. This will bring more benefits than infrequent but long workouts.

Training is not limited to the time allotted for it. The left hand should be loaded at every opportunity. For example, write down phone numbers, prescriptions and other useful information.

Left arm training requires a lot of patience, time and effort.

And it is unlikely that you will be able to immediately achieve visible quick results, so on the way to self-development you will have to stock up on patience and endurance. You should not expect a good writing speed at the first stages of training, the quality of writing, that is, a practiced skill, control of a previously naughty left hand, will be more important. The speed of writing will develop in the next stage of work.

Drawing with the left hand

The most successful way to practice. After all, the right hemisphere of the brain develops, where the creative potential is laid. Drawing allows you to better develop the motor skills of the left hand. First you need to put dots on paper, then connect them, make a schematic drawing. It is useful to start synchronous drawing by using both hands, gradually leaving the left hand in the work.

American art therapists recommend the following exercises for the development of the left hand:

• Try to draw a symmetrical object using both left and right hands at the same time.
• Without synchronous actions, try to draw the same thing, each hand moves in its own way.
• Draw with both right and left hands at the same time, but the patterns and trajectory of the hand movements are different.
• Make a drawing with the right hand, then draw the same with the left.

More detailed instructions can be found in the article "How to learn to draw beautifully".

Use the left hand in everyday work

Always use the left rather than the right hand in everyday situations: brush your teeth, comb your hair, use a fork, spoon and other cutlery. When the skills have not yet been worked out, you can not use sharp objects: a knife, a needle, a straight razor, so as not to injure yourself.

The left hand must be constantly used, bringing the movements to automatism. Do not forget about the goals of developing the left hand, reinforce the work with positive motivation so that the classes do not get bored and bring benefits.

The following techniques will help you remember to train. For example, write on the palms: "Right", "Left". Performing this or that action, use not the right, but the left hand. Visual memory will definitely work. It is useful to wear a watch not on the left, but on the right hand. An unusual sensation will remind you that everything is now done by the left hand. You can stick stickers with the inscription: "Left" on various household items (door handles, telephone, refrigerator, electric kettle).

Strengthen the left arm

In addition to writing, exercise is essential for training the left hand.

1. Ball exercises. Throw a tennis ball up and catch it with your left hand. After hitting the ball against the wall, catch it with your left hand. It is advisable to use rackets and, as the skill improves, change large ones to small ones. Classes in the gym with a basketball court will help improve the actions of the left hand. Stand to the right of the basketball basket and throw the ball into it with your left hand. Make 10 - 20 throws. In addition, it is useful to learn to dribble as easily with the left hand as with the right. To achieve the result, keep your right hand behind your back.
2. Playing badminton with your left hand will bring tangible results.
3. Weight lifting. It is necessary to shift the power loads from the right hand to the left. For this, manual expanders, dumbbells are suitable. Weight should be increased gradually.
4. Juggling. This is a useful, exciting and spectacular activity that develops dexterity and coordination of movements. You need to juggle three to four balls.
5. Playing musical instruments. The construction of most musical instruments requires the use of both hands equally. Yes, you can learn how to play the guitar. Guitarists pay great attention to the development of the fingers of the left hand. For this, a whole system of exercises has been developed. It will be useful to learn how to beat out a drum roll.
6. Swimming. Perfectly develops coordination and, accordingly, the brain. In all types of swimming, both hands are equally involved.
7. Spinning Another good way to develop the left hand. For the lesson you will need balls on the ropes. Holding the ends of the ropes with your hands, perform rotational movements.

The list of exercises can be supplemented by anyone who wants to engage in self-development, in accordance with their own imagination and hobbies.

The development of motor skills has a positive effect on the work of the brain, makes the reaction faster, thinking becomes flexible. However, at first, you should not expect a quick result. The opposite effect is possible. Due to the increased load on the brain, the speed of thinking and concentration slow down significantly, but as soon as the brain adapts, it will begin to work much more efficiently than before.

Skeptics are wondering if this is a myth? And is it worth the effort? However, scientists have long proven the connection between manual development and brain function. When exposed to reflex points located on the hands, impulses are sent to the central nervous system. Acupressure affects the internal organs. For example, when massaging the thumb, an increase in brain activity is achieved.

The development of the left hand improves not only brain activity, forcing the “gray cells” to work more actively, but also encourages sports, makes you move more, improve the body. And as a result - the achievement of the next step on the path to self-improvement.

