[colkassad]

I always faced left when riding a skateboard back in the day, otherwise known in skater parlance as being "goofy-footed". Facing right felt as difficult as writing with my left hand. I always wondered whether that was just the way I first rode a skateboard and it stuck, but if that was the case, I would expect the distribution of which skateboarders face which way to be about even. But goofy-footed riders are in the minority. I'm right-handed as well. I wonder what's up with that.

[m463]

I overused my right hand with computers - mouse + many keyboard keys like arrows, enter, backspace, etc

so I switched to a left-handed mouse. I cursed for about a week, then sometimes fumbled, and then it just worked.

Now years later, if I use a right-handed mouse to do say a first-person-shooter, I overcorrect like I'm drunk on wildly pitching ship.

left-hand is dialed in and precise.

I think some of this stuff is learned and not innate.

but yeah, goofy-foot on skateboard feels... just wrong.

[imp0cat]

    I overused my right hand with computers...

In your teens, right? Happens to a lot of people. :)

[putlake]

I think this is probably related to which eye is more dominant for you. I've never skateboarded, but if I imagine myself doing it, it would also be facing left. And it's because my right eye is dominant and I would like that to be facing forward.

[1659447091]

> I think this is probably related to which eye is more dominant for you.

I think it's more about a person's personal stability/biomechanics. The back foot is the stable one, forward is the "quick" lead. The preferred "plant" foot when kicking a ball is the stable one (though many people use both, so this is best used only when there is a strong preference), the one used to push off with when at the bottom of stairs or jumping is the stable one (the lead foot is the `quick` one). The best way I found to help determine footedness: have a person stand straight (feet together) walk around them (pretending to look at posture or something), once behind them push them forward (evenly with some force). Watch for which foot they catch themselves with. Thats the lead foot.

As for the eye dominance, in archery having the right eye dominant means your stance is regular (left foot forward). An archery open stance is near identical to a snowboard neutral stance (~ +15°, 0°). The 2 most important things to get right in (olympic recurve) archery is eye dominance and a proper open stance. As a goofy footed snowboarder and a right eye dominant archer, the archery stance took awhile for me to adapt too. It still feels weird.

[colkassad]

Interesting. Never really thought about one of my eyes being dominant. I do have a bad habit of covering my left eye when reading in bed.

[koolba]

Quick test to find out which is pick a point in the distance, make a triangle with thumbs and fingers to look through, and slowly bring it toward your face. Wherever it ends up is your dominant eye.

[hydrogen7800]

Me too, but on a snowboard. (I suppose I'd be the same on a skateboard) My second time snowboarding was quite a few years after my first, and I just could not get the hang of it, wondering how I was faring so much worse than before. It took me all day to remember I was "goofy", and once I switched it was much better.

[colkassad]

Yeah, I went snowboarding once in my life (loved it but it was exhausting) and naturally rode goofy-footed. They only thing I really needed to learn was slowing myself down.

[keitmo]

I'm right-handed, but I snowboard goofy. Coincidence (or not?) my left leg is dominant. I can kick a ball just fine with my left foot, but when I try to kick with my right foot I feel like I'm going to capsize. When I'm riding a bike and I have to stop, my right foot goes down. When I start again I use my left leg to muscle the crank through the first revolution or two.

[onlyrealcuzzo]

You can be right handed and left footed (and vice versa), and you'd typically snowboard and skateboard etc with your dominant foot.

[laserDinosaur]

I'm goofy footed as well - skate boarding with my left foot forward is like trying to throw a ball with my left hand. I also found that if I was rollerblading or ice-skating, turning to my left (counter clockwise) with a foot-over-foot action I can do super easy, but turning turning clockwise I always struggled with.

[imp0cat]

Here is an interesting experiment you can try - think about it more like "skate with the right foot back" then "skate with the left foot forward" and see if it gets any easier for you. It definitely does work for me.

Obviously it won't sudenly make you a perfect regular-stance skater though. :)

[cryzinger]

Do you hold a baseball bat lefty too?

I skate/surf goofy (or used to... haven't done much of either lately :P) and prefer to hold a baseball bat or a golf club lefty, despite being right-handed. And I have an immediate family member who's left-handed but bats righty!

[alistairSH]

I’m the opposite… write lefty bit bat/swing (rackets and gol) righty. Not sure about surfing - I only paddle board and the stance is more straight-on (because you paddle both sides to avoid turning in a circle).

Of course, I’m terrible at baseball and my handwringing is atrocious, so maybe I’m just broken.

[emil-lp]

What does "face left" mean? Left foot front? That's regular.

[colkassad]

When I stand on a skateboard, both feet on, I face to the left. My right foot is in front, which I steer with while pushing myself with my left foot.

[_carbyau_]

Missing is the assumption that "direction of travel" is forwards.

[tmtvl]

If I were to skateboard, I would face port. When I'm coming to a halt on a bicycle I prefer keeping my right foot on the pedal and landing on my left foot, so I believe I'd have the same preference when skateboarding.

[larrry]

A goofy skater’s head faces right, over their shoulder, and body faces left, relative to their forward movement.

Orientations are so confusing, I thought the parent was describing regular too

[ivanjermakov]

I think skate stance is much more evenly distributed (closer to 50/50) than handedness (about 10% left).

[emil-lp]

Citation needed

[mmastrac]

"Of the 4,000 skaters in the Skatepark of Tampa Database, about half are goofy (44%) and half are regular (56%). But this near equality between skate stances doesn’t align with statistics on handedness. According to Scientific American, 90% of people are right-handed." ¹

"Out of the 610 professional skateboarders, 291 ride regular and 329 ride goofy. This means that 53% of skateboarders ride goofy and 47% ride regular! Way more skateboarders than expected ride goofy." ²

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¹ Dobija-Nootens, N., & Harrison-Caldwell, M. (2017, October 12). What determines your skate stance? Jenkem Magazine. https://www.jenkemmag.com/home/2017/10/12/determines-skate-s...

² Bande-Ali, A. (2024, August 25). Skateboarding: How many people ride goofy? Azeem Bande-Ali. https://azeemba.com/posts/skateboarding-how-many-people-ride...