Acquisition of the skill of using both hands to the same extent is the development of new thinking, the transition to a qualitatively new level of life, the enrichment of the logical, rational principle with creativity and intuition.

Two-armed uniques. How do they do it?

Phenomena that throw equally well with both right and left hands are very rare in handball. But they were and are. Moreover, they came to universality in completely different ways.

For comparison: in football, as you know, every self-respecting player must control both legs at a decent level. In another cool ball game, right-handers sometimes get retrained as left-handers, as was the case, for example, with Anna Vyakhireva and Marina Sudakova. And the non-working hand is sometimes used to catch the ball, pass, and in hopeless situations - even to throw. But so to use the left on a par with the right (and vice versa) is really a curiosity. However, the fewer such cases, the more interesting they are.

The most famous handball "ambidexter" is, of course, Anatol Fedyukin . Honored Master of Sports, the legendary extreme "Kuntsevo", CSKA and the USSR national team, winner of the World Championship and the Olympics, five-time champion of the Soviet Union. Subsequently - the coach of the same CSKA, the Voronezh "Energy", the Icelandic "Fram", a consultant to the Icelandic team.

In the first issue of the magazine "Sports Games" in 1982, Fedyukin says that he mastered throws with two hands in order to be different from other players, to find his own "I". We contacted Anatoly Viktorovich, who is now retired, and clarified all the nuances regarding this unusual skill.

— Did you learn to throw with two hands purposefully?

- The initial message was given by our coach at the children's school - Vadim Yanushevsky. He recommended that all players on the team learn the other hand. Four of the starting seven could throw with both hands. These four were included in the national team of Russian schoolchildren. Everyone has their own destiny. One guy was offered to move to Krasnodar, but he refused and went through the public line. I was the only one left in handball.

I devoted a lot of time to this in training and in the end I achieved that I, by nature, a right-hander, having learned to throw with my left hand, became a player in the Soviet Union national team. And calmly threw the best goalkeepers. This gave me the opportunity to diversify the attack.

- Was the left hand trained in some special way?

— We had a small hall at the institute. But there were different gates, including those divided into numbered zones. Ropes were stretched, on which mannequins were hung. When throwing, these mannequins circled. And the acrobatic flip board also helped me. He rose due to the spring to a great height, there he could make several swings. This made it possible to improve coordination and stabilize the game with the left hand faster.

- Afterwards, did it make any difference to you which hand to throw?

— When I was invited to Kuntsevo, there were goalkeepers of a different level. I had to do a lot of work with my left hand. But in the end, stability appeared, and in the future I no longer experienced problems. It didn't matter to me which hand to throw from.

- I read that your right and left hand throws were different.

- I had no problems with my right hand at all. I was treated as a point guard. Then an injury occurred - a bone fracture in the hand. She failed to grow together, there was an operation. As a result, the right hand was no longer so strong in gripping the ball, but more accurate. Almost all penalties were taken with the right. And he could throw with his left one from afar, and from the line - he owned it universally.

Which one did you throw more often? The last few years more, of course, the left. Because he played on the right edge. And in the counterattack - depending on the situation, the location of the defender. In his best years, he could score a dozen in a match. Right, left hand - everything flew in a row.

Who else could throw with both hands?

— My son Maxim. Vice-champion of Europe among juniors. He played for CSKA, then in Iceland for Fram and Haukar. He suggested that he work with his left hand. And he succeeded. Genes, continuity ... Gave him advice, although above all it's about his desire.

In Soviet handball there were other such unique ones. For example, lineman Albert Oganezov , who played at about the same time as Fedyukin, and died in 2002. Also a multiple champion of the USSR (as part of the MAI) and a national team player, and also a winner of the European Champions Cup.

"Yes, he could throw with both right and left hands. But he had a "silent" throw, as he played in the line. There was no need to apply much force. Accuracy was required. Used the skill of about n specifically,” recalls Fedyukin.

Another successful station wagon is Leonid Milidi . For fun, he tried throwing a non-working left hand as a child.

Duality in relation to him manifested itself even in his name - for some reason his partners called him Aleksey. .. handball Leonid Semenovich led Ekaterinodar five times to victories in the championships of Russia, headed the national team.He passed away in 2017.

What about women? In Soviet times, a two-armed craftswoman was also in women's handball. Valentina Ignatieva caught the game still in the 11 vs 11 format, played for Lokomotiv Odessa, Trud Moscow and the USSR national team, won the Union Championship five times, won the Champions Cup...

"In Denmark, I first felt prima yourself in handball, because there were a lot of pictures in the newspapers where I throw the ball either with the right or with the left p with the hand," Ignatieva recalled in an interview with Theory and Practice of Physical Culture magazine.

Subsequently, Valentina Yakovlevna showed herself as a handball methodologist and wrote many scientific works, in particular, the textbook "Theory and Methods of Handball".

The Norwegian Heidi Leke should also be mentioned in this text. Linear can not be attributed to the "ambidexters" in the full sense of the word, but the balls abandoned by the non-working left, she has accumulated a lot during her career.

Starting from Heidi, let's move on to the present. There were no two-handed masters in the men's Russian Superleague this season, but in the second division there were two of them at once.

First - 24-year-old welterweight Evgeniy Batsun from DSTU - "Leader". In his career there was also "Taganrog" - SFU and there is a beach "Ekaterinodar", with which Evgeny won the Russian championship.

— All thanks to my first coaches in Taganrog: Vladimir Yaroslavovich Simon and Vladimir Yurievich Shilchenko. He came to handball quite late - at the age of 16. I had a great desire, but there was also a shoulder injury. They told me: don't worry, we'll make you left-handed. I spent the training camp separately from the team, pumped my right hand, did exercises on the left. Then the shoulder healed. As a result, I can throw both right and left.

To be honest, I can say that I still haven't mastered my left hand perfectly. But for three years already, more or less, he began to throw something.

— Was it difficult to retrain?

— Of course. The hand is not native. In emergency situations, I wanted to shift the ball to the right. And after all, you adjust to the left - and it doesn’t work. But I was forbidden to throw with my right hand. Played on the corner, passed with the right, and threw with the left. And then Vladimir Yaroslavovich said that he would remove some bonuses from me if I did not use only the left one. Whip and gingerbread.

- When did you get permission to use the second hand?

- Already immediately when he became better at owning the left. For example, he showed with his left, threw with his right. Or vice versa. Before that, it was also banned because there could be a recurrence of the injury.

Evgeniy Batsun

- Now it doesn't matter which hand to throw?

- In principle, no. See what position. If I play right hand at welterweight, of course I use my left hand. But in some situations, I can throw with my right hand. Such "unexpected chik".

In my life I am right-handed. I hit the ball with my right foot in football, eat with my right hand. The left one is only for sports.

— Have there been cases when two-handedness, on the contrary, was harmful?

- Yes. Again, it's an emergency. I go to the left, I see that there will be a collision, I shift the ball to the right - and it becomes even more uncomfortable. You need to make a decision quickly. If you start to think and choose which hand to throw, it may not work out.

Are your opponents very surprised when they find out about your skills?

— When I was playing in Taganrog, we somehow went to Chekhov for a major league match. I played on the right edge and got into the symbolic team. Chekhov's back-up coach came up and told my coach: give me this left-hander. He replies: so it's right-handed! They were surprised. To prove that this is true, he asked me to score three balls with my right hand in the next match. Which is what I did. Then they started to find out. Many are aware of this, but still experience inconvenience.

However, I learned about Chekhov's proposal only two years later, when I was leaving for the army. The coach said: oh, you should have been allowed to join the youth team ... Then he told me this story. That team was then headed by the Chekhov coach. It would certainly be interesting to try. But I served in normal troops, and now everything is fine with me. I think everything is ahead.

- Does constant change of position cause discomfort?

— No. I'm just more interested. I set myself goals in training. For example, today I only pass with my left hand, and if I throw it with my right hand. Or vice versa. I am developing my hands. The first coach taught that I should spin the ball on my left hand, eat with it, and brush my teeth. At first I did it, but when it began to work out, I stopped.

- And in the "beach" you throw two with my hands?

Yes. Defenders and the goalkeeper are also uncomfortable. First they put me in line. Scored the first goal like this. I got the ball with my left, I had to turn to the right. But on a subconscious level, I did everything right-handed, in the opposite direction. Everyone was surprised, laughed, clapped.

Other interesting cases?

— This season we went to Taganrog. He played on the right at welterweight, but with his right hand, his elbow hurt. I was taken personally. Then another player appeared in the welterweight position, and I went to the edge. They didn't hold me. And when they got three out of three left, they began to play with me more actively.

After returning from the army, he could not play for the Rostov team for six months under a previous contract. When the time passed, we went to Krasnodar, and I played two matches not very well. Then - just another one in Chekhov. Ten seconds before the end of the second game, the score is tied and the coach takes a time-out. He says: you drive him away a couple of times, and Morozov leaves. What if the ball is here? - Throw anyone, but not Batsun. But it turned out that three seconds before the siren, the point guard gives me, and I, taking off from “zero”, throw my left hand into the near one. From this, I think, the career stage at DSTU 9 began0127 - "Leader".

Pavel Bashkin, the sports director of the Meshkovites, in an interview with by.tribuna.com, described the player as follows: to lub".

And Marco himself revealed the topic well in a conversation with sportowefacty. wp.pl.

— Where did it come from? Is it congenital or acquired?

- I was not born like this, it's trained. My dad played handball very well, although he was an amateur. I was 12-13 years old when I started playing in my city, in a small club. When he was injured, he broke the finger of his right hand, began to use his left. They put me on the right side, there was always a shortage of left-handers, and so it remained. We started working with dad.

— Are you right-handed in everyday life?

- Yes. I do everything with my right hand, I only play with my left.

- The spitting image of Rafael Nadal. His uncle forced him to play tennis with his left hand, arguing that this way he would cause more problems for his opponents on the court. How did it help you?

- I think my right hand throw is a surprise for my opponents. Maybe not everyone knows about it? I can shift the ball from one hand to the other, turn the attack to the right and move there too. After 10-15 minutes the defenders get used to it, then I surprise them with my right hand. I do this several times per match. And often successfully. This gives great opportunities.

However, why talk a lot when you can see once?

Interestingly, there is more than one such magician in Azoty. Krzysztof Lyzwa , a point guard with experience playing for the Polish national team, has similar characteristics. He also leaves Pulawy in the summer - goes to "Gornik".

It is quite possible that next season in the Belarusian "clasico" two "ambidexters" will face each other. In the youth team of the country and the system of the Minsk SKA, 19 is growing up-year-old Nikita Chizhik , who is already being allowed to join the base of the army club.

Nikita is one of the main talents of Belarusian handball. Last summer he was recognized as the MVP of the European Youth Championship in the second division. In the semifinals, the guy was disqualified, and who knows, maybe it was his absence that prevented the team from winning the decisive match against the Italians and taking away a ticket to the elite. Universalism allows Chizhik to close any position in the back line without any problems. Now Nikita is recovering from a serious injury.

— I am left-handed from birth. Then my mother read that left-handers seem to have a big load on the heart. They began to retrain me to be right-handed. But, apparently, it did not work out to the end. When I came to handball, it was good to throw both left and right.

— Did you initially use both hands in training as a child?

— The coach in my native Slutsk focused on this. After training, he forced me to throw from each position, both right and left. Now at the school, Oleg Evgenievich Shareiko and Vadim Borisovich Lisitsa are also asked to do, for example, two series of exercises on the right hand, two on the left. To develop both hands at the same time. Somehow it works out the same.

— In everyday life, which hand do you load more?

- Here is an interesting situation. Large objects are more comfortable to hold with the left. Small ones on the right. I write with my right hand. Why is that, no idea.

Which hand is better at throwing?

- I think right. But in general it doesn't matter in the game. Everything happens somehow randomly, I don’t even understand how. In each game, I throw about the same - relatively speaking, four with the left, four with the right. And I take a penalty, for example, with my right hand.

— How do your opponents react to your two-handedness?

- They are surprised. More than once after the games they came up and asked. It happened overseas. For example, at a tournament in Poland. Or in Finland, where we went with SKA's double to the Baltic League.

What about Ukraine? We found a unique one there. This is a 33-year-old extreme Alexander Yarotsky . His career is interesting because it included all three Zaporozhye clubs (Motor, ZTR and ZNTU-ZAS). And he passed the last season in Odessa.

Alexander told the ZTR press service about his universalism :

"Somehow I broke my finger at school. Everyone is training, but what should I do? ... So, as if jokingly, I almost perfectly mastered the throw with my left hand. A couple of months passed, and according to the situation, I began to automatically finish the attack with a throw with my left hand quite often ... Now I can play on any edge and throw from the left with my left hand, that, you see, it’s always unexpected for the goalkeeper.

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